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You’ve been Elfed!
By Melissa Thibodeau
Last year, 4 days before Halloween, our household got “Ghosted”. No, we weren’t suddenly ignored by friends. But rather, someone rang our doorbell and when we opened the door, there was nobody there, though whoever it was, left a cute little Halloween bag filled with yummy treats. Attached to the bag was a poem about how we got “Ghosted” and that we had to Ghost 3 more friends before Halloween.
I must say, I was so enchanted by the whole concept. I needed to tell my colleagues about it the next day, while my daughters immediately had to find out which classmate started the chain. - And in case you need even more proof that kids are horrible at keeping secrets: the Ghost revealed herself to my daughter in the school yard, the second she saw her. Mystery solved!
Now, what does Halloween have to do with Christmas? Well, as it turns out, this ding-dong-ditch-a-gift game concept is equally popular during the holidays. It’s called “getting Elfed”, or sometimes “getting Jingled” and the rules of the game are the same. It’s all about paying forward!
With all the madness surrounding the holidays, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s truly important. Starting a tradition like this one, helps kids experience first-hand how much fun it is to make others happy (this is also a great family activity to do, to kick off Advent.)
To start the game, all you need to do is print a few copies of this printable, fill little bags with homemade or store-bought treats and attach the poem to the bags (my daughters’ treat bags contained sugar cookies they baked and decorated). The poem explains that once you’ve been Elfed, you cannot be Elfed again and the way to let other would-be Elfers know is by taping the sign to your door and they will move on to Elf another neighbour or friend’s home.
I swear, seeing your child creep up to the front door, put the bag down, ring the doorbell and run back to the car as fast as they humanly can, is hands down the best part. They simply can’t stop laughing, and you, you’ll feel like a bank-heist getaway driver! And then as the December days pass, Elf signs will start to pop up all over. Who Elfed who? Who's been Elfed? It's all part of the fun of seeing holiday cheer spread from door to door, from friend to friend.