It's that time of year!
Elfie Pokie Nokie, our Elf on the Shelf, is due to arrive back in our home in less than a week. It seriously feels like he was just here yesterday, but here we are again approaching December and his much anticipated arrival.
I know that for a lot of families the Elf on the Shelf arrives right after Thanksgiving (or maybe even before) and I also know that for a lot of parents coming up with fun ideas for the elf can be a little daunting. So today I'm sharing some more of my favorite situations that we've found Elfie Pokie Nokie in over the past few years. I shared thirty of my favorite ideas a few years back, which you can see here, but it's time for an update with some new ideas.
Let's take a look at what Elfie Pokie Nokie has been up to in the past...
Some days Elfie really gets into the holiday spirit. I mean, he is a Christmas elf after all, so it only makes sense that he would love everything and anything Christmas related. We've found him perched on a floral holiday display, making marshmallow snow angels, dressed up as the Sugar Plum Fairy (doesn't he look good in that dress?), hanging up with the Christmas cards, hanging out in a gingerbread house, sitting in the Christmas tree, sharing a Christmas message on the light box, giving gifts, and even perched on top of the Christmas presents when we were on vacation and didn't have a tree. He sure does love getting into the holiday spirit.
1. Perched on a floral holiday display
2. Making marshmallow snow angels
3. Preparing for a Nutcracker performance
4. Hanging with the Christmas cards
5. Hanging out in a gingerbread house
6. Sitting in the Christmas tree
7. Giving a gift for the kids to read
8. Sitting atop the presents on Christmas morning
9. A Christmas message on the light box
And some times by holiday spirit, I mean spirits of the alcoholic variety! One year when we were on vacation over the Christmas break we caught Elfie getting into the hotel mini bar! Doesn't he know how expensive those little bottles are? Another time we caught him hanging out under the Christmas tree having a few too many drinks with his friends. I blame the leprechaun. We all know that leprechauns are always up to no good.
10. Getting into the hotel mini bar
11. Drinking a little too much with his friends
Then there are those times when Elfie gets into the holiday spirit but mixes the holidays up a little! Thanksgiving and Halloween are pretty fun, so I can see why he wants to try them out.
12. Pilgrim elf giving thanks
13. Getting into the Halloween candy
Elfie got in a bit of trouble for going through Lola's Halloween bucket! He does this every year and it's always Lola's bucket for some reason. Speaking of trouble, there have been quite a few times that we've found Elfie Pokie Nokie stuck in some strange situations. Pegged to the clothes lines, wrapped in toilet paper, stuck in a hanging glass ball (I"m not sure what he did with the air plant that normally sits in there), stuck in the dryer, tangled in dental floss... At least with that that last one he was trying to keep his teeth clean - presuming he has teeth!
14. Hanging on the clothes line
15. Wrapped in toilet paper
16. Stuck in a hanging glass ball
17. Trapped in the dryer
18. Tangled in dental floss
Speaking of keeping clean, there have been a few times that we've found Elfie bathing on the bathroom sink. I guess we should give him a little privacy!
19. Wrapped up after a bath.
Elves are pretty playful, so there are plenty of days when we've found Elfie playing with toys and games. He really seems to like Lego and Duplo blocks, puzzles, stacking blocks, board games, computer games... Anything that the kids like, really. One day he was even riding Lola's old (and empty) unicorn pinata. It's a good thing he didn't smash it up looking for candy!
20. Riding in a Lego cart
21. Building a Duplo house
22. Leaving messages with an alphabet puzzle
23. Playing with a stacking toy - and stealing its hat!
24. Playing Operation
25. Playing computer games
26. Riding a unicorn pinata
Playing dress up is also one of Elfie's favorite things to do as you saw above when he was dressed up as the Sugar Plum Fairy. When Mathilde was little Elfie wanted her to play dress ups too, so one night he laid out an elf costume for her to wear! Now, I know that kids aren't supposed to touch the Elf on the Shelf, but when Mathilde was a one year old this was pretty hard to enforce, so we decided that the rule didn't apply to babies. She made use of that loophole as much as she could!
27. Playing dress ups with a friend
All that playing can get a little tiring - let alone all that flying to the North Pole and back each night - so some mornings we found Elfie just relaxing. Sometimes he'd be reading the newspaper, other times he'd be making himself a much needed coffee. Then there were days when he was just sitting on a shelf. He is the Elf on the Shelf, after all.
28. Reading the newspaper
29. Making coffee
30. Just being an elf on a shelf
Hiding is one of Elfie Pokie Nokie's other favorite things to do. Some days he's better at it than others. It took a long time for the girls to spot his feet poking out of the toilet rolls and they completely missed him in the freezer. Other hiding spots weren't so tricky. In fact, when he hid on top of the round storage shelf above Mathilde's change table a few years back, he was only hidden ever so slightly when the bunny mobile moved in front of him. And even then it was only hiding his face. If he can't see us, we can't see him, right?
31. Hiding in a vase (or rather, a decorative beer stein)
32. Chilling in the freezer
33. Hiding upside down in the toilet rolls
34. Sitting on top of a storage shelf
35. Hanging out behind a map
Seriously, he wasn't even trying with some of those hiding places, was he? One time Elfie definitely didn't hide was when he got hold of my phone and took a gazillion selfies! Or rather, sElfies! I'm used to the kids filling my phone up with random shots and blurry close ups but it was a surprise when Elfie did the same. I'm just glad he didn't get into my Instagram account!
36. Taking sElfies
Oh Elfie Pokie Nokie, you get yourself into so many situations!
Stay tuned to see what he gets up to this year. Like always, I'll be sharing a post at the end of each week in December to show where we found Elfie each day. I can't wait to share his crazy antics with you again.
Does the Elf in the Shelf visit your home? I'd love to hear what sort of things he gets up to when he visits.
