Elf on the self

i have only used elves from the decoration section of the shops before, not the brand name Elf on the Shelf - I don't know if he/she was available without the book, so hopefully some others will pop in with an answer

 

Amazon?

 

eBay or another re-seller site may have just the elf. Or maybe a friend of yours with older kids or kids who don't want the Elf anymore? Because like others have said, the book and Elf are sort of a package deal. I wonder if the book has been translated to other languages, though?

 

At Amazon France there is a kit with a French book ...
https://www.amazon.fr/Elf-Shelf®-Tr...+on+the+shelf+scout+elf&qid=1602256011&sr=8-9

 

Not an official Elf on the Shelf, but these elves are sooo cute: https://www.elf-magic.com/shop/magic-elves/

 

I don't think for the official EOTS they are sold separately, so I'd just throw the book away if you don't need it.

 

Hi sorry to bump an old thread but the subject seemed right and I didn't want to needlessly start a new thread.

Any ideas out there of new, fun and unique 2020 ideas for this year's Elf On The Shelf? We've done it all the past few years and looking for some fresh ideas. I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of this whole elf-weaing-a-facemask and doing quarantine ... I'm kind of trying to detach the magic of Christmas from COVID at my house (as much as possible).

All ideas, suggestions or DIY crafts welcome! Thank you in advance!

 

You are always welcome to start a new thread, even if the subject is similar! Elf on the Shelf Ideas may catch new eyes as people get to planning.

We don't do Elf on the Shelf, so I'm not a lot of help there. Is your elf one of the messy ones? Or one that just comes to enjoy the season?

I've seen posts with the elf:
- flour on the counter to help make cookies
- sleeping in popcorn with the tv remote
- wrestling action figures
- on a date with a Barbie
- making a snowman with cotton balls
- making snow angels in flour
- drawing on bananas or oranges, or other peel the skin fruit
- looking through scrapbooks
- playing in the Christmas lights
- hanging in the Christmas tree

@bellbird Your elf does some fun, easy things right?

 

Yep I'll pop back later with some ideas -i really just pinched & adapted Pinterest ideas, it sounds like you have had Elf visit before, is that right @mom_of_3 ? Can I ask what sorts of things has your Elf done before so I don't just repeat your previous ideas ?

 

OMG the flour ones are perfect!!! I actually keep my flour and sugar in large glass jars on the counter so this is a real easy (and fun) one to do! I already did one last year where he got into my scarpping supplies and made the kids a special "scrapbook" for them

Thank you so much for this @bestcee !

 

@bellbird we usually start with easy ones in the early days (Elf is just moving around the house to find the best spot to watch the kids), then we start with him getting into everything and causing mischief. He has been on the losing end of a fight with my daughter's Elsa doll (ended up trapped in a measuring cup), been into the kids' lunches, rappelling up the tree with the Christmas tree light string and took some toy cars around for a spin and knocked over a few things.

@Ga_L if it helps you or anyone (as I'm sure we're all counting down the days and scrounging for ideas) I went through Etsy this weekend and I think my two faves so far this year are the Elf donut box (sized for Fruit Loops) and the Elf laptop with a Zoom meeting in progress (very 2020!). Super adorable!

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/642844746/elf-doughnut-box-printable

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/907498031/elf-on-the-shelf-zoom-meeting-laptop

 

I collected many ideas on my pinterest board ...

https://www.pinterest.com/marijke_c/elf-on-the-shelf/

 

Ok here's some of my elf pages, we used him as a positive behaviour reinforcement as well as a run amuck mischief maker & some ideas were modified based on what the kids were into, minecraft and spiderman etc - in case you're wondering, there's 2 different elves in these pages because the initial elf met with an unfortunate accident and couldn't re-appear the following year so the newly assigned elf brought an intro letter and in the PS was a message that said the initial elf was reassigned to gift wrapping.



i know i have a few more pages in the gallery i can't find right now - another pocket page where he had a cotton wool/snowballfight with some other toys and stacked some toilet paper rolls under the tree and drew eyes & buttons etc on it to make a snowman (obviously no pandemic/shortage that year!)

Some of the other more stand out memorable stuff the elves did involved:
- 'Decking the Kitchen' (sticking those curly gift bows to all the kitchen cabinet doors);
- sprinkling some xmas magic (talcum powder & glitter) all over the carpet in front of the xmas tree (b/c we lack snow in Australia);
- adding cotton wool to our green (fake) xmas tree and hanging paper snowflakes from the window frames (see above comment re: snow)
- wearing a spiderman mask and hanging upside down (using white wool/yarn that was masking taped to the top of a bookshelf);
- bungee jumping (cord from the light with loom bands - those rainbow coloured elastics that kids made bracelets from a few years back )
- decorating the tree with socks and undies that the kids hadn't put away (clean washing to reinforce looking after chores etc)
-we had a minion party tree one year too (lots of minion McHappy meal toys I found at a thrift shop/opp shop b/c my son has a b'day in Dec as well)

 

found another one

 

great pages Justine.
We don't do Santa, so no elves here either.
Have fun @mom_of_3 and @Ga_L , just make sure you don't add to your stress by the pressure to do more than you need to. It's okay for Elf to do similar things to previously - just think how many times you do the same stuff.

 

This was the trap I fell in to, it involved a lot of planning (& forgetting) & was sometimes a fair bit of trying to be quiet, late night work!