Surviving 12 Days Of Elf On The Shelf

*This is a paid advertorial, but all opinions are mine*

Elf on the Shelf – you either love it or hate it. And if you hate it, you’ve come to the wrong place as I’m talking all about that pesky little elf today!

This will be Little J’s 3rd Christmas, but only the first year I’ve done Elf on the Shelf – he was definitely too young before! I’ll be honest; I’ve been dreading the time coming to do Elf on the Shelf. I get stressed enough at Christmas anyway, and thinking up numerous fun things for the elf to do each day seemed overwhelming!

So when the awesome people at Design Bundles curated a box packed with 12 amazing ideas for Elvis on the Shelf, I was only too happy to take part!

Here’s how I survived 12 days of Elf on the Shelf with Elvis!

Let me know if you use any of the ideas below! Feel free to tag me so I can see your fabulous creations!

Obviously, you have to be careful with everything going on with COVID, so Elvis spent the first few days in isolation! Perfect! The Elf in Isolation label from Design Bundles just perfectly finishes the look off, doesn’t it?

Day 1 – Gingerbread Baking!

Elvis was given the all-clear and released from isolation! I think someone was pleased to see him!

To celebrate, we decided to do some baking! I’ll be honest; this is actually the first time I’ve done any baking with Little J. He loses interest in things very quickly! Plus, I tend to buy cakes and biscuits ready-made to save the mess. But I was ready to have some fun and deal with the mess today!

Making the gingerbread men was actually super easy, thanks to the beautiful Gingerbread biscuit kit from Craft and Crumb!

My little ‘helper’ elves were more than happy to make a mess, but they both disappeared when it came to clearing up! Only one wasn’t so subtle when making his escape, as you can see from the footprints he left behind!

Day 2 – Dressing Up Time!

Check out Elvis’s tiny face mask from Cutey Face Masks! How awesome is that?

Because Elvis has a fabulous new mask, he decided that rest of his outfit needed jazzing up! So we decided that Elvis needed some gloves to keep his hands warm as it had been getting colder. And because he’s been such a superhero with washing his hands and social distancing, he deserved to have a cape too!

Day 3 – Let’s Do Some Colouring!

Time for a bit of a chillout today, and Elvis very kindly bought us some pencils and colouring pages! Why don’t you have a chill colouring/painting/collage afternoon and get your own printables from Design Bundles?

Day 4 – Time To Write Christmas Cards!

I used to hate Christmas cards. They always seemed like such a waste of money. However, I have very recently taken up a new hobby of making cards, and I cannot get enough of it! I am now always on the hunt for new materials to add to my ever-growing collection of card making. If you are a keen crafter, make sure you check out the card making section from Design Bundles, there are so many things to choose from!

Elvis actually had his own teeny tiny card to give us too!

Day 5 – Bauble Making!

I love Christmas decorations and having a jam-packed Christmas tree, so Bauble making is right up my street! I didn’t trust Little J with glass, so this is all mummy creation with some help from Elvis! Look how proud he is!

You use whatever you want to make baubles! You could go for a walk and find some pinecones. Clean them up, then decorate! We did handprints last year out of salt dough. I sprayed them silver and then covered the handprint in glitter. They made great gifts!

Plus, anything you make, you can use year after year. If you can, pop the date or little one’s age on the back so that you can see the progress, year after year.

Day 6 – Scavenger Hunt!

Elvis was excited to show off his new gloves and cape, so we decided to get some fresh air and go for a walk. To make it extra fun, we did a scavenger hunt! Make sure you wrap up warm, though! You don’t want Jack Frost to get your nose!

Elvis made sure that we had all of our coats and scarves ready!

Day 7 – Let’s Write A Letter To Santa!

Have you been naughty or nice this year? Can anyone actually remember? Write a letter to Santa, but rather than asking for toys, you could write a letter to say what you are thankful for this year, what you wish to happen next year, or maybe just write Santa and his elves a little thank you note! Once you’ve finished writing your letter to Santa, you need to post it! Royal Mail have a special address where you can send your letter to!

Day 8 – Make A Window Display!

Walks have been super popular this year due to obvious reasons. So, why not give everyone something lovely to look at whilst they’re on their walk with a window display! These beautiful window stickers are from Sticker Scape, and I love them!

Day 9 – A Christmas Gift

Christmas is a time for giving. But you don’t have to give expensive things. You could draw a picture for a friend or family member, write someone special a letter, gift something sweet, like chocolates or sweets!

Day 10 – An Act Of Kindness

It’s so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of Christmas and only think about the presents, food and drink. So how about spending some time doing a good deed? Some ideas from Design Bundles are:

• Donate to a food bank
• Compliment someone
• Donate to charity
• See if the local care home or an elderly neighbour would like a handwritten letter

Day 11 – Set The Table!

We need to sort out where everyone is sitting for Christmas dinner, don’t we? It’s going to be a very small Christmas for us this year, just the 3 of us (4, if you include Elvis!) We have our place cards sorted, but I think we might even make our own placemats too!

We can’t forget Santa, can we? So here is a beautiful Milk bottle from Phoenix And Bell that we can leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve, along with some carrots for the reindeer!

Day 12 – It’s a Wrap!

It’s our last day, and we need to wrap all the presents. You can’t wrap presents without some snacks and a good Christmas movie! It doesn’t look like that cheeky little elf is going to be much help, though, does it?

Conclusion

Thanks to Design Bundles, I managed to survive 12 days of Elf on the Shelf! Well, 13 (or more!) if you include isolation days! I actually had fun doing it too!

And if you need any more inspiration for Christmas this year, did you know that Design Bundles also has a freebies page with lots of free crafty resources that you can use!

And now you’ve finished doing all of that, it’s time to go and sort out your Christmas Eve box! No rest for the wicked, is there?

Will you be trying any of these Elf on the Shelf ideas? Let me know if you try any or if you have your own favourite ideas. I’d love to see it!