Like so many other families, we love our elf on the shelf, Eli. Our Eli, though may be a little different then what you may expect, as he's not Scout, he's Eli. He didn't come with a book, we saved him from a claw machine. And, like so many other families, we've found ourselves desperately trying to come up with a good idea for Eli's nightly adventures at midnight, half asleep and desperate to crawl into bed and feeling annoyed with ourselves because we almost forgot about poor Eli. Yet, no matter how annoyed we find ourselves, we find great joy in the work as we see the look on our children's face in the morning when they find Eli, often before school! So, after talking to my kids, scrolling through pinterest pins and prowling through past year's pictures, I've compiled a list of some of our favorite Eli adventures, most of which we've actually seen him take, though few were just cute ideas.
1. A letter from Santa: Within the first couple of days, Eli brings a letter from Santa, often a response to the letter they sent him!
2. Make coffee: What morning is complete without a nice big cup of coffee? While this little task isn't so much for the kids, but for me, they still get the giggles when they see that Eli's gotten up early and not only made me coffee, but also has picked out a coffee cup and gotten everything else ready for me!
6. Decorate: While we often like to decorate as a family, sometimes we just need a little help, or we need a swift kick in the pants to get a move on! In these occasions, we wake up and find Eli with some decorations out and ready to be enjoyed!
7. Put up the tree: Keeping with the theme, sometimes Eli is kind enough to put the tree up for us. Of course, he doesn't decorate it, he just decides to protect the kids from the irritating and boring work of getting the tree up and allow them to jump straight to the fun job of decorating.
8. Snow flakes: One of our favorite decorations for the yule time is snow flakes, cut out of paper! Thankfully, we have help some years and Eli does, at least, some of the cutting for us! When we're really lucky, he even hangs them for us before we wake up!
9. Read: Every elf needs to take some time to sit back and relax and what better way to do so then with a good book! Note: I also love that it promotes literacy and leisure reading!
1. A letter from Santa: Within the first couple of days, Eli brings a letter from Santa, often a response to the letter they sent him!
2. Make coffee: What morning is complete without a nice big cup of coffee? While this little task isn't so much for the kids, but for me, they still get the giggles when they see that Eli's gotten up early and not only made me coffee, but also has picked out a coffee cup and gotten everything else ready for me!
3. Bring Gifts: Bring gifts!Small gifts are always welcome and fun to find first thing in the morning! One of Eli's favorite things to bring to us are ornaments for our tree! (Stay tuned! I hope to do a list of fun gifts for your elf to bring you, too!)
4. Change the screen savor/wallpaper on electronics: This one can be really fun, depending on the device! Eli likes to pick a really fun holiday image, often with something we really like such as penguin's, elves or polar bears. He then usually sits around the device,waiting of us to find him and what he's done.
5.Pull out decorations: Some years we're just busy and getting out to our favorite place of storage to pull out the numerous totes filled with Christmas cheer almost seems impossible, so Eli does it for us, as a way of telling us to get a move on and start decorating! Of course, he tend to leave a mess when he does this, he tends to leave a mess.
7. Put up the tree: Keeping with the theme, sometimes Eli is kind enough to put the tree up for us. Of course, he doesn't decorate it, he just decides to protect the kids from the irritating and boring work of getting the tree up and allow them to jump straight to the fun job of decorating.
8. Snow flakes: One of our favorite decorations for the yule time is snow flakes, cut out of paper! Thankfully, we have help some years and Eli does, at least, some of the cutting for us! When we're really lucky, he even hangs them for us before we wake up!
9. Read: Every elf needs to take some time to sit back and relax and what better way to do so then with a good book! Note: I also love that it promotes literacy and leisure reading!
10. Online/catalog shopping: Some of the fun of the season is the shopping! Eli has also been known to do a little shopping of his own! While he could go to his favorite store online (Walmart might be good), scroll through and throw some goodies into the shopping cart, Eli likes to go through the toy books we get and circle all of the fun toys Eli plans to put on his own wishlist to Santa!
11. Clip coupons: We love using coupons to save money, so it's no surprise that Eli has been eager to help with that! Of course, while he's clipping coupons for some of the items on my grocery list, he also is sure to collect coupons for fin Christmas things like candy canes. He also always makes sure to add some goodies that the kids would enjoy that I would never clip coupons for!
12. Bake Cookies: Who doesn't like some fresh made cookies? It's fun, festive and makes the house smell good. Note: The pre-made dough with little designs on the cookies are easy, pretty quick and a big hit with the kids!
13. Play board/card games: This one is pretty easy and a good last minute solution on those nights you're too tired to put much effort into it! Connect four, Uno, Go fish and Monopoly are great options! Of course Eli would need a friend to play with, unless he chooses to play solitaire.
14. Date Barbie: Elves need love, too! Candle light dinners, movies and popcorn...who could ask for more? Of course, this also allows for a great opportunity for Ken to rebel (which he has done in our house by tying Eli upside down form the window shade cords)!
15. Strike: We don't use this often and, to be honest, it's a last resort for us, but, in years past, Eli has gone on strike after fighting with our kids for days to get their rooms clean. As much as I hate to admit it, they did actually work. Now my daughter fears Eli going on strike again.
16. Get well soon wishes: During times of illness, Eli has held a sign wishing the sick to get well while also providing over the counter meds, Kleenex and any other supplies that may be useful. Of course, when illness is going around the house, you have to be careful that your elf doesn't get sick, too. Which Eli has done as well in which band aids were stuck to the places it hurt, a heating pad placed strategically on his head curled up in a blanket and out of commission for a couple of days.
17.Color: Grab your favorite Christmas coloring sheet and crayons for Eli because even he likes to color sometimes!
18. Play video games: Our absolute favorite was when Eli built a Christmas level in Mario Maker, but really, Eli enjoys playing video games on many systems and in many styles! It all kind of depends on what mood he's in.
19. Wrap gifts: I'm always up for some help wrapping gifts and it's so much fun to wake up and find gifts under the tree when I didn't have to wrap them and before Christmas! And you know the kids love exploring gifts!
20. T.P the bedrooms: This one is fun, but not a good idea if the kids sleep light! Often times Eli uses streamers we have left over form parties and birthdays we've had over the past year, as we ALWAYS have partial rolls laying around! However, toilet paper would also be fun. Especially if their room is already a mess, since this is a great reason to have to clean!
21. Hide in the tree: This works best for us shortly after the tree goes up and is decorated. It works well to signify Eli's excitement with the tree up and the decorations in place! It's also pretty darn cute!
22. Hide and seek: Eli likes to play games. He's also been known to leave a note, challenging the kids to find him as he hides in cupboards, the tree, under the bed and a variety of other fun hiding places! The kids loved running through the house looking for him and really enjoyed coming home from school and getting to do it again!
23. Watch a movie: Christmas movies are Eli's favorite to curl up on the couch with a blanket, bowl of popcorn and remote!
24. Snowball fight: Ever been suspicious that your elf is in a feud with one of the other toys? Maybe Ken after Barbie agreed to go out with your elf? Well open a pack of marshmallows and maybe some q-tips or mega blocks! Your elf can build a fort to hide behind and the snow ball fight (marsh mellows) can commence!
25. Watch them sleep: One of the most fun things Eli has done was watching the kids sleep! When my kids woke up, they found Eli on their bed side table, staring at them! While the execution of this wasn't anything to write home about, the reaction my kids had to it was!
26. Candy Canes: Eli is a big fan of candy canes and has brought them to us a few years. Sometimes he hangs them on our tree, other times he just brings them for us to enjoy! (Tinsel is also a fun thing for elves to bring and hang on the tree, too!)
27. Birthday cards: Having a birthday close to Christmas can be hard, but what if you got a Christmas card from the North Pole? Could be pretty cool! Also, anniversary cards for the other kids to celebrate the day they became big siblings (again) are pretty exciting, too.
28. Christmas cards: Have you ever thought about weather Santa sends Christmas cards? The elves can answer that!
29. Hot chocolate: We love hot chocolate and Eli knows it! That's why he's been known to make himself some and drink it, but not without pulling out packets and marshmallows to go with mugs for the rest of us! The kids couldn't wait to oblige!
30. Held hostage: While sometimes Eli can get into trouble and has been known to make others upset, he's not the only one who can cause trouble! Some of his "friends" have been known to retaliate by holding him hostage!
31. Play dress up: So much fun and so cute! Doll's clothes, printable masks, Halloween masks...there are just so many options! Eli's even dressed up as a Jedi!
32. Grocery List; Sometimes we don't add Eli's requests to our grocery list so he does it for us!
33. Write on the mirror: Silly Eli! Thank goodness he knows that white board markers wipe easily off of glass like windows, fridges and mirrors! If it didn't, we don't even want to talk about all the doodles we'd have around here!
34. Trap kids in their rooms: This one is my daughter's favorite! She even requests it from Eli every year! Once again, streamers left over from previous in the year are used to trap the kids! They love breaking free! Eli's handy work gets more and more elaborate the older the kids get (this picture is from a few years ago).
35. Homework from the North Pole: Have your elf leave a math problem or writing prompt for the kids to complete by the end of the day or, even, before he comes back with more mischief!
36. Selfies: The selfie craze has reached the North Pole! In years past, Eli's stolen my camera and taken pictures of himself enjoying all of the festivities around our house, including in front of the tree. Going through our camera's memory card was so much fun!
So there you have it! 36 of our favorite Eli adventures over the last few years! Which is your favorite? What's some of your favorite experiences with your elf? Tell us in the comments!
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