Yep...the elf. The bane of every mom's holiday existence. I was determined not to do the elf when I had my kiddo...and then of course she got old enough to ask with those sweet little eyes and chubby little cheeks…

Pouting toddler with tears — You try to say no to that face 🤣

So yeah. Our elf's name is Guy. 🤣 Yes I'm a sucker- but you probably are too.

Santa was spoiled for my baby 2 years ago- but the elf? Him she still believes in. So now being the sucker I am the elf goes even more extra. Last year I struggled to come up with a new idea every night before I went to bed- and that was on the nights I actually remembered to move the damn thing haha! There were a handful of mornings my husband woke up to realize I had crashed without moving him and hurriedly found him a new spot before baby bear came down the stairs.

So this year I'm making a game plan- complete with a schedule and a new dedication to moving Guy as soon as the tiny human's eyes are closed for the night.

First step is inspiration- I definitely spent some time on pinterest digging through the ideas of even more enterprising moms than myself- I'll share a link to my Elf board at the end of this post- there are some great ideas in there and also some quick and easy ideas for those of you who are SO over it 😘

After Pinterest digging I grabbed a box and went toy digging. Her extensive Barbie and LOL Surpise doll collections make for a wonderland of accessories to pair with the Elf on the Shelf. I spent about an hour digging through her toys and snagging anything that I thought could be used for a cute elf setup- this was actually pretty fun and got me about half of the ideas I needed for Guy- so I highly recommend this step.

My final preparation step was to head over to Etsy for a few hand made accessories- the Elf on the Shelf people make a few accessories and kits too- but as a creative myself I prefer to shop small and support my comrades- plus there's way more variety and some seriously fun ideas...because well- creatives are creative 🤣

Our Elf has been modified for ease of posing- it was a bit of a pain in the ass but worth it for years worth of dealing with haha! I followed this tutorial to modify ours:

Some of our Elf rules-

No touchy. And we enforce it- because MY kid won’t be the one ruining elf magic at school haha!
If the Elf makes a mess- she has to clean it up 😂
The Elf arrives December 1st and departs after she goes to sleep on Christmas night