Binkies and Briefcases

Today’s post is brought to you by my friend Shelley. I met Shelley when we lived in Florida because our husbands worked together. She and her husband, Tommy, have three kids who are around the same ages as our kids.

Every year I look forward to seeing Shelley’s Elf on the Shelf, Zippy, in my Facebook feed because she has some great ideas. Ideas I can actually use. I like the idea of the elf being a fun holiday tradition, but I am not the kind of mom who is going to spend an hour hot gluing miniature marshmallows together to build our elf an igloo. Don’t worry, neither is Shelley.  

These are not those stupid “Let’s pour glitter everywhere so mom has to clean it up later” ideas,  nor are they the “It took me an hour and a half to rig that elf to the vaulted ceiling with fishing twine” ideas that we see all over Pinterest. I’m talking about cute, simple, but creative ideas that average moms like me (moms who are tired at the end of the day and don’t want to spend a bunch of time and energy on an elf) can and probably maybe will actually do.

Most of these ideas take less than two minutes and don’t make a huge mess. If you are looking for easy Elf on the Shelf ideas, you have come to the right place.

Thank you Shelley!! (And thank you for allowing me to steal all these pictures from your Facebook page.)

Elf playing cards

Elf Reading a book

Elf on a date

Elf in a “snowglobe” (under a glass)

Walking the dog

With just a few (clean) undies in the tree

Fishing (I appreciate that we are just using toys we already have here, not trying to reinvent the wheel-or the fishing rod.)

Just hanging around

Shelley says,

“I try to do two things-(1) use stuff the kids have. I don’t go over and beyond-I’ve never bought things just for Zippy. I simply scan the room and grab something that’s laying around. And (2) I try to make some stagings purposeful. For example, when Tony remembered to brush his teeth last year with no reminders (which was a big deal back then) Zippy wrote a “great job” note in toothpaste on the mirror. Tonight they will each be receiving a “progress report” because our younger son has been making some poor choices at school and I’m hoping a note from Santa, reminding him to be good in school, will help straighten him up.“

Thanks again, Shelley!

I can’t wait to see what you do with your elf this year!

(Turns out I didn’t have to wait long. Right after I finished this post, Shelley put this picture up on her Facebook feed.) 

Still in the Holiday Spirit?

Check out my tutorials for easy and adorable ornaments and my secret for getting monogrammed, designer stockings for less than ten bucks.

My friend Lauren, who has been my BFF for over 22 years (!!), is getting married in the spring. Our family is super excited to be part of the wedding! I am a bridesmaid, Abby is the flower girl, and Eddie even got licensed to preform the ceremony.

Last week Lauren and her fiance, Ryan, came to our house for a visit. We ditched the boys and took Abby shopping for her flower girl dress.

She was in seventh heaven. She literally tried on every dress in her size and insisted on dancing on the “stage” in every single one. All of the adults were fawning over her and she was certainly in her element. She’s a performer, that one.

She also insisted on ringing the bell once we settled on “The Dress,” just like the brides who were there. 

We are in so much trouble when it comes time for her own wedding.

She is a bridezilla in the making.

She’s lucky she’s cute. 

(The dress in the very top pictures was the winner. After all of that, we went with the first one she tried on.)