Three Days of an Elf for Christmas

This year we’ve introduced an Elf for Christmas to our twin girls. We’ve never done the whole Elf thing before, but after being sent one to review which aims to promote good behaviour I was keen to give it a go. I planned out what activities our Elves would be doing each day. You can read about these activities in my post, 24 Days of Elf Visitor Activities.

Rather than write a post each day of what the Elves have been getting up to, I thought I’d share a weekly update.

So, our Elves arrived on 1st December and I think it’s fair to say that our girls were pretty amazed! They weren’t expecting them at all! R walked into our living room, but didn’t even notice them at first! I was carrying M, who spotted them and immediately said, “Huh?! Mum, look!”

It was pretty funny! The girls stood in front of the Elves for a while just looking at them! The girls knew that they’d be getting a chocolate advent calendar from their Nanna, but they had no idea that they’d also be visited by two little Elves!

The Elves brought with them a Vtech Toot Toot Toy Advent Calendar, a Christmas eve plate, a golden ticket to see Santa in his grotto, a book each, a special Santa Kinder Egg chocolate, chocolate coins and of course a welcome letter from each Elf!

We read the letters aloud and then the girls opened their chocolate advents followed by the toy one. We then placed the Elves on top of a shelf in our living room. I’ve read that with the official Elf on the Shelf version, no-one is allowed to touch the Elf of he’ll lose his magic. I’ve decided to let our girls touch their Elves. After all it’s all part of the fun, plus they love cuddling them!

The Elves also brought with them a reward chart for each of our girls. There were four tasks already filled in:

• Put school uniforms on
• Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner
• Sleep in your bed all night
• Listen to mummy and daddy

The girls loved the idea of being able to earn stickers through good behaviour. They were very good the first day. They both ate their breakfast without any fuss or messing around, they both put their school uniforms on and they listened to mummy and daddy without moaning!

That night, R even slept in her own bed all night! Of course this meant that she got a sticker for this, but M didn’t because she didn’t sleep in her own bed all night. She never has! M did get a little upset, which was horrible to see, but I gave a sticker for being kind as R dropped her plate full of toast on the floor which M picked up for her. This seemed to help make the tears away.

I am wondering whether I should change the ‘sleep in your bed all night’ one as I just know M won’t do this, but the reason I put this down is because I really want her too!

Anyway, when the girls finished school we went over a friends house for tea, but when they got home they were amazed to find that the Elves has brought them a festive cake and a letter from Santa, along with a personalised bauble.

The following morning, the girls first waking thought were the Elves! They couldn’t wait to see what they’d been up to during the night. We found the Elves had left some ‘magic beans’ (red smarties) with a message that said ‘Magic Seeds! Bury Me! The girls buried the ‘magic seeds’ and then noticed that the Elves had left them some Santa chocolates for their good behaviour the previous day.

So that takes up to today. Day three. December third. When the girls wake, they’ll find that the magic seeds have magically grown into candy canes!

Do you have any Elf visitors over Christmas? I’d love to hear your thoughts!