Top 3 Tips for a Successful Elf Adventure

Discover our three top tips for a magical elf adventure with your family, and grab your FREE Elf Planner – full of fun elf ideas ready to welcome your December visitor!

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Advent | Traditions

Ready for your December visitor? Grab your very own Elf Planner and get busy planning lots of fun elfish activities. Or download our Stress-Free Elf Diary – complete with 24 fun & easy elf ideas, complete with shopping list!

Elf visitors have become a key component of many households’ advent festivities. Learn the origin of the Elf-on-the-Shelf tradition, and discover our three top tips for a successful elf adventure with your family.

Grab Your FREE Printable Elf Planner Now!

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Family Tradition Gone Viral!

Where Did The Elf On The Shelf Come From?

It was in 2005 that mother and daughter duo Carol Aebersold and Chanda Bell, from Georgia USA, launched their The Elf On The Shelf poem-and-elf boxed combo, based on their own family tradition. Since then, elves have been welcomed into homes across the world each December.

Looking for more activities to enjoy? Click here for other fun ideas.

The Elf Story

If you’re not familiar with The Elf On The Shelf tradition, let’s get you up to speed:

Santa sends his elves out to visit boys and girls during the last few weeks before Christmas.

The elves watch how the children are behaving and report back to Santa each night.

Elves then return ready for the next day, taking up a different vantage point within the home.

To add to the mystic, children are asked not to touch the elf (or else its magic may be lost and there will be no commentary back to the big guy in red).

Then, on Christmas Eve, Santa calls all the elves back to join him in the North Pole, where they will stay until the following December.

genius or insanity?

Should I Start The Elf Tradition?

The Elf-on-the-Shelf is generally agreed to be in large part ingenius, whilst simultaneously a parent’s worse nightmare!

Elf on the Shelf Swinging Upside Down on a Candy Cane

Children universally adore searching for their elf each December morning. And, for us grown-ups, it’s a great opportunity to get up to all sorts of magical night-time elfish mischief without anyone questioning our parenting skills!

Younger children are typically very mindful of the extra eyes on their behaviour in the house, making the Elf on the Shelf a useful parental aid as well. (We’ll leave aside those that question the appropriateness of encouraging spying and tattle-telling!)

However, the pressure to not only remember to reposition the elf each night, but also to be creative in location and activity, can feel like quite a chore at an already busy time of year.

Conclusion: In our opinion, elf visitors are a wonderful annual tradition and we highly recommend them. It’s absolutely the stuff of fabulous childhood Christmas memories. We do, however, advise thinking twice before welcoming an elf into your home, to ensure you’re definitely up for the challenge! That being said, we’ve got tools and tips aplenty to make it as easy and fun as possible for the whole family …

embracing the elf!

3 Top Tips For A Successful Elf Adventure

Here are our three top tips for a successful and magical elf adventure with your family. Follow these and you are guaranteed a December to remember!

More Like This?

Looking for other festive activities to enjoy? Whether it’s at home or out and about, we’ve got a whole host of ideas to keep you in the Christmas spirit!

Click Here To Explore

1. Elf Selection!

Will you have one elf for the household, or an elf per child? Will your elf be a boy or a girl? Are you going to follow the Elf on the Shelf story to the letter, or adapt the rules for your family?

Buy Your Elf On The Shelf

If you’d like to buy the original Elf on the Shelf, this link here will take you directly to purchase. There are several elf styles to chose between.

Of course, as with all things popular, there are a whole host of copycat elves available for sale too. Don’t forget to check your local independent stores for some gorgeous handmade elf alternatives as well.

Zero-Cost Elf Alternative

And, if you’d like to avoid the expense altogether, Santa could always grant one of your little one’s existing toy collection magical powers in December so that they can take on the elf role.

2. Get Yourself An Elf Planner

Reduce last minute stress by thinking in advance where your elf will move to each night, and record it in an Elf Planner.

You could even make a small shopping list of the equipment you’ll need.

Then, each evening, you can simply follow your ready-made instructions with no requirement to be creative when you’re exhausted and just want to get to bed!

We’ve created two FREE printable Jolly Festive Elf-on-the-Shelf Planners, just for you. Get a blank template to complete or sign up to our newsletter for access to the full elf diary, guaranteed to give you have a stress-free elfie December!

Spread The Word!

Like what you’ve seen? Be sure to share with your friends.

Let’s sprinkle Christmas cheer far and wide!

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A) Download Your Blank Template

Elf-on-the-Shelf Blank Planner Printable

Get your very own fun blank elf planner template and start adding your elf ideas ready for some fabulous December fun!

Download Your Copy Here

B) Grab Your Stree-Free Elf Diary – 24 Ideas For Your Elf Adventure!

Sign up to our newsletter and snag your very own FREE elf diary, full of 24 fun easy elf ideas, one for each December day. The diary includes a complete checklist of all the bits and pieces you’ll need to recreate the scenes (much of which you’ll have at home anyway).

3. Set A Daily Alarm!

Alarm Clock And Gold Christmas Decorations

There is nothing worse than waking up to tears because Elfie didn’t move during the night. So, get yourself a nightly reminder organised to get that elf repositioned. Then you can rest easy knowing that you won’t have any 4am nightmare sweats.

If you do manage to forget one evening, don’t panic! We’ve got a fabulously simple yet effective solution that will clear your conscience and keep the illusion alive.

CHECK OUT OUR OTHER OTHER ELF-SPIRATION!