Are you looking for some easy places to hide your elf on the shelf? Here are five ideas that will make it easy to hide your elf in a hurry!
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Easy Places To Hide Your Elf On The Shelf
We started the elf on the shelf tradition at my house about seven years ago.
And I will confess, I am not usually the mom that plans intricate hiding places for the elf. In fact, I’m usually hiding the elf late at night while I’m half asleep with no prior thought as to where to put it!
Or, I’m waking up in the middle of the night in a panic realizing that I forgot to hide the elf!
Or, worse still, I wake up in the morning and the kids want to know why the elf is in the same place as yesterday! Oops!
It is in these moments that I quickly throw blame on one of the kids, or my husband. “Oh, somebody must have stayed up too late last night and he didn’t have time to leave and come back so he just had to stay all night!”
It happens at least once every year!
Christmas Tradition
But now that I have a couple teenagers in the house, I don’t even have to hide the elf anymore! Woohoo lol!
The older kids now take turns hiding the elf for their younger siblings. And I must confess, they get into it way more than I ever did. They take the time to hide him in some pretty neat places doing some pretty cool things.
If you’d like to discover some more intricate hiding places then you can find them here, but this is not that post!
This article is for the mom that’s in a hurry! It’s for the mom that wakes up in the middle of the night and stumbles through the house trying to find a good place to hide the elf!
These are all easy ideas, that are still cute and will earn you a passing grade as a parent without having to devote a lot of time towards being an over achiever;)
I’m all about making Christmas magical for kids (hence getting the elf;), but I’m also a mother of four! Life is crazy! Don’t stress yourself out.
Sure, it’s fun some nights to hide the elf in cool places, but some nights you just got to survive!
So lets take a look at some easy hiding places for the elf on the shelf!
Hide the Elf On The Shelf In The Christmas Tree
This is a hiding place I probably utilize multiple times a year. The elf sits so well in the Christmas tree. It’s easy to prop him among the branches when you’re in a hurry. He doesn’t fall over easy here (which happens to me sometimes in other locations lol).
He can also hide here multiple times because there are so many different spot options! He can sit on the top by the star, he can hide behind your child’s favorite ornament, etc.
Hide the Elf On The Shelf In The Garland
If you have a mantle with garland on it, that is another great place to stash the elf! If you want to give it an extra something, add a cookie;)
Hide Your Elf On The Shelf Eating a Snack
This is something that looks like you spent a lot of time, but you didn’t! Want a midnight snack? Take a bite out of an oreo cookie and then frame the elf:)
Place it in his lap with a napkin, sprinkle some crumbs on his hands and face, and you’re all set! Don’t forget to leave the box open next to him:)
Hide Your Elf On The Shelf In a Christmas Stocking
Can you spot the elf in the stocking? What about here:
The stocking is usually the first stop our elf makes each year. It’s kind of like our way of notifying the kids that he has arrived.
If the elf isn’t in a stocking, he probably hasn’t made it here from the North Pole yet:)
We try to have him make his way through each child’s stocking once during the Christmas season. That way nobody feels left out.
Hide Your Elf On The Shelf In a Lamp
If you have really little ones that don’t yet grasp the concept of not touching the elf, then you need a high spot!
Our elf usually makes it into a floor lamp at least once.
It doesn’t get any easier than that for a hiding place!
So, those are five easy places to hide your elf on the shelf!
Busy moms need to have at least a handful of easy hiding places. You never know when you’ll forget to hide the elf and need a quick spot before someone sees you hiding it!
And remember, the holidays are about fun with your family, not stressing about something as trivial as the elf on the shelf! You do not have to create intricate scenes for the elf in order to be considered an awesome mom! Make it easy on yourself and get a good nights sleep:)
