• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Housewife Eclectic

Recipes, Crafts, Book Reviews and More

  • Tutorials
  • Recipes
  • Books
  • Parenting
  • Tech Help
  • About Me
  • Printable Store

Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule for Tired Parents

November 15, 2018 by Wifeeclectic Leave a Comment

Winter is coming. OK, so the White Walkers might not be invading, but someone else is. Your Elf on the Shelf. If you are like us, you started this tradition looking for a Christmas magic and ended up more work than you bargained for. Here is our list of creative and fun but EASY (except for maybe the outfits, but I am working on printables for you!) ideas that any tired parent can pull together for their elf! Each one of these takes just a few minutes and your Elf will be ready to go!

Easy Elf on the Shelf Ideas

Make sure you have your elf on the shelf!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

Day 1: The Big Return

You will need:

  • balloons
  • crepe paper
  • tape
  • paper and a marker

Blow up a few balloons and leave them all over the floor. Add a few streamers to the ceiling and walls with a sign that says I’m Back!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

 

Day 2: Fun with Games

You will need:

  • A Favorite Board Game

Set up the game like your elf is playing with a few stuffed animals! Don’t have any board games? Use a video game you have laying around. Better yet, make life really easy and do both! A board game one night and a video game the next.

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

Day 3: Band-Aid Craziness

You will need:

  • Band-Aids

Open a couple of Band-Aids and stick them to your elf. Leave the rest in their packages on the counter. This is a fun time to give your kids a box of character band-aids if you want to, but not necessary.

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

Day 4: Little Artist

You will need:

  • A coloring book and crayon

Color a few scribbles on a coloring page and then put the crayon in your elf’s arms!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

Day 5: Crepe Paper Doorway

You will need:

  • Crepe Paper (Grab it at the dollar store)
  • Tape

Tape vertical streamer across your child’s door so when they wake up they have to walk through them. This is one of my kid’s FAVORITE things that their elf does!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

Day 6: Decorated Kitchen

You will need:

  • Present Bows (get a bag at the dollar store)

Stick the bows all over your kitchen cupboards!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

Day 7: Blue Milk!

You will need:

  • Food Coloring

Color your milk and then stick the elf in the handle. I recommend doing this when your milk is almost gone in case your kids won’t drink blue milk!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

Day 8: Elf Costumes

You will need:

  • Felt
  • small decorations
  • hot glue

Cut out a tree or gingerbread man for your little elf to dress up! You can learn more about how I made these specific costumes here: https://www.housewifeeclectic.com/easy-diy-elf-on-the-shelf-costumes/

If you don’t want to worry about making your costumes, you can buy a pre-made costume here.

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

Day 9: Elf Prints

You will need:

  • Piece of Paper
  • Marker

Lay your elf down on a piece of paper and trace!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

Day 9: Google Eyes!

You will need:

  • Google Eyes
  • Tape

Tape google eyes on pictures, fruit and anything else you want to!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

 

Day 10: Sledding or Zip Lining down the tree

You will need:

  • String

Tie a string to your Christmas tree and have your elf slide down your tree. If you have small skis or a sled, you can add those too.

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

Day 11: Hiding in the Stuffed Animals

You will need:

  • Your child’s pile of stuffed animals

Stick your child’s elf right in the middle of the stuffed animals and see if they can spot them!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

 

Day 12: Hanging out in the ice

You will need:

  • Your freezer

Stick your elf in the ice maker in your freezer or even put them in an ice cube tray!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

 

Day 13: Marshmallow Bath

You will need:

  • bowl
  • bag of small marshmallows

Fill a bowl with marshmallows and add your elf! Make sure to add marshmallows on top of the elf too!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

 

Day 14: Rolling Toliet Paper down the stairs

You will need:

  • a roll of toilet paper

Stick your elf inside the roll of toliet paper and roll it down the stairs, leaving a trail of paper behind!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

 

Day 15: Funny Faces

You will need:

  • whiteboard marker
  • framed pictures with glass in them

Draw silly pictures on the glass and leave the elf nerby with the marker!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

Day 16: Sugar Angels

You will need:

  • sugar

Stick a cup of sugar on a table and place your elf in it. Move their arms and legs to look like the made a snow angel! Sugar is much easier to clean up than flour.  Ask me how I know. 😉

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

 

Day 17: Tangled in Thread

You will need:

  • a spool of thread

Wrap you elf up in a spool of thread. If you have them leave a needle and scissor nearby.

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

 

Day 18: Foil Clothes

You will need:

  • aluminum foil

Make your elf a stylish Alumnimum foil outfit!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

 

Day 19: Trapped under glass

You will need:

  • a glass bowl or jar

Stick your elf inside a glass jar with a sign that says they are trapped!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

 

Day 20: Underwear on the Christmas Tree

You will need:

  • your child’s underwear

This is another one that always cracks our kids up. Add some underwear to the tree!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

 

Day 21: Stuffed Animal Sack Races

You will need:

  • brown paper sacks
  • stuffed animals

Roll the top of the paper bags down and stick stuffed animals inside of them for a sack race!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

 

Day 22: Stuck in a spider web!

You will need:

  • white dental floss
  • a spider or spider ring if you have one

Wrap the string around to places in your house like a spider web. Between two chairs works great! Add a spider if you have one!

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

Day 23: Toliet Paper Roll Snowman

You will need:

  • a roll of toilet paper
  • Construction paper
  • tape

Stick your elf inside three rolls of toilet paper stacked on top of each other. Cut small squares out of black construction paper and a triangle out of orange and tape them to the toliet paper.

Housewife Eclectic: Easy Elf on the Shelf Schedule and Ideas

 

Day 24: Snowball fight

You will need:

  • blocks
  • toys
  • mini marshmallows

Set up small barricades for your toys and elf to hide behind and then sprinkle marshmallows behind and between the two. Don’t have blocks? I have also done this one with soccer cones.

 

Bonus ideas:

Build your Elf into a Jenga tower!

Build a Jump ramp with pillows and a larger toy vehicle!

Freeze your elf in a cup of water and set it out with an Elsa Figurine.

Write I’m Back in M&Ms for a welcome back night!

 

Cleaning Elf! Elf with cleaning supplies.

Add some change to your couch and your elf searching in the cushions!

Wrap your elf in a towel and put them in the fridge!

Wrap your elf like a Hershey Kiss and then surround them with the candy! 

Mr. Potato Head Elf! 

Elf roasting Marshmallows!

Snowglobe elf! All you need is some faux snow and a mason jar. 

Elf drinking syrup. A bendy straw keeps the straw from sinking all the way in!

Tic Tac Toe Elf. Washi tape and bows for a cute elf day!

Elf Lifting weights. Two small marshmallows and a toothpick!

Filed Under: Christmas, Elf on the Shelf, Holidays Tagged With: Christmas

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Connect with Us

Facebook
Twitter
Follow Me
Instagram
Pinterest
RSS
Follow by Email

Welcome to Housewife Eclectic

Debra Hawkins - Housewife EclecticHi, I'm Debra. I am a craftaholic photographer married to a web-programming amateur chef with two sassy littles keeping it interesting. It gets crazy around here. Read More…

Archives

Copyright © 2023 · Lifestyle Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in