I have succumbed to the Elf on a shelf. What mischief do yours get up to?

[MulledWineGless]

I have finally taken the plunge and got an elf.
What tricks do your Elves do?

So have I but he hasn't arrived yet can't wait:-)

Ours has been caught amidst a pile if Cheerios in the kitchen, squirted shaving foam in the bathroom & unravelled half a loo roll. I bloody love our Elf arriving

Are your Elves naughty then?

I thought the point of them was to sit on the mantle piece watching everything and reporting back to Santa? I thought they were good not naughty??

Our school one is somewhere different each day and the kids love spotting him :)

All kinds! The favourite thing our elf did last year was call dominoes to order a pizza! DH even secretly intercepted the delivery man who played along.

She also did:

DRew red noses on kids when they were asleep!
Was drinking maple syrup through a straw.
Rode a toy airplane.
Had been out in the rain in the kids wellies and had used a towel
Did elf yourself
She had brought the xmas hamper with her when she arrived Dec 1st
Opened a xmas cracker
When she left she decorated she left a big elf hat like hers and wrote "I will miss you" on the stove glass as she travelled back up to Father Xmas. DS was distraught at this. DD couldn't have cared.

Think I enjoyed it more than them!! Kids have written asking Father Xmas for a boy elf this year, so I'm having to make new clothes for it!!
It wasn't just naughty in our house she also brought gifts like Dvd, biscuits cutters.

Ours started off just being on a shelf watching then progressed to moving around when the kids weren't looking & as they got a bit older it's been great fun injecting a bit of mischief - my eldest is beginning to have doubts about FC & this has just been a nice extra to keep the magic alive a bit longer.

Loving your work Kate might steal a few ideas.

We have never don't the naughty or nice thing with Santa so we don't do it with our elf either. We do not have the "official" elf and the letter she brought with her explained that she is a young elf and is with us to learn about how humans celebrate Christmas part of her elf training. This leaves her free to reek havoc with impunity.

So, things she has done:
Eaten a box of chocolates and then brought a replacement box the next night.
Made herself a bed in the tissue box
Hung DD's underpants on the tree
Played dress up with doll clothes
Changed the computer desk top picture to a picture of herself
Led a parade of Littlest Pet Shop pets down the hallway
Covered the living room doorway with wrapping paper
Finished stringing garland on our tree
Was very sick once and tucked herself in on the couch with tissues, thermometer and Vicks Vaporub
Got tied up to a table leg by pirates (not sure what she did but they seemed quite upset with her)
She and dolls did each others hair
Rode the ceiling fan
Stayed up all night playing video games

I've got to think of some new ideas myself this year.

Oh there are some fab ideas here.
I saw one on Pinterest where the elf had wrapped a loo roll round the Xmas tree!
I've got some where to start now but of anyone has more naughty tricks keep them coming!!

When do you start the elf fun??

1st December I believe

Excellent ideas! Right. I need an elf before Sunday. I've seen some in ikea but so will the children have. Are any shops selling them?

Last year Pip arrived on 1st Dec bearing advent calendars.
He made a huge mess with the lego
Ate lots of chocs and left the wrappers on the floor
Played Wii
Hung pants on the tree
Had a toy parade
Read to the xmas toys
turned the loo water green with elf wee
ate satsumas and left the peel everywhere (he was always messier on a weekend)
bought DVDs
drew silly pictures of mum and dad
hid in school bags/slippers/ up the tree/ toy box etc.
This year his big sis is coming too - pipette

DS is just too old now for an elf :(

If I were to have one though he would,
Play with boats/ rubber ducks in the dogs water
Draw a bum picture in the frost on DHs windscreen
Move the tree decorations around
Use nuts/ fruit/ fridge magnets to write naughty words (poo or bum I hasten to add, not proper rude words :o)
Drink DHs beer
Eat all of one flavour from the chocolates
Swop the bags round in the cereal boxes (DS would be incandescent :o)

We have 2 elves, a boy and a girl.

The most memorable thing they did was unravel a big roll of cotton wool down the stairs, to make it look like snow, then get in a small box to sledge down. I had carefully placed the box at the top, but as our floorboards are a bit creaky, when the DC walked out on to the landing from their bedroom, the vibrations made the box move. DC were thrilled to suddenly see the elves whizz down the stairs like they were sledging!

Also another time they had a snowball fight on the kitchen table, using a whole bag of mini marshmallows. it took forever to set up, with little piles and even a half built snow wall. Wish I'd taken a photo of it now.

I am of partial Scandinavian descent so. we celebrate St. Nicholas' day on Dec. 6th, so St Nick brings our elf with him.

Also, for many Americans, the elf comes Thanksgiving night as a kick off to the holidays.

Ive kept a blog for Elf the past couple of years (Yes im quite sad!)

blog

We move house on the 6th so Elf will be appearing a little later this year.

We have a gund Peppermint elf called Eggnog. 3rd year running and our friends are looking forward to nightly updates on Facebook. We pay no attention to 'the rules'. Eggnog just does fun stuff overnight. Pants on tree still #1 I think. We have a reindeer called Carol and Dp got Stripe from The Gremlins (god knows why!) so they do stuff together. Like Stripe put Eggnog in the washing machine. Our dc are 5,6 and 9 so we can get away with that. I think the best one ever was Eggnog at the bottom of the stairs collapsed on an oven tray. Carol had a camera round her neck & photos of Eggnog sledging next to her. Might do that again but with cotton wool. The first year they arrived Santa phoned to warn of their imminent arrival, unfortunately they got stuck in a tree with their parachute.

Loving all these ideas and pigleychez am in awe of your blog!!
There are three of us on FB who are doing the Elf so will be posting nightly pics too ;)
If that doesn't get rid of some of those FB acquaintances I don't know what will

I have an 8 yr old DS and a DS who has just turned 2.

Eric decorated the Xmas tree with loo roll
defaced dd's picture in a frame
had a snog with the fairy on the top of the Xmas tree
got comfy in a pair of dd's pants(not whilst she was wearing them!)!
did snow angels on the kitchen worktop in flour
built a mountain of cushions in the lounge

one of dd's friends was so freaked out she refused to come round all december until Xmas eve!

Sorry ds2 pressed post! Anyway do you think they are too old/young for elf on a shelf? Should I wait until next year when ds2 is older and more able to understand?

dd was 8 last Xmas and this yr curiosity got better of her and asked too many questions to avoid the inevitable truth - it's tough being 9 these day . She still wants Eric to come visit and we're going take turns as a family traditions but i am so glad i got that one year of wonder out of it - gutted hadn't done sooner so i'd say go for it!

DS aged 7 and Dd aged 5
I wanted to start it as I think it's something you could carry on as they get older even if they don't believe

Our DCs are aged 6 and 4 and this is our third year that the Elf will have been. I think you can carry on doing it if your kids are up for it even when they stop believing. DD has started asking a few questions this year about the whole FC thing so am going all out this year with the Elf in case this may be the last year she believes ! I love doing Elf on the Shelf and have great fun planning what he's going to get up to, even DP who was totally at first gets into it now