Not Santa! The Elf on the Shelf! I have to go find mine before the kids come back after Thanksgiving. A dcm gave it to us a couple years ago and we have so much fun with him. Can't wait!

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I just started this last night with dd! Hers is a girl and she named it Tita (tee-tah)... She names everything Tita... We got it a little skirt at Target so she could be properly adorned. This whole thing used to creep me out.. still kind of does and she's sitting on the counter staring at me, but I needed to do something to motivate my daughter a bit when it comes to the naughty/nice christmas thing.

A few days ago we were talking about it and she asked me if she could just go ahead and be on the naughty list: 'Momma me be on the nauddy yist? No me yike santa watchin me. Me yus det toal"...... I had to bring in the big guns..

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We don't do Elf on the Shelf ... we have "the little man" that is a tradition in DH's family since his grandmother was a little girl. Starting the day after Thanksgiving, the little man will occasionally leave a little treat for the kids, if he has caught them being extra good or doing something nice. Chocolates, or a book. It maybe happens 3 times in that time span.

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I have to admit, I went a little cheap on the Elf on the Shelf. Target had the book and small elf for $30, or a stuffed animal Elf on the Shelf (they apparently have a whole line of them now), for $13. My ds is 3, so he is just as excited about the stuffed animal, and I saved a little cash. The Elf is currently on the dresser- we'll see where he ends up by morning

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I decided to start it this year after my 10 year old asked last year why Santa didn't send us an elf. I realize it's probably too late for him to believe it or will be after this year, but I still have a 7 year old and a 2 year old. I just hope I can come up with some creative and fun ideas for what the elf does at night!

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We do it with our daughter. Somedays it's where the daycare kids can see, sometimes not. We start the day after Thanksgiving.

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I'm glad you reminded me. I need to find him and our "magic elf door". Oh, and what was his name? I'm going to have to search through my journal to figure out his name--I hope I wrote it down somewhere because there is no doubt that dcg will remember.

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This will be my first year- any suggestions/ ideas to use?

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* in case the elf is touched (by child hands - I tell my DCK that grown up hands are fine to touch him ) then cinnamon sprinkled on your elf can bring his magic back. I also had the offending DCK write a letter to Santa asking for the Elf's magic to come back.

* when I inevitably forget to move the elf over night, I just say that he REALLY REALLY must like that spot/ it is a good spot for observing us.

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I have done it with my kids but I will include the dcks this year, as well. My kids are older and make their comments, but if that elf hasn't moved by morning, boy do we hear about it

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We got the elf as a hand me down and started last night ..: but there's a book to go with it? I just googled free elf story and read them a poem. Is the book really worth it?

There's TONS of ideas on Pinterest. I just made a board but theres thousands of ideas!

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I thought it would be funny to do it with the Day care kids. We have not with my son because we have never told him santa was real. I dont think we will though because they have already been so excited about Christmas I dont think I can take a 25 days of building excitement. My own son has always gotten to excited and will make himself sick from it. We had to stop doing the 12 days of Christmas for this exact reason.

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I haven't checked pinterest yet but as someone mentioned, I expect there to be lots of fun ideas there! I know the first yr. we had him he just moved every night after the kids left(I was so elf inept lol). But last year I got into it a bit more. I'd put him up with a little booklet of the dcks' names. One a.m. they came in and he'd thrown snow all over the floor(cotton batting). He brought them Christmas pencils one day, another day they had tootsie roll pops, thanks to the elf. He was caught playing with their instruments. He had magically taken the dollhouse sofa up on a high shelf and was taking a nap one day. It's just so much fun. I even strung up a toy plane from the ceiling and he was taking a trip back to the North Pole that night in it.
The kids get caught up in all the fun and magic. The first thing they all do every a.m. when they come through the door is hunt for our elf. It also helps with separation problems too.
My group this year is a lot younger, with only 1 left from last Christmas. So even though she's only turning 3, she's had lots of Elf experience.

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This seems fun. I think I may do this.

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This is our 5th year. Flick (our little elf) is so loved by the kids. We have great fun deciding where to hide him each morning. The ideas online are ENDLESS. From simple to extremely elaborate. There are videos online too, where parents secretly "film" their elf moving around the house.

A feature cartoon video was released and we have that too. The kids adore it.

I can highly recommend it, we've had a ton of fun with him.

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My 8 year old daughter asked the other day if parents bought the presents for us and put Santa's name on them. I asked what she thought (trying to gauge how I wanted to proceed lol) and she said "YES!"

Sooooo, yeah, no Elf here

We are doing a homemade Advent Ring that has an activity for every day. Some are as simple as reading a Christmas story but we also have making gifts for others, shopping for Toys for Tots, delivering food to the food pantry, etc.

On a side note, I would love to throttle the little kid who told my DD that Santa wasn't real.

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I'm totally creeped out by this too. I won't do it here. My MIL wanted to get my kids one a few years ago and I said "no". I also didn't want another task to complete everyday - moving him around and creating mischief for him to get into during the night. It does look fun, but I guess I was traumatized by dolls when I was little, so I'm not brave enough to do it.

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Maybe I'm weird, but the whole idea of it holds no appeal to me. Seems like it is really catching on though, and that people are having lots of fun with it.

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My 9yo still believes, even in the tooth fairy. I have a little saying "if you don't believe, then you don't receive" meaning if you don't believe then Santa can't bring you any gifts. Does she really believe? Probably not, but she plays along for the fun of it.

So yes, Elf on the Shelf will be making an appearance on Friday. Ours is a trickster and likes to have fun and the kiddos love it. When he is naughty we use that as a chance to determine good vs bad behavior. I have a whole bunch of new ideas and will be incorporating a lot of other toys this year. I think I'll confine his "messes" to the kitchen table this year though

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we have had our Elf on the Shelf for 6 years now! I hide him more for my own kids, half the time he is in non-daycare areas but every once in a while I hide him in the playroom or areas where they can see him.

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