By Sandra Simao Andrade
Santa’s Elves are back again to the delight of kids everywhere who have one thing in mind: Putting an end to the Elves' silly antics. How? By capturing them! If you're short on ideas for pranks to pull during this year’s Christmas Elf on the Shelf hunt, here are a few of the best ones to keep the kids entertained.
Being so busy, parents rarely have the time to conjure up the kinds of shenanigans you’d expect from an Elf. But because simple always works best with kids, why deprive them of this fun holiday tradition!
This trick will have your kid’s eyes rolling in their heads with laughter: a playful Elf perched on a tiny swing! You’ll need an empty toilet paper roll, some tape, and string to make the swing on which to perch the Elf. Hang the swing on the top of the door frame of your child's room – preferably when your child is asleep – so it’s the first thing he or she sees when waking up in the morning! What a fun surprise!
Want flying elves instead? In this case, you’ll need to make a hot air balloon. All that’s required is a few colourful balloons, some string and an empty toilet paper roll upon which your Elf can sit and admire the view down below!
Children love making snow angels! Elves aren’t any different. To make snow angels, use foods that look like snow, such as flour, baking soda, salt and sugar to create a layer of “fake” snow. Next, lay your Elf down on this “snow”. Don’t forget to swoosh your Elf’s arms and legs up and down a few times to make it look like a real snow angel. If the idea is too messy for your liking, substitute the “snow” with mini marshmallows.
Mini marshmallows are super-handy for other kinds of fun Elf antics. For example, you can build an igloo and place the Elf inside for a sound night’s sleep. (If patience isn’t one of your virtues, use big marshmallows instead.)
What’s winter without a snowball fight? With Lego or building blocks, make two small forts. Put your Elf in one and another figurine in the other. Place a few mini marshmallows on the “battlefield” in between and make sure you stock each fort with enough marshmallow “ammo” before the battle begins!
Elves can be naughty and are often known to rearrange Christmas decorations at night to better suit their liking...
If there’s one thing Elves like, it’s toilet paper! While your children are asleep, why not add a flourish of toilet paper to your Christmas tree? Better yet, if you have stairs at home, drape toilet paper down the steps, making sure your Elf is tangled up in it at the bottom of the stairs. Your children will think the Elf got caught up in his own mischief during the night!
Have a photocopier at home? Sit your Elf on top of it and make it obvious. The next day, make copies of different sizes and replace all the photos in the house with pictures of the Elf! It may take some time if you have a lot of photo frames, but the effect is hilarious!
For a really unique tree, sneak into your children’s rooms while they’re asleep, and gather together their underwear. Why? To put on the tree of course! Elves love a good joke, after all! When your kids get dressed, they’ll have no choice but to “harvest” their underwear off the tree!
It’s amazing the trouble an Elf can cause with a marker! With erasable, non-staining markers made especially for glass, add graffiti to photo frames, windows and mirrors around the house. Don’t forget to place the markers in the hands of the culprits: the Elves! Even funnier, draw faces on fruit like bananas, apples or oranges. It may even tempt your kids to even eat them!
You could even try drawing a funny face on yourself or your child while asleep. Just make sure the marker washes off easily!
Dad in need of a haircut? Why not get the Elves to pitch in and do a not-so-great job. A few careless swoops of the electric razor and your kids will be doubled over with laughter at the results of your “expert” do the Elf barber gave you. If you’d rather not touch your magnificent locks, try shaving your beard in the same haphazard way.
How about Mom? A splash of temporary hair colour (pretending it was the work of elves at night) is sure to get a giggle from the kids. The weirder the colour, like orange, yellow or green, the louder the laughter.
Because kids usually go to the bathroom first thing when they get up, it’s the best place to start with an Elf prank. Leave a funny note from the Elf on the mirror using toothpaste or lipstick. For effect, add a smudge of lipstick on the Elf’s face.
Got a bathtub nobody uses in the morning, some free time on your hands, and lots of patience? Fill your tub with snow so your Elf has a slope to ski on. It will take a bit of time, so save this prank for a weekend.
If lugging snow into your bathtub isn’t doable, fill your tub instead with cold water, drop in some Gold Fish crackers, and sit your Elf on the edge of the tub with a candy cane fishing rod and thread line. Even more than skiing, Elves love fishing!
Once your children realize everything has returned to normal at home, it means the elves have gone into hiding. That can mean only one thing… The hunt is on to find them! Why not capture the silly Elf by placing it under a clear glass? Even better: freeze it in a block of ice with Queen Elsa of Arendelle, from Frozen. (Make sure Elsa is giving your Elf a disapproving stare by looking at him directly…)
Want to take the idea a step further? Entomb your Elf in some Jello! If you have any inflatable balloons left over, you could even put the Elf inside and inflate it.
Have fun hiding the Elf in bizarre places and catching him in unusual ways. Encourage your children to concoct clever (but safe) plans to capture the Elves, and allow yourself to be inspired by their ideas, too.
This new tradition of catching the Elf a few weeks before Christmas is a fun way to get into the spirit of the season before the holidays begin. And just as Santa can’t stick around on Christmas Eve, neither can the Elves. Have the Elves say goodbye by writing a card to your kids, saying they need to head back to the North Pole until next year.
