Families and children have grown to love the Elf on the Shelf tradition. Elf on the Shelf is a tradition in which an elf comes to a home and watches over the children. It appears in a new place every morning and reports back to Santa Claus. It is such a fun surprise to see where the elf traveled to and what he did in the night. There are also countless creative ideas on how to display the elf. 

Grecia Chavez (9th) believes that “It [is] another magical part of Christmas. So many children enjoy the elf, and it adds to the Christmas spirit and Christmas magic.” 

The tradition of Elf on the Shelf started in 2005 when the book, “The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition” was self-published by Chanda Bell. The book came with a small Scout Elf. Bell believes that the tradition brings “joy and fun.” She says that it was created to travel to report to Santa Claus during the night, then come back in the morning in a new place.

Bell also started all of the different rules associated with the elf. This includes the rule that they can not be touched by humans because they will “lose their Christmas magic.” They can not get sick with any human illness because they are magical. Next, Bell says that the Elf on the Shelf can only speak in the North Pole and will not speak to humans. She worked to create elves with a mischievous character, which is shown in all the different ways they show up at the house in the morning.

Scout Elves are a great way for parents to show great creativity. There are so many fun ideas to make the elf an exciting memory and moment for children. 

• Some simple ideas are: Wrap toilet paper around the Christmas tree and set the elf next to the tree with an empty toilet paper roll.

• Secondly, put the elf in a fruit bowl with a marker and draw faces on all of the fruits. 
• Also, set up an elf roasting marshmallows! Put the elf on a cup next to an unlit candle and put mini marshmallows on a toothpick for the Scout Elf to hold. 

• Lastly, hang the elf from a light or anything else with candy canes. 

Some more difficult ideas are:

• Firstly, make a fishing Scout Elf! You can put goldfish in a bowl and make a fishing rod with string and a stick for the elf to hold.

• Second, make a snow angel out of flour. Put a small amount of flour onto a surface, shape the snow angel, and place the elf. 

• Finally, make an Elf on the Shelf Twister! Take a piece of paper and headlines on blue, green, yellow, and red dots and place the elf in a cool position on it, such as the splits.