Fantastic tradition for little ones

hels102

thanks for bumping this! I think DS will love this!!

RustyFlange

Massive thankyou to Soblivion. and also to all those who took part last year!

I have spent the last 3 hours reading this thread and I am sooo amazed and excited! I almost have my elf ready I have notes of everything I can do!! roll on dec 1st

hels102

I just mentioned this to DS he's 3 next month but understands alot.
for the last few weeks when he sees something he wants he asks if we can put it on the list for Santa, so far we've got a purple bed, new bubbles and a thomas track! I explained to him that we may get a suprise visitor if he's good and that he'll stay with us for a while and that he will be telling santa what he's wants for xmas, he has already named him Bertie so he asked me to phone santa to let him know! Big mistake, he's scared stiff now!!!
I will do it tho I think it will be a nice traddition!

hels102

Well my DS woke this morning saying he really wants Bertie to come and stay now! Had a bit of explaining to do in school this morning he was telling the other mums that Bertie the elf is coming to stay....
Is it wrong of me to be so excited over a flippin elf!!!
Mentioned it to my OH last night, I just said we've got an elf coming to stay in December, his first words were are you serious, I'm not paying for no elf to come and stay here, men just don't understand do they!!!

ragz_2

hels102 wrote: »

Mentioned it to my OH last night, I just said we've got an elf coming to stay in December, his first words were are you serious, I'm not paying for no elf to come and stay here, men just don't understand do they!!!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I'm not telling mine, he'd just :rolleyes: at me as usual lol. It's going to be a surprise for him too!

flyingpig58

Woooo hoooo I am looking for an elf now - going to try e-bay first.

Lovely idea. Thank you

helen

GemR_2

Oh, I'm so glad this thread has already been officially 'reopened' for Christmas 2009. I am just starting to think about organising my elf antics for this year and thought I would search for this thread! I did this for my two for the first time last year, thanks to this thread, and they absolutely loved it. My DS has mentioned his elf friend all year and can't wait for him to come back, and he is only 3, so it is definitely a tradition worth starting early.

I managed to get two handmade Alan Dart elves from a fantstic lady on ebay last November time (they are actually called Alan Dart Yuletide Gnomes, the elves are something different). I have just had a quick search and the patterns are available but not the ready made up ones at the moment, but it will definitely be worth keep checking back into ebay for a look if you are searching for an elf or two!

A couple of tips if you are planning on doing this for the first time:

* Start planning/buying quite early - coming up with 24 original ideas is not that easy!

* Take photos of everything and make an 'elf album'. My kids have loved looking back at the pics over the year.

* Simple, cheap ideas like having the elves falling out of the tree, making snow angels on the work tops out of icing sugar etc. seemed to give the most amusement. It definitely does not have to be expensive to do. Also, the days when the elves went 'missing' (recommended for weekends if you have school runs to do during the week!!!) created hours of free entertainment - elves were found fishing in the pond, driving the car, clearing out the freezer.....

* Stock up on the Cadbury's elf chocolates the minute they arrive in your local Home Bargains! Great behaviour reward incentive with the added bonus of being small and cheap!

* http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/30132810 These bags from Ikea made the perfect elf sleeping bags during their stay at our house. They hung from the curtain hold backs perfectly and were just the right size for an Alan Dart elf, elf passport, pillow of snow and a few surprise treats each day. I still haven't seen anything as good value or as appropriate.

Just one warning - you will get seriously addicted to your elf and will not know what to do with yourself during the long January evenings!!!!!!!!!!

Jammygal

I also did this last year and am looking forward to the first of Dec.

My elf Snowball (another Alan Dart Gnome) is bringing his wife Snowbelle with him this year too. Her tummy is going to get bigger and bigger throughout the visit until she gives birth to a little elf just before Christmas.

I am currently ordering 2 mini stylebooks from Photobox (they are on 2 4 1) for the elves to bring with them with all the pics from last year and captions!(The kids have not seen them yet!!!)

I ordered quite a lot of chrimbo craft from Baker Ross to help with the activities.

Mine sleep in cheap Christmas stockings as sleeping bags.

I agree Gem R - the elf choc bars are a god send

skintscotslass

GrumpyButGorgeous wrote: »

how funny i read this and went through to my OH and said "how do you feel about an elf coming to vist for xmas, i then quickly explained that the elf would get up to mischief at night etc and he looked extremely confused and said what a man? a dwarf? comes to the house? i could barely explain it to him after that as the tears were streaming down my face and i couldnt breathe due to laughing so much.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I am crying with laughter reading this. My OH thinks I have completely lost the plot! DD is 16, so too old, but OH's niece and nephew would love this. I'll send a link to SIL

Thank you OP. This thread is fab!

li'l_p

I'm just in the process of knitting my elf. He's an Alan Dart 'Initial Imp'. I will post pics when he's finished, but I am loving the look of him already! Really easy to knit and the pattern was £2.50 off his website (gets sent via email attachement).