Elf Antics Thread

[Acunningruse]

Those of you who do Elf on the Shelf, what have yours been up to so far?

Ours arrived yesterday and brought mini jars of nutella so we could have chocolate pancakes for breakfast.

This morning we found them (yes we have two, don't ask) playing subbuteo!

What have yours been up to, or are you waiting til 1st December? Ours have come a bit earlier this year as we are away for Christmas so they will be leaving for the North Pole a few days earlier.

Put them in a box for ten days as they have covid and needs to isolate

We also (regrettably) have two. This morning they had arranged our coffee pods (the small ones for the Nespresso machine) into a smiley face and left a note on their 'blackboard' (the thing you wipe clean by pulling it to the side?)

thanks for the laugh

Mine are toasting mini marshmallows on cocktail sticks over a candle (unlit!)

Oh dear we have three
One per child and a friend

Ours has not arrived and doesn't until the tree is put up. But I have elf chocolate coins (poundland)

The bedlinen (elves) came in a cloth bag that fits the elves and acts as a sleeping bag. So that's another night.

I've chocolate jenga. Change family photos to elf photos. Easy play with the toys for a few nights.

So excited this year!! Ours arrive Wednesday morning - will be following!

This is our last year. Ours will be celebrating St Andrew’s day tonight with some Scottish decorations we get out every year and a tin of shortbread biscuits.

@elQuintoConyo

Put them in a box for ten days as they have covid and needs to isolate

I can't move for😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 at this.

Night 1 - lft test
Night 2/3 - in isolation awaiting results
Then in full on isolation as sadly positive, maybe due to travelling the world.

Ta da it's now Christmas and they are away until next year 😂😂😂

I am not that cruel to my kids 😳 following for ideas, so we are not walking about the house trying to make shit up at 1am 😂🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️

A few years since I had to go this but my son's favourite things the elf did were

Green wee in toilet
Elf caught in fridge eating
Coming down with chickenpox and having to rest for several days
Escaping to next doors garden where he was seen sitting at the patio table with sweets

Our elf arrives in the morning, my two are very excited, despite my eldest now being in on the whole thing.

A favourite of ours was a string zip line from the stairs to the tree with the elf dangling from it holding a candy cane! People kept accidentally knocking the string and I would have to pick him up with a pair of tongs so as not to touch him.

We have elves who have been coming to our house every December for last 9 years…..
1st December they arrive with advent calendars & Christmas pj’s for the kids.

I’ve found lots of ideas from Pinterest but some easy tips are to have craft or activities (making gingerbread or paper chains etc) at weekends and simpler things like hiding in the fridge or faces on fruit for during the week. Having the elves dress in Christmas jumpers for Christmas jumper day or holding tickets for panto with a bag of sweets on the day you going also is easy.

My kids favourite Elf Trick is when they decorate the downstairs loo every year with toilet paper everywhere & when they decorate the tree with the kids pants and socks.

Oh god, they have to arrive tomorrow dont they.

Following this thread, please please keep the ideas coming

Love all these ideas, definitely going to do the zip wire one!
Quite a low key one for us this morning, the elves had found the box of Christmas books and got them out and were reading the Grinch to the other toys.

My kids love st Nicholas day when they fill shoes with sweets, this is one of a few they do every year. Along with growing candy canes from magic seeds. They grow different flavours each year so keeps it exciting.

Elfie selfie! Sit in front of a mirror and draw him! Ours always toilet papers the tree at some point!

@elQuintoConyo

Put them in a box for ten days as they have covid and needs to isolate

BRILLIANT!

Ours will be arriving this evening with the advent calendars. I shall need this thread for the ideas.

Ours arrived at the weekend when we put the tree up and he’s done nothing yet. Tbh thought now DS was 11 he wouldn’t be bothered but we’ve had to say he’s having a rest until 1 Dec. Not looking forward to forgetting to move him and having to rush back downstairs every night.

We've not done it before but dd is 8 & desperate for it. Normally we do an advent activity calendar which we don't have time die this year. I suspect elf on the shelf will be just as time so dining though!

I was thinking of putting them on the doorstep & having someone ring the bell & run tomorrow night, or should it be tonight for antics tomorrow?

I've seen them taped to the fridge & smearing shaving foam messages in the mirror

Friend is doing vaccines so she has sent this for hers leaving for a day!

My kids are technically too old for the elves now but they still play along and my daughter has expressed excitement about them arriving tomorrow ("can't wait til they climb out of your cupboard I MEAN magically arrive at the house" 😂) so there's way less pressure to do anything amazing. We tend to just move / hide them and if we forget it's "ahhh they were obviously tired". We will do a few fun things if we remember. We have three, one per child, one is smaller than the others so she is the little sister. My daughter's fave thing, weirdly, is when the elves torment their little sister (I guess she can relate with 2 older brothers!!) So we do things like trap the little one in a pint glass, tie her up in tinsel, etc

Following for ideas! One of the easiest ones that went down well last year was to have him in the car with a seat belt on. I left a little clue indoors.

Question for people with 2 elfs... does that make it easier or harder to come up with ideas. Considering introducing a 2nd for DC2 but worried I'll end up regretting it (clearly I am taking this very seriously). Thinking it might be easier to do some simple things with 2.

Ours never arrive before the tree goes up, so that buys us a few days grace. She has previously been in fridge eating babybel, has drawn faces on bananas and satsumas, loves a zip wire, had a tea party with other toys, races on decoration reindeer with other toys, and once wrapped the kitchen (cupboards, kettle etc) when we left the paper out. Have moved house since last year, so hopefully some new things to do this year!!

She is just really a cheeky one - the kids don't take it seriously and behave better or anything!!