Elf on the Shelf ideas 2017

Elf on the Shelf is one of our favourite Christmas traditions! You can buy the original Elf here (LINK) This comes in a little box with a special book about your child’s elf. However there are so many copies out there now which look very similar. I spotted this one in The Range last week (LINK) Bargain! And there are lots of accessories too (LINK)

Now, if you don’t know the tradition, the idea is that your child has his/her very own elf sent from the North Pole to watch over your child and report back to Santa. It’s a great way to keep your children motivated, well behaved and helpful around the home as elf is always watching! Each day in December, the Elf should be hidden somewhere for your child to find. This is probably going to be exciting enough! However if you want to do something a bit more adventurous or mischievous with your Elf to add to your child’s delight, I’ve posted some ideas below from the past couple of years since we have been doing this tradition in our home. The children have an elf each named Snowflake and Mia. This year they will be arriving through their very own Elf doors in the children’s bedrooms!

I have tried to post a mixture of ideas. There are some occasions when we have had so much fun creating something pretty special for the children and indeed other times when I’ve fallen asleep on the sofa and woken up thinking ‘Oh no, I need to do the Elf!’ Therefore I’ve included some simple ones for those nights too!

You can do a lot with cereal. Last year we used it to spell out ‘I’m back!’ and the year before he arrived by making a mess of the cereal all over the floor. The kids loved it. Simple and effective!

We also bought mini cookie cereal from Asda and tied up Leo’s cookie monster with string to make it look like the Elves had kidnapped him and stole the cookies!

You can also do loads with toilet roll!

You can also use the toilet paper to create little towels for your Elf. I use accessories from Sofia’s doll’s house too. I also used cotton wool to make bubbles in the bath.

A few other occasions where I have utilised the kid’s toys and accessories!

This one is probably my favourite. I used Sofia’s little tea set and I used a water bottle lid to cut out mini pancakes to make a lovely pancake and nutella breakfast! Far too cute.

Another favourite and simple to do! Blueberries for eyes, carrot for the nose, cookie cereal for buttons and the mouth was cut out paper. The hat was taken from an old teddy. Of course, the snowman is made from spilled milk.

This was was made by making a zip slide from string attached from the light to the door and we used candy canes from Home Bargains.

This one is made using flour and mini marshmallows.

Also using mini marshmallows on some cocktail sticks.

What a laugh we had making this one! We made swag bags from little ripped pieces of bin bags and tied them with black hair ties. We also made the masks from cut out black paper.

Here are a few more simple ideas. This one’s good for your elf’s last day.

I must apologise for the quality of some of the images. I had to screenshot them from from Facebook from two years ago! That’s commitment right there.

I hope that’s been helpful. I will post more ideas daily throughout December. I can’t wait to see what your cheeky elves get up to! They surely can’t be as naughty as mine!

Love