FREE Printable Elf On The Shelf Planner: 24 Easy Ideas (complete with shopping list!)

Elf On The Shelf Ideas

With over a decade of experience hosting an elf visitor for advent, I’ve got more ideas for elf mischief than there are days in the year, let alone in advent! But I’ve gathered together my favourite Elf ideas for you to use this December.

Here’s a few to get you started. Then scroll down to get my complete FREE printable Elf on the Shelf planner pdf, with ideas for all 24 days plus the items you’ll need to make the magic!

10 Fun Elf Suggestions

1. Elfie decorates food in the refridgerator with googly eyes.  Items required: Stick-on googly eyes.
2. Elfie makes a snowman out of toilet rolls. Items required: Marker pens and woolly hat.
3. Elfie starts making a paper chain. Items required: Paper chains (or strips of paper and glue).
4. Elfie sets up a candy cane treasure hunt. Items required: some candy canes and a note to explain.
5. Elfie dives headfirst into a sweet or chocolate packet. Item required: sweet packet.
6. Elfie draws faces on the eggs. Item required: Marker pen.
7. Elfie does a weights workout. Items required: straws and marshmallows for weights.
8. Elfie climbs up the window pane using gift bows. Items required: 4 gift bows.
9. Elfie messes up the folded laundry. Items required: good humour!
10. Elfie has a movie night with the TV controls and a tiny bowl of popcorn. Items required: small amount of popcorn.

FREE Elf On The Shelf Planner

I’ve created a fun elf calendar of ideas for magical mayhem to create each night. Each of the 24 ideas shared is practical and straightforward to recreate. No tearing your hair out or stress required!

Most just need items you’ll already have around the home. However, to keep stress firmly at bay, I’ve also added a small shopping list of inexpensive items you’ll want to check you have to hand. Top up supplies in late November, keep them together and at hand, and you’ll be good to go!

Download Your FREE Printable Elf Calendar

Complete the form below to download your free printable Elf on the Shelf diary now.

Prefer A Blank Elf Diary To Complete?

Prefer to print out a blank diary to complete yourself?  No problem, simply download this free printable Elf on the Shelf Calendar template below.

5 Tried & Tested Tips For Having An Elf On The Shelf

Here’s my top five tried & tested elf tips from over a decade of having an elf on the shelf visitor to our home.

Add A Daily Reminder To Your Calendar

Set a daily reminder for just before bedtime to minimise the chance that you forget Elfie. First-hand experience has taught me that by week two, the enthusiasm can be waning a bit and life gets so busy that it’s easy to forget our North Pole friend.

If you do manage to forget one evening, do not panic! I’ve created a fabulously simple solution for you to use – with a child-friendly web page of elf-planations ready and waiting!  It might be worth a read now so you’ve always got an excuse ready in mind, just in case!

Use An Elf Planner

Of course I’m going to say that! But in all seriousness, having a plan for any elf-antics will take the stress out of the month. It’ll mean that you have any items you need at home ready, and make it much quicker to prepare your nightly scene.

Use our blank free printable Elf On The Shelf planner to prepare your calendar.

Have A Back-Up Scene Prepared

It’s always worth having a simple Elfie scene prepared in your head, just in case life throws a spanner in the works and you need a fallback. Maybe watching from the Christmas tree, hiding in the car, or in the treats drawer. Something quick and easy that doesn’t require any thought.

Think About Your December Diary

Think in advance about activities you’ve got coming up. Elfie can be your best partner in crime. They could help encourage your little one to appointments they don’t normally love. Equally they can make fun festive activities even more magical – hand delivered invites to see Santa direct from the North Pole, wow!!

Plan For Elfie Travels

Plan ahead for any overnight trips you might have scheduled in December to keep the magic intact. We’ve travelled a lot with Elfie during the Christmas Countdown and I’ve got lots of tips and ideas how to bring your North Pole Visitor along.

What Is The Elf On The Shelf?

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 children’s homes during the last weeks ahead of 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 it won’t be able to fly back to Santa).

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.

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.

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, hahaha!

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.

My Personal Opinion

We’ve had an elf visiting our home for well over a decade now and we adore our annual tradition. It’s absolutely the stuff of fabulous childhood Christmas memories.

I won’t deny I’ve had the occasional 4am panicked wake up when I remember the elf hasn’t moved– it’s one of the reasons I’ve shared all the tips and tools here to help you avoid the same.

But it’s been worth every one of those for the pleasure it’s brought my boys.

When they were younger, they were fascinated by our elf friend. Neither of them wanted Elfie in their bedrooms (they were a little apprehensive of this magical visitor) but they LOVED seeing where else in the house he might be. Nowadays, despite the magic having faded, they still both want Elfie to join us each December. We take turns setting up nightly scenarios for each other to enjoy.

CHECK OUT OUR OTHER OTHER ELF-SPIRATION!