The holidays are fast approaching and the mental load on parents of crafting ideas to keep children entertained can be demanding. Parents often find themselves navigating the delicate balance between providing a joyful and enriching experience for their kids and juggling many other responsibilities. Elf on the Shelf is a Christmas tradition that is rapidly growing around the world and is loved by children, but many parents have struggled to consistently keep up with the activity. Agenda Hero is here to help you succeed with a fail-safe Elf on the Shelf schedule!
What is Elf on the Shelf?
The Elf on the Shelf is a Christmas tradition that involves special scout elves. These elves visit the home during the day and fly to the North Pole each night to report to Santa on which children are behaving (or misbehaving). When they return to a family’s home, they find a new hiding spot or vantage point and sometimes stir up hijinks overnight.
Elf on the Shelf has three rules:
- The elf will lose magic if touched by a child, but the magic powers come back if you set cinnamon next to the elf overnight.
- While the children are awake, the elf will not move or speak, but they’re always great listeners. Little ones are encouraged to share secrets and wishes with their elf as often as they’d like.
- On Christmas Eve, the elf goes back to the North Pole to help Santa prepare for the next Christmas.
How to play Elf on the Shelf
Your scout Elf can start visiting your home whenever you’d like, but it’s most common to appear between November 24th and December 1st to allow for up to a month of fun with the elf. Each night after the children go to sleep, the elf is moved to a new location in the home. This is often accompanied by some elven antics! There are plenty of elf ideas in this post and online for staging the elf that spark wonder and joy in children each morning, but it can often be difficult to remember to move the elf and time-consuming to think of and carry out these ideas.
Agenda Hero has you covered: We’ve composed a schedule to track your elf’s nightly movements and share inspiration for mischievous elven activities.
The most stressful aspect of Elf on the Shelf involves remembering to set up a new adventure for the elf each night. Agenda Hero schedules come complete with nightly custom text message reminders, which are the perfect tool for ensuring tasks and important details don't fall through the cracks. You can sign up to receive nightly reminders from our schedule to ensure the elf remembers to relocate every night.
Here are some ideas for hiding and staging the elf each night when the text reminder comes in:
- Write an arrival letter from the elf
- Take a “shelfie” with the elf
- Use a tissue as an elf blanket
- Leave a note from the elf on the bathroom mirror
- Turn the milk green
- Soak the elf in a marshmallow bath
- Hide the elf in some wrapping paper
- Elf squishing out toothpaste
- Elf sitting with stuffed animals
- Hide in the freezer — the elf is homesick and the cold is a comforting reminder of the North Pole
Elf on the Shelf can be a lot of fun for everyone in the family, and we're in your corner to make sure your scout elf's mission is a success.
Keeping the holiday spirit alive
From planning creative crafts and games to scouting local events, there is a constant effort to cater to the diverse interests and age groups of each family. It demands creativity, adaptability, and a keen understanding of each child's preferences. Agenda Hero is here to help! We’re taking on the challenge of brainstorming and organizing holiday activities so you don’t have to.
Although it can be a challenge sometimes, seeing the happiness and excitement in the kids' eyes when we plan fun activities makes all the thinking and planning worth it. It reminds us that the holidays are an important time for making happy memories together.
Agenda Hero schedules are a great tool for planning, sharing, and staying on top of activities and responsibilities for your family. We’ve curated a schedule of family-friendly holiday events for those in the Boston area. You can sign up today and create your own family holiday schedule.
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