21 Elf on the Shelf Ideas -that don’t make a mess and don’t cost much

I want to step away from my recipes for a moment to discuss……ELF ON THE SHELF……

Last year, I had a three-year-old, so I decided to start this fun tradition.

I have heard so many parents say ” NO! DON’T DO IT!!”

But you know what?  December is cold, and sometimes we are stuck inside.  I might as well make something fun and exciting happen on those days.

I tried following these simple rules during my Elf on the Shelf expierance last year.

1. No gifts for the kids.  –  Kids get gifts from Santa, grandparents and aunts and uncles.  I don’t need my kids to expect gifts from their Elf too.
2. No Mess.  I clean up after my kids enough.  I don’t need a sugar snow angel to clean up too.
3. Doesn’t Cost a lot- Again, with the no gift thing.  I spend a lot of money around Christmas already, so I tried to make my Elf on the Shelf  scenes using things I already had around the house.  I did pick up a few items at the dollar tree and the dollar bin at Target.  I also had a few Christmas Items that I purchased during after Christmas sales the year before.
4. Kept my Elf out of reach.- I didn’t want my kids to “Mess with the scene”.  I tried to keep the Elf up in a place where the kids couldn’t get to him.

Here are the 21 Elf on the Shelf Scenes I created last year.  I wasn’t planning on doing this post, so please excuse the poor cell phone photography.

Last year, we left for my parent’s house the week before Christmas, so I wasn’t able to finish this series.  We were so busy when we got there, that the elf literally just got moved from shelf to shelf.   It just hit me that It will soon be time to start up with this again.  Hopefully I will have some more fun ideas for you.