Do You Elf on the Shelf?

Does your family have an Elf?  As in an Elf on the Shelf?  We adopted our Elf two years ago and it's become a really fun tradition!

Elf on the Shelf sells for $29.95 in most stores and I've rarely seen it go any lower than that.  Keep your eye out for specials on it where you may get a gift card back when you buy it (ex: on Black Friday, Target is selling it for $29.95 with a $5 gift card back).  That's usually the only type of deal I've seen on it.  So yes, it's a one time investment, but then you have it for years of fun!  And now you can choose if your Elf is a boy or a girl!

The Elf arrives right after Thanksgiving (ours usually comes the Saturday after) and stays throughout the entire Christmas season.  There is a really cute book that comes with it that explains why the Elf is there, not to touch him and how he relates the children's behavior back to Santa.  Seriously, it's adorable. 

The key is to move your Elf every day because each night he flies back to Santa to tell him what your child did that day and when he returns, he never comes back in the same spot.  In the past two years, our Elf has shown up in different places each day, but that's it, he hasn't done anything too tricky or sneaky.  However, if you look around on Pinterest, you'll find tons of ideas on cool things you can do with your Elf!  People are so creative!  Click HERE and HERE for two different sites I found with really creative and funny ideas. 

So whether you decide to make the investment this year, or if you've already made the investment, Elf on the Shelf is a really fun way (and free, if you already have it!) to infuse some extra magic in to this already magical season!