I am so excited to be doing my first year of the Elf on the Shelf tradition this year for Christmas. I have been looking forward to the day that my daughter would be old enough to think this is fun. For those of you who do not know what Elf on the Shelf is, it is a children’s Christmas book that was written in 2005. It is a story about an elf who lives in the North Pole, but then he gets adopted by your family and gets to live at your house from the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve. You get to name your elf and that is how he get gets his magic. His magic allows him to fly back to the North Pole every night after the kids are asleep and report to Santa every day what happened at your house and whether the kids are being good or bad. Then he flies back to your house and hides for the children to find him the next morning. They cannot touch him or he loses his magic.

It is such a fun idea and everyone seems to be loving this new tradition that is sweeping the nation the last few years. I cannot wait to begin this tradition in my own home. While there are hundreds and hundreds of funny and clever ways to arrange your elf every night, I wanted to focus on a few of my favorite ideas that involve food. Elves sure love to eat lots of candy and all things sweet. It was so hard to narrow it down to just a few, but I will just give you a taste and you can brainstorm more ideas, or take the easy way out and look on Pinterest :)

A delicious, wholesome elf breakfast of spaghetti, jelly beans, marshmallows, and of course TONS of syrup!

Looks like this little guy had a fun movie night!

Your dentist doesn’t want this elf packing your kid’s school lunch! Yikes!

What a cute snow angel!

This elf has had a long night and deserves a nice, long bubble bath!

And last of all, my favorite one: elf donuts. These are made with Cheerios in four ways. First, just plain cheerios to look like regular glazed donuts; second, dip them in powedered sugar and if it isn’t sticking very well, give it a lick first and it should stick great; third, dip the top half of the Cheerio into Nutella or melted chocolate; and fourth, dip in Nutella or melted chocolate and then coat with sprinkles. Then you can put a tiny square of wax paper in a little matchbox and you are good to go. I think your kids will find these just as cute as I do! Who doesn’t love anything and everything miniature? :)

Well you will have to let me know if you have already been doing this tradition and what some of your favorite set-ups are for your Elf on the Shelf. I can’t wait to get started myself!