Elf of the Shelf novice - please help for dd10!

[SunflowerBaby]

My dd has just turned 10. I've never done the Elf because to be honest I can't be bothered with the stress of it on top of everything else!

The past couple of years she's caught wind of the Elf existing at some of her friends houses and she has mentioned it a few times.

She's just said to me 'how do I ask Santa for an elf this year?'

I'm going to do it for her, as it's likely this could be the last year for proper childhood Christmas magic.

Can anyone give me a run down of what I'm meant to do? I've got her some Christmas pyjamas I was going to give her on the 1st, and some new Christmas bedding so I might do it as a package with the Elf delivering it.

Do I make him do something funny every day? Or every few days? I am clueless!

Make him do something every few days at the very most! Otherwise you potentially set yourself up for lots of hassle and stress.

Other days he can just move to a different spot or perhaps play hide & seek.

Is your child a deep sleeper? My DD’s favourite trick from the elf each year is that one day she’ll go to sleep with normal bedsheets and when she wakes up, the elf has magically changed them to Xmas ones!