The elves are back!

It's easy to forget when your child is a tiny toddler that those elves are now committed to returning year after year! With the magic of Christmas still fully alive in our home, our elves have returned to join us for the festive season. They are renamed each year, and so this Christmas we have Holly (a conventional name from Mia) and Wernher von Braun (an unusual choice, named by Harry after his favourite rocket scientist). 

In years past they have arrived with a ring on the doorbell, but as it's quite cold this year they just appeared underneath the Christmas tree next to a gift bag containing the Advent calendars. Usually both children just receive a chocolate Advent calendar but Mia has been pestering for a fidget toy Advent calendar for years so we finally gave in. Harry wasn't that fussed about a fancy calendar so we bought him a new book about space instead. They also both have a chocolate one (as do I!)

I remember being so excited on the 1st of December each year when we were given our Advent calendars and they were hung up on a nail in the hallway. The early ones were just a picture, although I do remember progressing to the chocolate ones when they were more readily available! I actually would quite like a traditional Advent calendar with no chocolate, but they are more expensive than the chocolate ones!

And so the countdown to Christmas has begun!

Why I love the Elf on the Shelf at Christmas

The Elf on the Shelf has been an important part of our Christmas traditions for a few years now. We were quite an early adopter, beginning a few years ago with a single elf and expanding to two elves when Mia was old enough to understand. At this time of year I hear so many people saying that they wouldn't have the elf in their house and explaining why, so I thought I'd write about why we love having the Elf on the Shelf to visit us in the run up to Christmas.

It's doesn't need to cause extra work

Some people do go mad with the activities that their elves get up to, but that's because they feel they have to, it's because they want to! It's really fun to get creative and do something fun for your children to make them smile. But I've generally always kept it low key. Our children are just as thrilled to find that they've moved to a different place overnight.

It's not expensive

When we bought our elves they were quite new to the UK and only the official ones were available, and they weren't cheap. But now you can find them everywhere for just a pound or two, and you can use the same elf every year. You don't need to buy accessories or props, you can easily make do with things you have around the house.

He doesn't need to make the children paranoid about their behaviour

Although we've told the children that the elves go back to see Father Christmas every night, they don't think they are here to check up on them. We never use them as a threat, or warn the children that they need to be good as an elf is watching. If I do bring up the elf, I'll say that he's sitting in a good place because he wants to watch them play and have fun doing Christmassy things.

It's another way of keeping the magic alive

At 9 and 7 I'm well aware that we don't have long left with our children both believing. In fact I think we are on borrowed time already, or else they are very good at pretending!

It doesn't need to be a competition

I love seeing photos of the things that other people organise for their elves. But I rarely share pictures myself. Firstly because I know not everyone wants to see them, and secondly because I just don't feel the need to. Young children won't see pictures on social media unless you show them, and although their friends may talk about what their elves have got up to, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't compare.

It doesn't need to go on forever

A point will come when the children no longer believe in the elf. But even when they both realise that the elves aren't really moving about the house by themselves I think they'll still enjoy playing along with me, and maybe some years we can delegate the elf responsibility to the children! Even when the children are older I'm sure we'll still have the elves as part of our traditions.

Does an elf visit your home in the run up to Christmas?

Dressing up your Elf on the Shelf this Christmas

Unfortunately the patterns for these items are no longer available. I have kept this post up for Elf on the Shelf knitting inspiration.

A few years ago we started the Elf on the Shelf tradition in our household - a small Elf that joins our family in the run up to Christmas and has fun around the house overnight. Last year our original Elf was joined by a lady Elf friend, and the two children delighted in running downstairs every morning to see what they had been up to!

Our Elf is always very well dressed, thanks to my Mum. She has been creating knitting patterns for her knitted Elf sweaters for a couple of years now. She made three different designs and they are all lovely.

I think that her designs are so lovely that I thought I would share them! Below is the ballerina outfit, complete with a wrap around sweater and legwarmers! It would be fantastic to impress any little ballerinas that you have in your house.

This little knitted bag is really sweet, and you could use it for the Elf to carry a small treat or letter for your child if they've been particularly good. Or perhaps you could give it to your child to leave out for their Elf with a small gift inside, and see if they bring something back.

Below you can see the knitted bag, swimming costume and skirt. I'm planning on having our Elf appear in the morning in her swimming costume on the day that my children have their swimming lessons, I think they'll love that!

Finally I quite fancy one of these cosy onesies myself! And the little doll is really sweet, you could customise it to match a doll that your child has.

Here are some of the other outfits that she has designed. I think it would be lovely to knit the soccer outfit in your team's colours!

The sweater and trousers look really comfy and you could make them in all different colours, perhaps making an outfit to match with one of your child's!

You may also enjoy my previous posts where I share some other ways that you can dress up your Elf this Christmas:

How to Customise your Elf on the Shelf
Knitted Sweaters for your Elf on the Shelf

How to customise your Elf on the Shelf this Christmas

We bought our Elf on the Shelf back in 2013, after I learned about the tradition on Pinterest, and you can see some of his adventures here. Although our Elf comes from the North Pole with Father Christmas, he isn't spying on the children to make sure that they are behaving, he just likes having fun while they are asleep and hiding so that they have to find him the next morning - the children love coming down in the morning to see what he has been up to!

Over the last few years, the Elf tradition has really taken off, and now in addition to the classic blue eyed boy scout elf you can also buy a girl scout elf and they are available in different skin tones with different eye colours. We now have a boy and a girl elf, and the children love having one of each.

Because they are so widespread now, I think that it's nice to come up with ways to customise your Elf, especially if your child will be visiting other homes with the same Elf, to keep the magic alive and help them believe in their own individual Elf. There are lots of ways that you can do this, and so I've gathered together a few ideas for making your Elf a unique part of your family.

Making clothes

One lovely way to personalise your Elf is to make him some clothes. My Mum has knitted some gorgeous little sweaters for our Elf!

Our Elf returned from the North Pole one morning last year wearing one of these knitted jumpers and the children were delighted.

My knitting skills aren't quite up to making a jumper, but last year I set the Elf up one morning with a crochet hook and some yarn, and over the course of a few days she managed to crochet herself a whole scarf which looked really good. Even if you are only a beginner knitter you could easily knit a scarf for your elf, you only need to cast on a few stitches and knit enough rows to wrap around his neck a few times.

Making the Elf on the Shelf more bendable

If you really want to hack your Elf, then you can make him more bendable by inserting some wire inside him. There is a fantastic tutorial here - How to make your Elf on the Shelf Bendable - and although I've not tried it myself it doesn't look too difficult and it means that you can come up with some much more interesting poses.

Magnetise your Elf

By adding magnets to your Elf's hands they can attach themselves to objects like radiators and the fridge, and grip things between their hands. 

Making furniture

You can easily use bits and pieces from around the house to make furniture for your Elf - like this lollipop stick table and chairs. The children will love helping to make things like this, and then seeing the Elf enjoy using them in the run up to Christmas.

I hope that you like these ideas and that they give you a bit of inspiration for your Elf this year. Please do share any other ideas in the comments!

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Knit some sweaters for your Elf on the Shelf this Christmas!

I've written over the last couple of years about our Elf on the Shelf - the little scout Elf that joins us in the run up to Christmas and entertains the children by moving about the house and getting up to mischief. It's a lot of fun for the children (and me!) and I'm really pleased that we started this holiday tradition.

This year, our Elf is going to be looking super stylish, thanks to my Mum and her fabulous designing and knitting skills! She has knitted him a selection of gorgeous little jumpers to wear. He's going to come back from the North Pole wearing one, and appear in a different one from time to time during the build up to Christmas. I think that the sweaters are wonderful, and so I wanted to share them with you!

There's the cabled aran design:

A sweater with a colourful patterned yoke:

And finally a classic red and white snowflake design. All the sweaters are knitted using DK/8 ply yarn (12g for each sweater) using a US3 3.25mm needle and will fit the standard 12" Elf.

Unfortunately the patterns for these sweaters are no longer available to purchase, but I hope that these photographs will provide some knitted Elf jumper inspiration. 

Amazon link is affiliate.