Elf Season is here! Whether you are considering starting this tradition with your family or you are already running low on ideas for this year, it is not too late to start or time to give up! But if you have participated in Elf on the Shelf, you know it’s not for the faint hearted. There are so many options and ideas, but the daily task can be daunting. Here is a list with some quick and easy guidelines for the newbies to have success:

• Decide when your elf will arrive. Many arrive December 1^st, but there is not an exact date of arrival. However, once you start, they will come daily until Christmas Eve. Tip: If you want to start later in December that will shorten the length of time the elf is there and be a little easier for you.
• Name your elf. You can have the elf’s name already set or have the kids involved in naming them.
• Buy the book. There is an Elf on the Shelf book, and movies now too. But it helps explain the rules and how it all works. The elf comes everyday and leaves at night to return to the workshop and tell Santa all the good things being done. Some people allow their kids to touch their elves and others don’t. Set the rules that work best for you and your family.
• Pinterest and Google are your friends. You can find so many creative, fun, and easy ideas for your elf each day by searching online. Use the toys or home items you already have for the Elf to interact with or get creative with little presents along the way. There is no right way to do it.
• If/When you forget to move the elf- there are many reasons why the elf may not have moved- a kid made some bad choices that day, they heard something when they were about to leave, they waited for the kids to go to sleep and it took too long, etc. If you wake up before the kids and realize the elf wasn’t moved, there’s still time!
• If you try the no touch rule and your child breaks the rule, they are said to “lose their magic” but we heard a rumor that if you give your elf a cinnamon stick, it will give it enough magic to get to the North Pole hospital for a magic fill up. Repeat offenses might mean your elf has to stay at the North Pole for a couple of days..

Here are some of our favorite sites that have logged creative ideas for when you start running out Here, here and here!

It’s a magical time of year and doesn’t last as long as we all wished it would. Enjoy the fun along with the kids!