25+ Elf on a Shelf Ideas + Clever Names

If you and your kids are into Elf on a Shelf, you are going to love these ideas!

If you don’t know what Elf on a Shelf is, here is a good description from Taste of Home:

Elf on the Shelf is a Christmas tradition started by Carol Aebersold and her twin daughters, Chanda Bell and Christa Pitts. Each Elf on the Shelf kit consists of the Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition book and a Scout Elf.

The story goes that Santa’s Scout Elves fly to the North Pole each night of December to report to Santa if children have been behaving (or misbehaving). The elves then fly back and hide in a new spot for the children to find him the next morning. Typically, Scout Elves love to hide in sneaky spots around the house and sometimes they like to stir up mischief the night before.

All in all, this quirky tradition is what your family makes of it. Dedicated Elf on the Shelf parents scour Pinterest and follow hashtags like #elfontheshelfideas or #elfontheshelf on Instagram for inspiration for where and how to place their elf each night. Some parents wait all year to bake sweet treats to welcome back Elf on the Shelf while others enjoy the simplicity of reading the book nightly to their children.

First, you need to get an Elf: