Are you looking forward to spicing up this Christmas holiday season for your family and especially your kids? We know Elf on the Shelf is the timeless classic that children enjoy the most. It’s a tradition that usually starts on the first of December and ends on Christmas.
But who exactly are these elves? These elves report to Santa himself at night to know if there are any mischievous kids or not. In short, they tell Santa whether the kids are nice or naughty. After this mandatory reporting, they come back every day and hide in your home in so many places, which we will see in a while.
The most important thing is the kids are not allowed to touch the elves, or the elves will lose their powers.
If you’re planning to get on with this tradition, you must need ideas as to where you can hide the elves. This is where we come in to serve you plenty of funny, creative, and engaging elf-on-the-shelf ideas to enjoy with your family.
Best Elf on The Shelf Ideas for Home
1. Throwing Welcome Party
This elf-on-the-shelf idea can be marked as the arrival of elves in your home. You can arrange the dining table with elves to give your kids a surprise in the morning. You can decorate the table with white table cloth and Santa-styled plates.
Place the elf on the raised platform surrounded by ice. This whole set will give a snow-like feel to your table. Adorn your chair with snow garland, as shown in the picture. This will be the perfect welcome party decor for the elves in your home.
2. Popping Out of the Cereal Box
In general, kids are not a fan of cereals and will avoid eating them at all costs. Placing the elf in the cereal box might change their opinion since they see Santa as an inspirational figure. Even though they will not eat the cereal that day, remember elves are not allowed to be touched.
This is a very simple elf-on-the-shelf idea that might make your kid love cereal. You just need to pin the elf on the cover of the cereal box and wait for your kid to be surprised.
3. Drive-In Movie Theater
A very thoughtful, cheering, and fun elf-on-the-shelf idea. Place your iPad or tablet on a desk playing with your kid’s favorite Christmas movie with all the favorite toys your kid around. Incorporate cars, decorate the toys with string lightson them, and make them look aesthetic.
Your kids will definitely enjoy watching their favorite movie with the elves, along with their favorite toys. This will become a happy memory that they will cherish forever.
4. Wrapping Gifts
How cute will you be seeing the elves wrapping the gifts with brown paper and strings? This is a creative way to gift your kids a present they will love to wait for. The gift can contain candies, miniature-sized toys that you knew your kids wanted, and so much more.
Kids are not allowed to touch the gifts until the elves are gone, which is after midnight. This will teach the kids patience and make them even more excited about the gifts, as these gifts are directly from the elves.
5. Hostage Situation
Elves being held hostage is a funny yet creative idea that is sure to spread laughter in your home. It doesn’t require much effort. You simply need to take an elf or elves and create a scene of elves being taken away!
In the above image, the elf is pasted on the wall with the tape. Place the elf closer to the floor, and surround it with a bunch of armies looking at the captured elf. You can also challenge the kids in your home to find the elf. Since it’s closer to the wall, it would be a good challenge.
6. Washing Machine
This has to be the weirdest yet unique elf-on-the-shelf idea for you to execute. Even though fairly easy to use, this is the perfect place for the elves to stay hidden. Because let’s be honest, kids never look in the washing machine.
At the end of the day, you can ask your kids to look in the washing machine, challenging them to find the elves. Moreover, just make sure you remember the placement of the shelves and remove them before you use your washing machine.
7. Stealing Chocolate
Elves stealing the one thing which all kids across the world generally like sounds fun to you. Indulge in this elf-on-the-shelf idea to tease your kid. You can be as creative as you want. For instance, in this image, the chocolate boxes are put on the floor one over the above to help the elf reach the shelf and take out the chocolate.
This requires some patience and lots of chocolate boxes to set up, but it will be a unique and one-of-a-kind elf-on-the-shelf idea for home.
8. Having a Bath
Elves taking a bath is funny to imagine and even funnier to set up and look at. A tip for you is to set this up before your kids are about to wake up, and as soon as they enter the washroom, you should get ready with your camera and capture their surprised reactions.
To set this up is really simple. You need to put the elf or elves in the sink. Place white cotton balls around the elf to give it the feel of a bubble bath.
9. Getting Lost on The Sofa
It is the most classical idea in the history of elf-on-the-shelf ideas to home tradition. It is hilarious to see and very easy to execute. You just need to place the elf’s head inside the sofa borders. Make it look like the elf is trying to hide something or the head is stuck. Spread coins around it as a bonus for your kids.
This idea is fairly easy to be used a lot accurately, but it still holds the same relevance in this tradition of elf on the shelf.
10. Shopping Spree
Why should elves not be allowed to shop and enjoy technological advancements? This is the latest innovation in the tradition of elf-on-the-shelf ideas at home. Fairly easy to execute. You just need a laptop, a card, and an elf.
Simply place the elf on the shelf, start the laptop and open a shopping site, and create a scene of elf shopping online. To make it more interesting for the kids, open a toy site and choose a toy they always wanted and have an elf buy them. This will tease them and keep them happy as they anticipate their gifts very soon.
11. Wrapped in Toilet Roll
Rolling elves in the toilet roll are hilarious and give you plenty of opportunities to get creative. All you need is enough toilet roll and a few elves to be wrapped around left for your kids’ amusement.
As shown in the picture above, you can leave the elves rolled in the toilet roll on the stairs. The goal is to make it look like the elves have rolled themselves into the toilet roll and got stuck. This elf-on-the-shelf idea at home is one of the easiest to get right.
12. Elf in School
This whole setup of sending elves to the school might be time-consuming and hectic, but it will be worth a lot more when the laughter and happiness fill your home. You just need to take some elves and put them in the tiny box. Basically, the purpose is to make a classroom-like setting with whiteboards, notebooks, teachers, etc.
In the above image, you can clearly see how neatly the school setup has been made. This is a great idea for your kids as this will inspire them to be more active and interested in their studies. We all can agree that elves can motivate kids to study more than their parents.
13. Elf as a DJ
If your kids are fanatics of music and groove to good tunes, this idea is sure to blow their minds. Like, who doesn’t want to see the elf having a DJ night in your home? This elf-on-shelf idea at home is fairly easy to execute but needs a little bit of your artistic side.
Simply have a tiny box acting as a DJ stand. Make the elf stand behind it and put his hand on the box. But do remember to decorate the box a bit to make it look funky. You can put some funny emojis or write something which can make your kids giggle.
14. Hot Cocoa Party
This is another welcome party-themed idea for the elves. It makes sense to give elves a welcome party since they traveled from afar. A little extravagant and hard to set up but looks absolutely delightful once the whole table is set up to welcome the elves.
Have a table set up with a white tablecloth and strike a pose with your elf, stirring the hot cocoa cup. This elf-on-the-shelf idea at home is creative and engaging. You can make some hot cocoa for your kids and place it on the side so that your kids can enjoy them as well.
15. Marshmallow Snowman
It’s winter, and there is one thing that all kids around the world equally enjoy is building a snowman. So why not have a snowman in your home to surprise your kids? You can use marshmallows as snow to prepare for this elf-on-the-shelf idea at home.
You can set the whole decor to make it look like the elf has built the snowman. To go the extra mile, you can decorate the marshmallow to keep things exciting and unique. This idea is easy to execute and won’t require much preparation.
16. Train Ride
We don’t see any reason why the elves should not enjoy a train ride in these chilly winters. This fun idea is creative and will instantly bring a smile to your kid’s face. However, you need a mini-train set to turn this plan into a reality.
In the above image, you can see how the elf is fitted inside the wooden train set. This setting looks cute and highly creative. To spice up things a little, you can put up a destination sign somewhere on the side and tell your kids to guess it. This will turn into an activity riddled with fun and cheer.
17. Making Snowflakes
How does an elf making snowflakes sound? It’s fun, right? This elf-on-the-shelf idea at home is very thoughtful. Everyone likes snowflakes, be it adults or kids. To set this scene up, you just need an elf and big scissors to cut up and make the perfect snowflakes.
In the above picture, you can clearly see how the elf is sitting on the bed making snowflakes. Who knows? This elf-on-the-shelf idea might inspire your kids, and they actually start helping you more at home. You can also gather around your kids and make more snowflakes to keep them playing with the elves.
18. Baking Cookies
A very cute, chic, and innovative elf-on-the-shelf idea at home. Get your elves to work in the kitchen and cook up delicious cookies for your kids. This idea is easy to execute and won’t take much of your time. You just need a cookie or the raw materials required to make a cookie and place the elf alongside it.
In the above image, the elf is sitting on the container with cookies lying on the side. The elf is also holding a placard asking to serve cookies, giving it a very cute and charming appeal to the whole scene.
Final Thoughts
The tradition of the elf on the shelf is a long-drawn one, and people participate in this tradition with utmost enthusiasm. This tradition lasts the whole month; hence it’s crucial to have sufficient ideas and places to hide or showcase the elves to your kids. This will keep things interesting and make Christmas for your kids and family even more joyful and memorable.
In this article, we have covered 18 creative elf-on-the-shelf ideas at home. These ideas are not only creative but also add to your kids’ happiness. The elf on the shelf tradition pushes children to be on their best behavior and to not take any part in mischief around the home as they get scared that Santa will get mad at them.
In the end, do let us know in the comment section about which idea you found the easiest to try!
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are the Three Rules of Elf on The Shelf?
The tradition of the elf on the shelf has three foundational rules, without which the whole tradition loses its value. First, you are not allowed to touch the elves once they are set up because if you do, they will lose all their powers. Second, you need to talk to your elf. They cannot talk back, but they are always hearing you. Lastly, they are bound to return to the North Pole on Christmas Eve.
What is the Punishment for Touching the Elves on The Shelf?
If your kids are mischievous enough to touch the elves, then the kids must be punished for taking away the magic of elves. Yes, you heard it right. Once touched, elves lose their magic and go to the North Pole to get their magic fixed. This simply means no fun activities or setups on the following day at home.
Do Elves Move or Do Parents Move Them?
Elves do not move by themselves. Parents move the elves at night. However, there is a right way to do it. For instance, parents can only move the elves when the kids are asleep. Also, elves should have a unique place every night they return from the North Pole.
Why Are Elves Important for Christmas?
You can trace the importance of elves in Christmas in the Scandinavian tradition. In this, elves are known to repulse the evil spirits in the house and bring good luck and happiness to the space. Elves prank bad people and treat nice people with gifts, laughter, and lots of love.
