Elf on the Shelf brings Gifts, Treats, and Fun

We had fun with our Elf on the Shelf last Christmas season. And sometimes (not everyday! don't worry) our Elf liked to bring a fun gift, toy, treat, etc. The gifts usually provided a fun winter activity for me and my daughter and also made very useful props for the Elf. (Sorry about my poor quality of photos)

The following are Elf on the Shelf ideas involving gifts, toys, and treats the Elf brings along. An Elf on the Shelf  'shopping list' is also listed along with the photos.

For some fun and creative Elf on the Shelf ideas that just use things that you have laying around the house, follow this link: http://berriesofwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/09/elf-on-shelf.html

And for some quick and easy last minute Elf on the Shelf ideas, follow this link: http://berriesofwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/09/quick-and-easy-elf-on-shelf.html

To Buy: A bag of Christmas M&Ms

Naughty little Elf getting into the bag of M&Ms. The hardest part of all this was my kids wanting to snack on the candy all day, but didn't want to touch the Elf.

 NAUGHTY ELF IN CANDY BAG

 

 

To Buy: A Christmas paint box and book to color.

(Or a box and crayons and coloring book would work too)

The next few days my daughter had fun painting lots of winter schemes in her new book. 

 ARTISTIC ELF, THE PAINTER

 

 

To Buy: A new Christmas storybook

(or you could get some books from the library, with a note to return them for him when you're done enjoying the stories)

My daughter loved her new book, I think we read it every night before bed or nap up until Christmas!

 READING ELF

 

 

To Buy: Christmas Sticker

This naughty Elf got stickers all over himself! My daughter loves stickers. This sticker book was a lot of fun for months to follow (it had over 600 stickers!) and provided many quiet moments in the car and at church.

 STICKY ELF

 

 

To Buy: An advent calendar. Actually 2 advent calendars.

One calendar for the Elf, he opens all the windows and eats all the chocolate. A second advent calendar for my daughter for the remainder of the season. And this elf idea was used on the first of December.

ELF EATS CHOCOLATE FOR DAYS

 

To Buy: Kiddie safety scissors

The Elf made snowflakes and was holding the new safety scissors. The next day my daughter and I made her first paper snowflakes, it was a fun winter activity. Also, my daughter uses the scissors weekly and is working on her fine-motor skills.

 CRAFTY ELF-MAKING SNOWFLAKES

 

 

To Buy: Candy Canes

The Elf left a note to find the hidden candy canes. There were candy canes hidden all over the house; taped near the stockings, in the doorways, on the fridge, in the blinds, etc. It was so fun for my daughter to find the candy canes throughout the day (and even some the following days too)



Quick and Easy Elf on the Shelf

The Elf on the Shelf is way fun and my kids loved it and I would get excited about fun, new ideas to do with him too. But I am a very busy person and sometimes it's late and I am just too tired to do something extra fun and cute with our family Elf. Or it's early in the morning and I forgot to do something the night before. Here is a list of my quick and easy Elf on the Shelf ideas. (Sorry about my extremely poor quality of photos).

 

 

The following are quick and simple last minute ideas for the Elf on the Shelf.

 

To find some fun and creative Elf ideas with things that you already have around the house, follow this link:http://berriesofwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/09/elf-on-shelf.html

 

And for some fun Elf on the Shelf ideas where the Elf brings a treat, gift, or toy you can follow this link: http://berriesofwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/09/elf-on-shelf-brings-gifts-treats-and-fun.html

 





 

ELF IN THE STOCKINGS

 

 

 ELF HANGING FROM CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

 

ELF SLEEPING IN MOM AND DAD'S BED



ELF READING ON BOOKSHELF

 

 

ELF IN CHRISTMAS TREE

ELF IN HOUSEPLANT

Elf on the Shelf

We have a special little Elf at our house around the holidays, his name is Ooooooh (that's what you get when a 2-year-old names the family Elf.....). Last year was our first year doing the Elf on the Shelf, it was so much fun but I can see how coming up with ideas for the Elf for the next X-amount of years could be difficult, so I wanted to share some of my ideas with others here because I appreciate when others do the same. (I apologize for the poor quality of photos, most are from my old phone).

The following are some Elf on the Shelf ideas that I thought were really fun and were just done with things that were readily lying around the house.

To find some quick and easy last minute Elf ideas, follow this link: http://berriesofwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/09/quick-and-easy-elf-on-shelf.html

And for some fun Elf on the Shelf ideas where the Elf brings a treat, gift, or toy you can follow this link: http://berriesofwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/09/elf-on-shelf-brings-gifts-treats-and-fun.html

As part of our Elf on the Shelf tradition, Oooooh the Elf makes breakfast for my kids the first morning that he shows up. Here are mini-pancakes, mini-donuts, and an 8-oz can of Sprite. The spatula is from our toy kitchen.

WELCOME BREAKFAST

Here is the Elf with hairbows clipped all over him, peeking out of the bow drawer.

 HIDING IN THE HAIR BOWS

 

 

This one was our favorite. This is a little potty that came with a potty doll, I placed it on top of the toilet in our powder room. And of course, a Hershey Kiss makes excellent 'Elf Poop'.

 'ELF POOP'

 

 

Again, on the toilet, hiding in the toilet paper rolls.

 HIDE-AND-SEEK

 

 

Again, on the top of the toilet (the bathroom was a great place that the Elf wasn't in the way too much and it wasn't too temping to want to touch him in there) Ooooooh has an 'owie', Band-Aids and antibiotic ointment.

ELF WITH AN OWIE

 

 

 I used my kids' washcloths to wrap the Elf up. I put a hair elastic around the bottom the washrags to hold the towel turban in place and the keep the towel around his body.

 ELF IN THE SHOWER

 

 

I hung Elf on the mirror with snowflakes and kiddie scissors. Then the next day my daughter and I made her first paper snowflakes together. It was a fun winter activity inspired by the Elf.

 CRAFTY ELF-MAKING SNOWFLAKES

 

 

This is Ooooooh and one of my daughter's toy dolls getting busy under the mistletoe :) I have them on top of a chalkboard so they could be under the mistletoe, but not anywhere in the way or too tempting to touch the Elf.

 ROMANTIC ELF

 

 

Here is the Elf in a microwave popcorn box with a TV remote and the Kindle on Netflix. The Elf was watching a Barbie cartoon (he loves the ladies.) I would do this again in front of TV that wasn't used much throughout the day. And my kids enjoyed the popcorn the next day too.

ELF CATHING UP ON HIS SHOWS

 

 

 The Elf is wrapped up in a doll blanket, to stay warm obviously, and was inside the fridge. This was super fun when my daughter found him in the fridge in the morning.

ELF CHIILIN' IN THE FRIDGE

 

 

On this morning, the Elf left a note that he had hidden candy canes all over the house. They were taped near the stockings, in the doorways, on the fridge handle, etc. It was super fun when my daughter found them throughout the day. (She also used to have trouble eating her dinner, so he included in that in his note also, of course).

                                        FIND THE CANDY CANES


And this is just for fun, but I call it an S'elfie'