Allison Vorcheimer If you are new to the Elf on the Shelf tradition, welcome! Last year was my first year starting this with my son ( 3 at the time) and I was so excited and filled with ideas. Here I’ll share some of our biggest hits from last year, some of this year’s ideas and some general tips for Elf on the Shelf with toddlers!
Our start with our scout elf was a bit rocky. We had a trip planned for Thanksgiving weekend and planned to have our new elf arrive while we were away. I energetically set everything up and anxiously awaited my son’s reaction when we returned home. Fast forward a few days and my son got sick while we were away, we actually ended our trip a day early and drove home where our elf was awaiting our arrival. My poor feverish son had absolutely no interest in the elf whatsoever! My heart broke! BUT, it was not all bad. A few days later when all healed up, my son was ready to enjoy Buddy’s antics! Below are some Elf on the Shelf tips, some of our faves rite antics from last year and ideas for this year’s activities.
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Elf on the Shelf Tips
- Plan Ahead – I start my planning a few weeks before by laying out a calendar with key plans and events we have going on for the month. Then, I plan a few key elves activities around that. For example, this year our elves will bring an advent calendar on the 1st, wear ugly sweaters on my sons’ school ugly sweater day and join us for a camping trip in Disney’s Fort Wilderness! I don’t plan ALL of our antics in advance but having some ideas to coordinate with our plans allows me to get fun props for some of these activities.
- What are you kids loving right now? – Including your kids’ latest favorites in your Elf’s mischief is a sure way to entertain them! Is it dinosaurs, paw patrol, dolls? Find simple ways to include these toys!
- Use what you have – Going for a last minute save? Use what you have around the house to make a simple but fun scene! Maybe your elf gets trapped in a vase or takes a ‘spin’ on one of your fans.
- Bring Surprises! – I like to have our elves bring activities or treats for our kids. Last year, he brought cookie mix and cut outs to bake cookies for Santa, this year he will be bringing an advent calendar and maybe a gingerbread house or these fun rice krispies trains to decorate! Simpler things would be some Christmas treats or stuff to make breakfast.
Toddler Favorite Elf on the Shelf Antics
Dinosaur Rider – A couple of rubber bands and some dinosaurs and you are ready to go! This one was a big hit!
Do You Want to Build A Snowman? – A toilet paper one? Most toddlers find anything to do with the potty and bodily functions all too funny so this easy antic was a big laugh!
Skittles Rainbow – Put aside some of the skittles from the Halloween candy stash for this fun rainbow experiment! Set it up and have your little ones add warm water. So cool!
Just ‘hanging’ out – Undies are another one that always gets a big laugh! We taped him to the fridge but you can do this silly shenanigan anywhere.
Elf zipline – Some fishing line and a candy cane and your elf is ready to fly across the house!
Spider Man – this is still one of my sons favorite super heroes so Buddy as Spidey was a big win! And easy to set up!
Fish Tank crawl – For this one, Buddy joined Spidey and Spin to check on the fishies!
Movie night – This was one of my favorites and my son saved his tickets because he liked it so much! All of the essentials to enjoy a Christmas movie and a preselected feature! This will be one we repeat every year with a different movie! Some people love this idea for a Christmas Eve tradition but since my family celebrates Noche Buena, we do this a week or so before. Plus, we get more than one use out of our Christmas pjs.
Give to Get – This is another one we plan to do every year. Buddy reminds us that the holidays are as much about giving as receiving and we pick some toys to give away. We actually do this 2-3 times throughout the year when cleaning up our toys and I like to include my son in the process of deciding what to give away. Download your own printable sign here.
New for this year!
Here are a few ideas we are planning or have done so far this year.
Advent Calendar – I thought it would be a fun idea to have our elves bring an advent calendar to countdown to Christmas! I went with this Hot Wheels one for my sons but these LEGO or Dinosaur ones were also great options. For girls, check out this Princess Necklace set or Peppa Pig option.
‘Elf’ified – Our Elves are going to Elf-ify our family photo hallway! All of our family photos will get Elf hats and the elves will be hanging around to check our reactions! To do this simpler, pick one framed family photo. I have a Cricut machine so cutting these out was quick and easy but doing this by hand for so many photos would have been a daunting task.
Camping – I mentioned above we will be taking our elves camping in our RV this season so I ordered some fun props for them to roast marshmallows and have sleeping bags. Even if you are not taking a camping trip, these are some fun accessories for your elves!
Disney – Our Elves will be on Disney property so they need some Mouse gear! I made them some Mickey ears and logos to put on.
Mini Golf – my son has been really into mini golf since we stayed at an rv park that had it so I think a round of mini golf with mini candy cane clubs will be a hit!
Gingerbread house – having the elves bring a house to decorate will be a lot of fun.
Coloring Fort – I am actually not planning to do this one this year since I think my little one is too young for it but since I saw these last year I have wanted to have the elves show up with a big cardboard playhouse to color. Seems like fun for the whole season since they can color and play, plus they are actually not expensive (under $40!)
We hope this has inspired some fun elf antics for this holiday season. Let me know in the comments what your favorite elf-scaped has been so far! For even more ideas, check out our pinterest board.
