Unique Elf on the Shelf Ideas

A List of Clever and Unique Elf on the Shelf Ideas

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I am completely OBSESSED with this tradition. For one, my daughter’s excitement of finding her elf in the morning is priceless.  Her face, her reaction, her body language… it makes it all worth the time and effort. For me, I love the creative part of it. I thoroughly enjoy brainstorming unique elf on the shelf ideas that I haven’t seen before. 

Now that Christmas is about three weeks away, I wanted to share what I have done at our house in the past for this fun family tradition. I’ve also updated this post to share a couple ideas for two elves.

Ten Days of the Elf on the Shelf

Day 1: Mia found our Elf with a little “I’m Back” poem. I wrote and printed it up. You can print this out too if you’d like.

Day 2: Mia found Josie popping out of a cereal box on the kitchen table with a fresh mini bowl of strawberries (Mia ate them before I took the photo).

Day 3: On day two, Mia had a really bad day… lots of whining and crying, which was unusual. So, for day three, Josie showed up with a poem asking her to listen and behave. You can print this one out too.

Day 4: I had fun with this one. Josie stacked up Mia’s groceries so she could reach the stove and bake her some brownies.

Day 5: Mia found Josie packing up Santa’s sleigh with mini gold presents she took from our 12 Days of Christmas countdown tree.

Day 6: Josie wanted to be Santa for a day and tried to blend in with our Christmas decorations. We used white paper to cut out a mii beard and mustache. 

Day 7: We had an early Christmas dinner with my parents that were visiting from out of town and Josie was kind enough to do all our dishes. Complete with mini sponge, a dish towel, and a plate, she was near the kitchen sink when Mia found her.

Day 8: Josie had a sweet tooth. Mia caught her in the candy jar lollipop and empty candy wrapper in hand.

Day 9: Josie decided to be adventurous and do a little repelling down the railing.

Day 10: Josie had a long night with Santa and the rest of the elves at the North Pole last night, so she decided to relax today. She even hung up her skirt in the closet.

Ideas for Two Elves

Here are a couple new and easy ideas for two elves. After all, Mia was inevitably going to have a sibling!

More of my obsession with Elf on the Shelf:

Elf on the Shelf First Day Idea – A cute poem and free printable for your elf’s arrival.

Ten Easy Elf on the Shelf Ideas – From being chased by reindeer to building a fort with Christmas cards, these ten ideas are clever, but simple.

No Sew Elf on the Shelf Skirt – The Elf on the Shelf clothing you can buy at the store is so expensive. This is a quick and easy no sew tutorial for how to make an apron skirt for pennies.

The Elf on the Shelf Tradition – I wrote this after my daughter’s first year of Elf on the Shelf. This post includes a cute goodbye letter for the final night, including a special “baked” tray of mini gingerbread cookies.

Best Elf on the Shelf Ideas – This post shows the first night our elf showed up and nine other adorable ideas including a letter our elf wrote after a day of my daughter misbehaving.

Elf on the Shelf Bad Day Poem with Printable – Speaking of misbehaving, I ended up creating this FREE printable with a poem from your elf for the day after your child(ren) has been not so nice.

Two Dozen Easy Elf on a Shelf Ideas – Two dozen ideas that are helpful, especially when you forget and need a quick move!

Elf on a Shelf Ideas – This is the first Elf on the Shelf post I ever wrote and includes 7 ideas incorporating my daughter’s toys and games.

Here is a video of some of my ideas. Enjoy!

This post has been updated and improved from December 2014.