Elf on the Shelf - Is it time to start your tradition?

Last year I decided that that year would be the year to start our own Elf on the Shelf tradition.  The children, aged 5 and 2 were at the perfect age, I believe to start the magic.  The idea is that on 1st December, one of Santa's Elves comes from the North Pole to your home to keep an eye on the children and make sure they are behaving.  They do not move through the day but at night they leave and report back to Santa Claus advising how the children have been that day.  The elves are quite naughty and get up to lots of mischief but also bring treats, it is entirely up to you what your elf does, there are hundreds of websites and message boards dedicated to this tradition to help you with ideas.  Your Elf will then leave to return to the North Pole to Santa Claus.  I think it is a wonderful family tradition to start, why not make even more of the magic of Christmas whilst your children are young enough to believe.

I looked at the traditional Elf on the Shelf that you can buy but to be honest I found him a bit frightening! I wouldn't want that fella to be peeping down at me from my fireplace!  So I did research, a lot of research and I found the elf that I wanted.  She was a Gund Peppermint Elf that I bought from America.  I instantly fell in love with her as she looks just like a Christmas Elf should, well in my opinion.

I ordered her quite early as in the run up to December it is nigh on impossible to buy an Elf anyway, people have gone crazy!  She arrived mid October and I began researching what she would do.  As I previously said, there is a wealth of information on the internet with wild and wacky ideas for you.  There is also tons of fabulous websites which sell all kinds of paraphernalia which you can buy to make your experience exactly what you want it to be.  Sadly, last year, I found most of these sites far too late so I had to come up with my own.  This year, I have spotted an amazing site Merry Elfmas which I hope to use for all my supplies.  I really enjoyed making my own last year but it took absolutely hours as I am very particular and I just do not have the time this year,

So having all my ideas in my head and having found various websites with stationary I could print and adapt I set about my mammoth task.  I should note here, that in my madness, I also decided to do 2 other elves for my nephew and my godchildren so I had 3 lots of Elfness to sort out! 

On the official Elf on The Shelf website, you can register your Elf formally and there you can print out an adoption certificate complete with your Elf's name and family name, it looks wonderful.

There is even a website in which you can generate your Elf name on, honestly it is crazy what you can find if you have the time (and energy) Elf Name Generator

As you can see, ours is called Twinkle Teensienoggins, a little bit of an homage to the film Elf with Will Ferrell in, one of my all time favourite Christmas movies.

So we had a name and we have an adoption certificate, I just needed to decide how she would arrive.  Ikea to the rescue! They had red cardboard storage boxes on sale and they were perfect, the perfect size and colour so they definitely did the trick.  I sourced Christmas type fonts and designed a postage label for the front of the box.

I was very pleased with my handywork, I think it looks quite good.  I then set to work filling the box with all sorts of things, we had an elf passport, a poem explaining to the children why Twinkle was visiting us, letters from both Twinkle and Santa Claus and a fabulous hanging bauble which I bought from the wonderful Designs by Nikki.  I have bought tons of stuff off Nikki and it is always fabulous, brilliant service and such craftmanship, she was the perfect person to supply our bauble which hung above the fireplace until Twinkle left.

 

Bauble by Designs by Nikki

With the hard work all done, it was time to wait until 1st December for the grand arrival!  She was waiting in her box on the childrens table and she had brought with her two chocolate advent calenders.  The delight on my kids' faces when they met her for the first time was amazing, they absolutely loved her and they promised that they would be on their best behaviour whilst she was staying with us.

Whilst Twinkle was with us she had a fantastic stay, we had a North Pole breakfast, she stole some of the Christmas sweeties, hid in our Christmas Tree, took a nap in Eva's stocking and even a ride in Barbie's car.

 
 

 

Halfway through her stay, she brought us a Magic Key which I got from the amazing Dawn who has the most beautiful items at Poppy Loves Roses and Wellington Boots.  Have a pop over to her page and tell her I sent you, you will be amazed.  She also made me beautiful Santa Sacks which will be used every year.

Key by Dawn at Poppy Loves Roses and Wellington Boots

All too soon it was Christmas Eve and time for Twinkle to return.  She left behind a  Nice Certificate which came from Prints by Tommys Mammy, it even had their photograph on it to show that they definitely had been good.  Her work, is again amazing, nothing is too much of a problem and is always of a extremely high standard.  Again, I have purchased many things from Emily in the past for gifts etc.  Twinkle also left a goodbye letter telling Eva and Luca that she would be back next year.... if they were good throughout the year!

We all had amazing fun with Twinkle, the children loved her and hubby and I had a brilliant time thinking up mischief for her to get up to every night.

I hope I may have inspired you to join in with the Elf fun, let me know if you do!

Elf merchandise provided by

Poppy Loves Roses and Wellington Boots

Prints by Tommys Mammy

Designs by Nikki

Merry Elfmas