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!

St. Nicholas Day, which falls on December 6th (or the eve of the 5th) is a day celebrated in many European countries.  Children will leave their shoes out in the evening and receive small gifts in them from St. Nicholas the next morning.  Sometimes, a knock will sound at the door on St. Nicholas eve and a gift will be waiting outside.   St. Nicholas was a man who is said to have shared his wealth with the poor.  In one story, in particular, he helped a family with three daughters by anonymously throwing bags of coins through their window.

Our family, here in the U.S., has celebrated St. Nicholas Day since our daughter was a baby.  In this time of over-consumption and entitled greed, it may seem silly that we’ve added another special holiday to December, but we added it for a few reasons.  For one thing, I feel that by keeping Christmas small and having other fun celebrations to look forward to, it actually keeps some of the frenzy out of this month.  I also love the idea of giving behind this story.  It seems that this idea has gotten all twisted and warped in the Santa tradition.  Our children leave their shoes out on St. Nicholas eve.  Sometimes St. Nicholas brings chocolate coins or a very small and simple toy.  He has even brought new pairs of slippers!  There is also real money left in each slipper that is to be used for helping others.  The kids have used this money to pick out toys or food or clothing to donate to groups collecting for families.  Every other year, our St. Nicholas brings a small nutcracker.  Sometimes there’s a mysterious knock at the door on St. Nick Eve and the nutcracker is outside, and sometimes the nutcracker shows up the next morning.

St. Nicholas also brings us Winnie, our Christmas Kindness Elf, who visits with us until Santa picks her up on Christmas eve.  Her kindness ideas seem to fit quite nicely with the spirit of St. Nick.  And, lastly, St. Nicholas picks up our fabric gift bags.  We’ve made the transition to only fabric gift bags, so it’s very nice of St. Nick to take some of these to Santa to use.

I didn’t know about Switch Witch until our daughter was born.  Switch Witch, like any Magical Visitor, is probably very different in each household who invites her, but basically she is a Halloween visitor who collects candy and replaces it with a small gift.

I’m not a fan of the ingredients in many name-brand candy bars, and we also try not to allow much sugar-y food in the first place.  For the first several years, we avoided the trick-or-treating thing altogether.  It helped that we lived in a very small town and that many of our friends held a similar opposition to candy.  Instead our daughter wore her costume on small outings or when visiting our neighbors in October.  We had a couple of very simple Halloween parties so the kids could have a chance to wear their costumes together.  But, somehow, every year, at least a few pieces of candy found their way into our home, and so Switch Witch has been visiting our house for a few years now.  This year, her visit will be especially helpful since we have had way more opportunities for trick-or-treating events.

As with all our other Magical Visitors, the visits started out simply, but with time it’s become a bit more.  If you’re considering inviting SW visit your home (which you can do at ANY point in your kid’s life–simply write to her), here is a little about our Switch Witch:

-Her name is Duff, which is a long story, but that’s what she’s been called for years.

-Her font looks like this, and she writes on cute Halloween paper.

-When switching out the candy, she has left things like small Lego cars (which she found at a yard sale and keeps on hand for this time of year), a small wooden toolset, and a toy wind-up car.

-She cleans up ALL our Halloween decorations on Halloween night and puts them in our closet, which is why she’s one of my favorite visitors!  This is so nice to have out of the way as we roll into November.

-Her background is this:
–Our Switch Witch lives just west of the moors in the Back of Beyond in a cozy, thatched cottage in the wood.
–She sleeps during the day, since she does most of her switching at night.
–Her spells are always good ones, like helping people fall in love or find things they’ve lost.
–She addresses the kids as “my dearies” or “my sweets.”

 

I’m sure Switch Witch Duff’s story will continue to grow, but this is our SW as of now.  I love that Switch Witch can either collect all the candy or just some of it.  Being opposed to the over-consumerist culture our society has created, I really try to remind Switch Witch to keep it simple and set that precedent.  Hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween!