Elf On The Shelf

We hadn't planned on bringing the elf to life in our home. I decided to just do one fun and silly thing with the elf and surprise Ryder with a North Pole breakfast on December 1st. His reaction to the magic of it all had me willing to allow our elf to move through December. We chose not to name our elf until Ryder can chose a name. We read the book a few times and Ryder understood that the elf would fly to Santa each night but we tried not to use it as a threat for behavior, although I'm sure he understood. Our elf mostly just found a new spot to sit every night but there were a few silly things that he did. Ryder knew not to touch the elf but we did have a couple moments where the temptation was too much.

We did set a few ground rules for our sanity though. I planned out the fun mornings in advance and kept them all very easy and simple. I made sure we had everything we needed before we began.

rule #1: no elf allowed in bedrooms or bathroom (that's just creepy)

rule #2: no activity that can't be cleaned up or taken down quickly

rule #3: keep it simple (think like a 2 year old)

Here are the "fun and silly" things our elf did.

North Pole Breakfast {saying hello to our elf}

You can read more about our breakfast in this post.

Doorway Swinging

I used tiny 3M hooks and attached them on the top of the door frame. I hung a paper tube with twine and ended up having to tape our elf's legs onto the tube.

Indoor Snowball Fight

I found these soft "snowballs" at Target. My mom originally got them for a snowball fight for her house but we borrowed them. I saved this activity for a Sunday morning so that Seth could join in on the fun. This one was a big hit!

Potty Time!

We have been working on potty training (here and there) and Ryder was doing great! So our elf brought him some new big boy underwear and a special note. Ryder did not find this one funny. Mostly because he is now not using the potty but rather hiding ;)

Snowman Doughnuts

I bought powdered doughnuts and pressed chocolate chip eyes and buttons and a mini rainbow chocolate chip (orange) for the snowmen's noses. This breakfast was a super big hit for a busy Sunday.

Zip Line

Using small 3M hooks I attached twine from the door frame to a shelf. The elf held onto the string. Ryder thought this one was so funny after carefully observing it for some time.

Teepee The Tree

I will be honest on this one. I completely forgot about the elf until I was just about to climb into bed.

Elf Doughnuts

This one took a little more planning and work but it really is super easy! I melted a handful of milk chocolate chips and white chocolate chips then dipped one side of Cheerios into the chocolate and added sprinkles. For the powdered doughnuts I just rolled Cheerios in powdered sugar until they were coated. I made a tiny box from paper. My grandmother taught me how when I was younger but you can find a good tutorial here. Ryder now gets angry if I hand him regular Cheerios. Can you blame him? Who wants naked doughnuts?

Reindeer Doughnuts

I have to give complete credit to Pinterest on this one! Chocolate doughnuts, pretzel antlers, red m&m noses, white chocolate chip eyes. Can you tell we like doughnuts around here?

What are some of your favorite elf antics? I think I will need to step up my game next year.