What are elf antics?
The grandchildren keep talking about an elf that had a bath in the cereal and hung loo roll on the Christmas tree. Here is the explanation, for anyone who has not come across it before, and how you can let the elf visit when the grandchildren stay the night.
In short
A small elf, a doll or a soft toy, moves in with the family on 1 December and stays until Christmas Eve. Every night it gets up to something. In the morning the children find out what it did, and next to it there is often a little card from the elf. That is an elf antic.
The grown-ups set it up in the evening, once the children are asleep. It takes a few minutes and uses things that are already in the house: shoes, books, fruit, a tea towel.
What is an elf door?
An elf door is a tiny door put up by the skirting board to show where the elf lives. You do not need one, but it tells the children where to look in the morning. There are elf doors to print for free, also to colour in.
Nine elf doors, also to colour in. Free to print
The rules the children know
- The elf only moves when nobody is watching. That is why it sits still all day.
- You may look, but you leave the elf where it is. That is how the secret keeps.
- The elf is cheeky, but kind. It never breaks anything, and sometimes it gives the children a mission to do something kind.
- On Christmas Eve it goes home to Father Christmas and leaves a farewell letter.
When the grandchildren stay the night
The elf does not have to live with you all December. It can come to visit on the very night the grandchildren are with you, with a card saying it wanted to see how they were getting on at Granny and Grandad’s. A single antic is enough to make it the event of the weekend.
If the children already have an elf at home, it can be the same elf that came along in the bag, or a cousin of it.
Six antics that suit a sleepover
- 2 December · 5 min The cereal bath The elf has taken a bath in a bowl of cereal. Read the whole antic for free
- 5 December · 5 min The shoe train Every shoe in the hall has lined up like a train, with the elf as the driver. Comes with the purchase
- 12 December · 5 min The book den The elf has built a den out of books and fallen asleep in it. Comes with the purchase
- 15 December · 5 min The ginger biscuit thief Someone has been eating the ginger biscuits, and the crumbs lead to the elf. Comes with the purchase
- 16 December · 5 min Hidden in the tree Today the elf has hidden. Whoever finds it first wins. Comes with the purchase
- 20 December · 5 min The topsy-turvy breakfast The elf has laid the breakfast table, but everything is in the wrong place. Comes with the purchase
How to do it the first time
- Find an elf. Any small elf, doll or soft toy will do.
- Choose an antic and put out what you need before the children arrive.
- Wait until they are asleep. Set it up and leave a card beside it. There are elf letters to print for free.
- Let the children find it themselves in the morning, and act as surprised as they are.
Keep string and small things away from the youngest. There is a separate list of elf ideas for small children.
Give it to the children’s parents
Anyone with small children in December is short of time and ideas at ten at night. Busnissen is 24 ready-made antics, one for each day, with a card from the elf for each. Enter your own email address when you buy, and you get the email with everything and can pass it on to the children’s parents. The link in the email works for whoever has it.