Thursday, December 13, 2018

Elf Antics So Far

Last year when  we confirmed for Luke the truth about Santa and had this talk about how now he gets to "be a Santa" and keep the magic alive for other kids some of the first words out of his mouth were, "so now our elf can do cool stuff, right?!?!"  I tried not to take it personally (hahaha) and instead embraced his desire to help and "up" our elf game.  

This year he's been FULL of ideas and there have been nights where it's "all him" and nights where I tell him that it's handled and to get ready for a surprise in the morning :)  Even though he knows it's me and Dave moving him he has still been really into the surprise mornings - and watching his little face light up when the younger two are all, "oh MAN look what Buddy, did!!!" and Luke was the one who did it :)  He's getting to experience what being a Santa feels like and he's loving it.  

I'd love it if Mason believes FOREVER but I'm just as excited about him and Luke being "in on it" (whenever that happens) and getting to surprise each other with some elf antics and work together to do it for their sister.  Christmas is MAGIC, y'all!!!

That was WAY longer than I intended so ON with the antics :) 

This day was my FAVORITE and the look on Luke's face in the morning was priceless!



Luke has been working his way through the Harry Potter books (he's almost done with the last one) and they've all been watching the movies in the van and it's been ALLLL the Harry Potter talk/play all the time.

 I drew the glasses and lightning bolt on with crayola washable marker and made the scarf by googling the color codes, creating the scarf in Word and then printing it off.  The cape was a piece of construction paper and the marauders map I printed from a Google image search.





Our elf surprised the kids with mini gingerbread houses that he was working on  but didn't have time to finish...




Check out that tiny piping bag!!!


The kids finished the houses and ate them for breakfast because #christmas :)


One morning when we woke up we found that Buddy had played a little trick on Griffin's kitty...



Griffin actually got pretty upset about it (Buddy didn't anticipate that!) but when we got home from school that day Buddy and Kitty had made up and were hanging out together on the mantle :)


When Luke and I were at dinner before going to watch the DSO perform we were brainstorming ideas and looking at Pinterest and he LOVED the idea of making a sled with candy canes.  When we got home we found that we had enough candy to actually make two sleds and so he decided to make it look like this dinosaur was following behind Buddy down the railing...






We hot glued the candy canes together and then attached the dinosaur and elf to the sleds with a clear hair elastic.  To attach them to the railing we just used a pipe cleaner.  EASY!



Buddy rolled out a roll of craft paper one night and made it a big long "activity page" for the kids...




It included the dot game...


... tic tac toe, a spot for "Christmas hangman"...


... and a few stockings to decorate (and stickers to decorate them with).



Pranking ain't easy! So nobody was too surprised when we found Buddy having a little spa day...



And one day we woke up to find that buddy had printed silly pics of all of us and turned us into a Christmas banner :)  


Buddy shops at Michaels where he found these for less than $1 :)



Buddy must have checked the forecast for Saturday because he was ready with an umbrella and rain jacket...



The next idea was Luke's as well... the elf blew up a bunch of balloons and put them all over the kids rooms during the night.  I didn't get any pics in the morning, but they were just as fun in the afternoon :) 


The original plan was to fill the van up with balloons, but it was SO COLD on Wednesday night we weren't sure how well the balloons would do out in the garage all night.


In case you were curious, Buddy used  this pump and blew up 75 balloons in about 20 minutes :)


The next idea was SO simple and the kids got the biggest kick out of it.  I've found that you can never go wrong with a touch of tasteful potty humor :)  The note says "I tooted... wanna smell?  Open the jar and take a whiff!"  and I put a few drops of peppermint oil on the note so when the kids opened it up and took a whiff it smelled like candy canes. 


There were squeals of "MOMMY!!! Buddy toots candy canes!!!" and a whole host of giggles.  They also loved having him in a jar so that they could carry him around.  Simple, easy, fun!

Dave, Luke and I have had so much fun thus far and Luke has some pretty grand ideas for the last 10 days or so :)  If you aren't creative and want to step up your elf game here are some fun (and easy!) options...


If you have any great elf ideas I'd love it if you'd leave them in the comments for everyone to read!

(PS - the links used above are affiliate links - thank you so much for reading and supporting my blog!)

44 comments :

  1. These are great! ♥️♥️♥️

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  2. Okay, our elf is tooting tomorrow....I mean his name is TOOTIE after all!!!!! Right now, there's underwear on our tree because of that little prankster. ;)

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    1. YES!!! The toot went over SO WELL!!! Let me know what Carter thinks!

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  3. I ❤️These!
    My older two are now “ Santa helpers” in our house and it’s so fun to watch them create magic
    My second oldest even took over decorating outside !

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    1. YES! Our elf has definitely stepped up his game now that Luke is involved :)

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  4. My elf is losing momentum rapidly...I start off so strong and by the end, I'm not nearly as creative.

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  5. These ideas are incredible! Way to go!!

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  6. These are some of the best ideas I have seen! I don't know how parents and 'Santa's helpers' come up with some of these. I'm the oldest in my family so I remember when I became one of Santa's helpers and I loved it almost as much as believing in Santa.

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    1. We're having so much fun with it! And I agree - I think Luke would tell you that being "in on it" is way more fun!

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  7. These are so cute! Thanks for sharing. Ours is definitely boring but the kids LOVE him!

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  8. Love it! I've gotten super into it and have also been helped by a kit one of the local moms sells. :) Lots of my elf shenanigans are on my instagram - https://www.instagram.com/laceybean_/

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  9. I saw one where they froze the elf in a block of ice and posed him with an Elsa doll. I bet Griffin would love that!

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    1. What?!?! That's amazing!!! Was he in a ziplock baggie? I'd be afraid of him being soggy for EVER after that! :)

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  10. These are BRILLIANT! I absolutely love that Luke is involved - keeping the magic alive one way or another :)

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  11. These ideas are awesome and I'm totally going to do some of them! We also did the tooted in the jar a few days ago and my kiddos thought it was hilarious :) Thanks for sharing these ideas!

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  12. Great ideas!!! I love when I get to be the elf for my sister and brothers kids....it is do much fune and these are all great ones! Thanks for sharing!

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  13. Do they notice that Buddy’s handwriting is your handwriting?

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    1. Mason and Griffin haven't said anything about it but Luke did a couple of years ago and we told him that elves could copy parents handwriting :)

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  14. These are great ideas to help finish our season strong! Just bought some new clothes for our elves (why did I think it was a good idea to have 2?!) based on your recommendations. Also, wanted to let you know I bought the remote control twinkle lights you recommended last year and I am IN LOVE. They are seriously the best!!!

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    1. I'm so glad you love the lights!!! Aren't they magical???

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    2. I bought some for my mom & she loves them too! Thanks for the recommendation = )

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  15. You are so creative and I love how Luke is having fun being a part of it all. Gosh my kids are grown but your convincing me to bring out the old Elf and have some fun again lol. So many awesome ideas!!!

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    1. You should! Grownup elf antics have the potential to be hilarious :)

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  16. Harry Pottery elf wins the day!! You never cease to amaze me, friend!! I still don't know how you do it all!!
    That Inspired Chick

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    1. Awww! Thank you!!! We absolutely love doing it so we find the time :) hahahaha

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  17. These are so much fun! My kids would DIE LAUGHING at the Peppermint toot. You are so clever. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. That was a total pinterest win! The toot is one of my favorites ever - give it a try and let me know what your kids think!

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  18. Love your ideas! My elf will be tooting in a jar tonight :)

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  19. You should totally do the one where they freeze Buddy! Maybe just put him in the dryer afterwards, haha! Please do a follow up post with the rest of your Buddy files! Love it!

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  20. Such great ideas! Thank you! Do your kids touch the elf if he’s on the floor or on the railings? My youngest is almost 3 so I think he would touch him and then my older two would freak out. We’re running out of “out of reach” ideas!

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  21. You and your family are adorable in every way...that's all.

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  22. These.are.AWESOME! You (and Luke) are so creative!

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  23. Love that Harry Potter elf!! How stinking cute. Our elves are pretty boring normally, but they left a note saying that they stole some of Santa's magic that made them invisible to adults. My kids spent all day trying to convince me & our family grown ups that the elves were there all day. It was hilarious.

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