A couple years ago, I started searching the Internet for alternatives to Elf on the Shelf. I liked the fun idea of a visiting elf, but I’ve never been in the mainstream category. And, while I honestly don’t know much about the Shelf Elf or his/her purpose, I was afraid I’d abuse the elf’s powers. I imagined myself making our elf a creepy watcher and a threat, instead of something fun. So, to prevent my misuse of the elf, I found this idea for Kindness Elves. I immediately loved the idea, and I think they are darling! But still, I had to go and make it our own. I found our Christmas Kindness Elf at a local, independently-owned shop. She has blue hair and rosy cheeks and a hat that looks a bit like a Christmas tree, but I don’t think she was necessarily made to be a “Christmas” doll. Our elf is named Winnie and she arrives on St. Nicholas eve (December 5th/6th) when St. Nick visits. She arrives with a welcome letter and her first “kindness card.” Then, as she moves to new spots every night, she has a new card with her each morning. Winnie, the Kindness Elf, leaves on Christmas Eve when she gets a ride back to the North Pole with Santa. She always leaves a farewell letter to thank the kids for all their kindnesses and reminds them to keep up all these kind acts throughout the year.
There are many ideas online for kindness ideas, if you are researching “kindness elves.” Our daughter was 5 the first year our elf visited, and I quickly realized Winnie’s ideas were a bit ambitious for both of us as daily suggestions. So, Winnie has scaled back quite a bit to things like smiling at a stranger or leaving a video message for a relative. I will attach some of the ideas we’ve seen our elf leave. And, if our daughter doesn’t get around to an idea one day, sometimes our elf will tuck yesterday’s card in with the new one, but we don’t make a battle or threat of it if it doesn’t happen.
This year, our elf fell in love with a candle wizard on our shelf. I didn’t know about it at first, but our daughter pointed it out. Soon, they were moving to new locations together each night and finding themselves in front of wedding pictures and so on. So, we had a lovely Christmas eve wedding here for them before Winnie had to make her way back. It was quite romantic, with a circle of nutcrackers as guests.
Just wanted to share about our little kindness elf, in case any other parents are looking for alternative ideas!
