Official 2011 Elf Capades thread :o) Post your ideas here:

[Kanga+2Roos]

Wow, it's been awhile since I added anything...the elves are still busy, just haven't had the time to post!

So I ended up recycling the paper snowflakes by making a paperclip chain & putting the snowflakes on them, then strung it across the fireplace. I have to say, it looks very nice! Another night they copied themselves on the copier/printer & it ended up being a full body scan--they put their pics in the stockings where they normally start their night & then were found sitting at the computer keyboard with the elf on the shelf website up & a couple of printables from the site sitting in the printer. Those pics were hilarious--they had their hands staged in a wave! We did the ever popular socks on the Christmas tree along with the whole lot of mismatched mittens--the elves were found sleeping under the tree inside of one of the knit hats. Another night they wrapped up all the remotes & piled them up on DH--the hardest thing about that was prying it out of DH's hands (I had to end up leaving one unwrapped just to avoid the separation anxiety!). We also did the maple syrup spaghetti & have tied all the shoes together--had them innocently sitting near the shoes wearing the boys mittens & hats.

Tomorrow I'm going to have the bathroom decorated for Christmas with Christmas themed soap and tissues & will put some of the gel window decorations all over the mirror--have to see how ambituous I am if I add some lights or not! I also plan to set up some ziplining off the top of the tree-just trying to figure out how to have them hanging on.

As you can see I've used a lot of the great ideas that all of you have shared! I love the idea of the cups in the shape of a tree--very doable! We're getting into the final week...we can do it!

 

[southern_redhead]

Well, recently, Gumdrop has written ALL over our mirrors (one hanging on wall and two huge ones in the living room) with those Crayola magic markers for Windows.....he even kindly left us the box of them (we can now find three......ahem, DD!!) That was a huge hit, the two younger ones have enjoyed playing teacher/blackboard on the mirrors with the markers.

Wednesday morning he was found riding DD's AG horse out of her room......he was leading Felicity's foal out behind him

This morning, he was reading a Pokemon graphic novel to a group of Smurf figurines. He even made them sit in a circle

I am going to try to find some inexpensive holiday mugs tomorrow so he can bring everyone a mug with some cocoa and candy canes. We need more mugs anyway.... I also plan to pick up some of the window cling holiday decorations. What an awesome idea for him to decorate the bathroom mirror! He may bring a puzzle, as well. I really don't want to get too into him "bringing" things....OTOH, I'm running low on ideas and he has only brought us one movie since the first weekend of December. I think we are due a few treats

 

[Becc1]

Yesterday we took a day trip to NYC and the kids were surprised to find Kringle hanging on the rearview mirror of our car wanting to come along! This was a great plan because he kept my kids in check for the 6 hours (back and forth) while we were traveling

 

[Kat77]

I've been taking pics of what Jingles and P.J. have been up to this year. I really wish I'd taken shots of their antics in past years. Joining this thread to share ideas and photos.

Jingles gets trapped decorating hallway:

P.J.'s attempt to free him:

Garage Door Makeover:

Basket of Sugarplums:

Elves make a tiny gingerbread house and snowmen with moms cookie supplies:

Elves make breakfast:

Closeup of Breakfast Mix:

Candy Cane Seeds:

Planted Candy Canes Seeds begin to spout and grow:

Reindeer Noses:

TP tree photo from last year:

I have few more cute holiday ideas here. My oldest had Secret Santa all week for HS band. My fave was the ninjabread.

 

[kldmom2000]

Kat77-LOVE the reindeer noses!!!! How creative!!! Awesome ideas with the bows on the door and the Jingles Morning Mix too! After 4 years of visiting, our elves are getting a bit low on ideas and have been incredibly lazy this year

 

[mandynee22]

I scored a leappad explorer tablet for my 5 year old today. He isn't home right now so I wanted to set it all up before I wrap it, that way it'll be all set when he opens it on Christmas (you have to load it on your PC and download things).
I staged a scene with Frisbee wrapping gifts on (fake) snow using the "gift from santa" paper I use for Santa gifts and took a pic with the leappad. I used the photo lab part to write "keep behaving! Love Frisbee" then took the batteries out and put the leappad back in the box like it was. I can't wait till he sees the picture that's already loaded LOL

 

[Kanga+2Roos]

The ziplining worked out great! I tied one end of some shiny red Christmas string (for wrapping around presents) to the top of the tree & the other to a toy truck sitting about 5 ft out from the tree, then took some of DS's GI Joe guys & had them hanging off the string (their hands are already formed in a grip pose) at various points going down it. They had just enough weight that they pretty much stayed put with some coaxing--I had 4 gi joes heading down the zipline, a couple at the bottom already & a bunch crawling up the tree. Then had one elf at the top of the zipline in the tree & the other standing next to the truck--I have to say I was quite impressed! When the boys woke up I got a great reaction out of them!

The bathroom decorating turned out great too...the gel clings were a bit time consuming to put up but they really look nice. It was just a bit nerve wracking to try to do that without getting caught by a waker...sure enough not 15 minutes after I finished, there comes DS6 for a middle of the night bathroom visit! Phew, way too close!

Love the new ideas that have been posted...Kat, you're amazing! Definitely going to use some. Gotta take it up a notch this week so they can go out with style!

 

[mdurette]

Eve finally arrived this past Sunday. (that is all my 5YO has been asking for - no special toy - just Eve). Eve sent her a letter last week letting her know she was on her way soon. She just had to finish wrapping presents for Santa. (She also mentioned she found one with my DD name on it and put some extra bows on it).

So others can have ideas - this is what we have done so far.
1. Arrival - red and white streamers all over the house. She was caught up in the middle of them hanging from the ceiling fan.

2. My DD did "shopping" at school and had presents under the tree for family members. But...no bows. So, Eve left a trail of bows throughout the house that lead to the tree. She was under a pile of bows next to the presents. Yep...she wanted all the presents to have bows.

3. Lunch box: pefect timing cuz I forgot to pay for pasta lunch this week (which is my DD favorite). Eve must have heard us talking cuz she filled her lunch box with a jar of Prego, a Box of Pasta and a can of peas. Then she took her snack bag and put a large container of ice cream sprinkles.

4. We awoke this morning to find snowflake stickers on a bunch of cotton balls. They were all over the room. In the middle were cups from the kitchen in the shape of a tree. Eve was playing a game trying to get the "snowballs" into the cups.

Here are some others that Eve has done since the last post:

5. Colored all TV screens in the house with the Crayola window crayons.

6. Version of hide and seek (this is my DD favorite). Notes are left. "I'm in the place that the goldfish swim with carrots and chicked" She goes to the place where we keep her Campbells goldfish soup. "Yummy soup....need some elf milk" She finds some green milk in the fridge. "I'm full from lunch, I want to play with the farm animals" She goes to the toy barn to find another note......and so on and so on.

7. The lighted lawn reindeer made it into our house. They were set up with the baby in front and the mom and dad behind. Eve took garland down from the tree and made reins. Then took a red ball from the tree and gave the baby a red nose. Posistioned the glider behind them.....filled it up with presents from the under the tree and she was found pretending to be Santa driving the sleigh. (My DD then spent a good portion of the next day pretending to be Santa herself in the set up!)

8. Last night Eve went to grandmas for a sleepover. I just got a pic and it looks like her tree and living room were TP'd.