Elf on the Shelf Ideas (from a busy parent)

Love him or hate him, if you have small children and have adopted the Elf on the Shelf® tradition for your family you are likely beginning to run out of steam by now.

Chances are you’ve been at it since Thanksgiving and are in the third week of making sure that the little red felt menace has moved since the day before.

I’m right there with you.  

My kids aren’t the only ones counting down to Christmas.  

We try to make sure our elf Cole moves at least once each day.  Some days he just goes from one spot to another.  If he’s getting really crafty he may move from the kitchen into the living room.

We have had a few silly days this year.

Days where Cole does more than just sit and watch us with his shifty eyes.

These are the days where I like to share his photos on social media.  These are the posts that make other parents with similarly lazy elves think that I’m one of “those” moms that goes all out for their elf shenanigans.

Here are our highlights from this year:

Cole posing as “Crackle” in the cereal box…

Cole as "Crackle"

Cole made a few friends.  Literally.  He made his own minions… 

Cole's Minions

Cole loves all things sugar – especially Maine maple syrup… 

Maple Sugar Lover

Cole was pretty excited with our recent snow…

Making messes.

And he found out the hard way that those weren’t cookies in our cookie jar…

Not Christmas Cookies!

The above photos are NOT typical of how Cole behaves on most days.

He’s usually not that crafty.  In fact, he’s pretty boring.  And running out of places to hide in our cozy little home.

For example, today he’s just hanging out in our kitchen window…  

Just hanging around.

I am hardly an overachieving elf on the shelf mother.

There have been many mornings where I realize that we forgot Cole.  Again.

Just the other day my daughter complained that Cole wasn’t quite himself this year.  That he hadn’t really done as much as he usually does.

She missed the toilet paper all over the living room and the milk being turned green.

She missed Cole’s pranks and his flirtations with her Barbie doll.

Her explanation was that this year Cole turned 5 and had matured a bit.

I simply agreed with her.

There are many days where I just run out of ideas – I rely on Pinterest and other resources to come up with new things for Cole to do.  And that’s why I am one of those parents that likes to share the shenanigans of our elf through social media.  Yes, this is annoying to some most of my friends, but as a parent that gleans ideas from others I try to share when it is a good one.

Just like I’ve done here.  

So what cool thing has your elf done this year?  Have they been sneaky or remained true to the name and stayed on the shelf?  I’d love to hear from you.  And steal glean some ideas from you, too.

Follow Cole’s antics on Instagram or on the Graceful Mess Facebook page to see what he’s up to each day.

 

Jennifer Collins

About Jennifer Collins

Jennifer is a mom with a day job and she likes to write about her victories and messes along the way. She is living an adventurous life as a Georgia transplant learning to thrive in Maine, with a strong Southern accent that screams that she is "from away" and a new-found love for lobster rolls and timely snow plows. Jennifer's writing has been featured on BlogHer, iVillage Australia, Daddy Doin' Work, and Mamapedia.