The Yearly Elf Visit

So I am sure that many of you have heard of The Elf on the Shelf.  Every year this Elf comes to visit the homes of thousands upon thousands of boy and girls in the world.  He is there to remind the kids to be good and to help them remember that Santa is watching.  Parents give the elf a name and put him in various mischievous poses that are often times things you wouldn't want your kids doing anyway.  Every day or every few days he switches what he is doing.

Now personally I like the idea of something to help remind my kids to be good and to bring them some joy but I think this elf looks creepy.  I don't want it in my house and I'm not a fan of much of what parents make it do that their kids see.  So I decided I would come up with something else for my kids.

I decided I would draw some elves for my kids and surprise them with my own version of Elf visitors.  Some are serious like one making a list for Santa, some are silly, and some are just cute.

Every day, from December 1st through Christmas Eve, I take one of the 24 elves I drew and place it somewhere throughout the house.  I have a mix of boy and girl elves and none of them are causing trouble that would be unacceptable for my kids to do.  They are cute and funny and every morning my oldest three kids run through the house looking for the new addition to the elf visitors.  They give them names and it makes my heart feel happy to see my kids so happy.

Now I know that not everyone has the ability to draw anything better than a stick figure but there are plenty of images of elves online you can print out and use should you like this idea.  I took my drawings and backed them on posterboard for durability.  On Christmas morning the elves "gather" on the tree to watch the present opening and festivities and while the kids are distracted I quietly remove them all and hide them.  At some point the kids notice they are gone and I tell them the Elves have gone home until next year.  I have thoughts on drawing a set of Elves for all four of my kids to use in their own homes when they are older but we'll see what happens.  For now I am just glad to be able to put a smile on the faces of my children.