Buddy, totally original right? But S loves Will Ferrell and the movie Elf so my suggestion of Twinkle got overridden pretty quickly.

We introduced Buddy last year when E was just 2 and lets just say, it was a good idea to start while he was young and not really all over it because it taught us we'd better lift our game for this year and make sure we're on the ball... panicked Elf placement while the other distracts the children is not going to cut it this year.

With this in mind, I've decided to get prepared, did some research and have come up with a list of placements and gimmicks for our Elf along with a purpose.

We love Christmas, like really really love Christmas - our tree has been up since the 8th of November! But the things we love most are the cheer, the giving and the spirit of the season more so than the presents and its really important to S and I that we teach the boys about this.
We want our boys to have a strong social conscience and be aware that while they are very blessed to be spoilt by those around them and want for nothing, others aren't so lucky and its important for them to do what they can to help others, especially at Christmastime.

We have a wooden Advent calendar of little boxes and a hanging fabric one so my plan this year is have Buddy make a big arrival and with him he'll bring a list of tasks for the boys to complete each day of December.
Once they complete Buddy's task, they can check the stocking and see if he's left a treat - a sticker, matchbox car, chocolate elf etc.


The tasks we have this year are:

1. Choose a Christmas book to give to the Wishing Tree
2. Bake and deliver treats to the local Police Station to thank them for looking after us
3. Leave a thank you card and gift to the garbage man for collecting our rubbish each week and always smiling and waving
4. Choose a gift for a little boy and for a daddy to leave at the Kmart Wishing Tree
5. Christmas cards for kindy friends
6. Bake and deliver treats to the local Ambulance station to thank them for looking after us
7. Choose 5 toys and books to donate to charity 
8. Choose and give gifts and thank you cards to kindy teachers for educating us
9. Visit Santa and have a family photo taken
10. Attend Christmas Carols with family
11. Make a donation of food/blankets & toys to the local RSPCA
12. Make & decorate a gingerbread house
13. Write a letter to Santa
14. Go to the park and pick up any rubbish to help keep our environment clean
15. Light candles and talk about great grandparents
16. Choose and take some non perishable food items to a local Christmas food drive
17. Make a list of 3 kind things to do for others before Christmas Day
18. Say good morning to everyone we see and wish them well
19. Visit local Christmas light displays
20. Leave a candy cane on 5 cars at the shopping centre
21. Give swimming coach a thank you letter and small gift
22. Take a cold drink to someone working in the hot sun
23. Donate some money box money to a charity at the shops
24. Buy a bunch of flowers and give them out to make people smile

And for Buddy's morning arrivals from the North Pole so far we have:

1. Decorate the boys' rooms with tinsel, swinging from the end of one piece in Cs room
2. Riding in Mack Truck with snowman drink cups for the boys (from Kmart - $3 each)
3. Sleepover with the Ninja Turtles in Es socks
4. Swinging from the Christmas decorations
5. Popping out of the Christmas stocking that hangs on Es bedroom door - spoilt first child has 2 stockings
6. In the fridge drinking from the boys' milk
7. Riding a reindeer (decoration) on the shelf
8. In the Christmas lolly jar
9. Being eaten by a toy shark
10. Riding the boys' toy train with the animals
11. Camping out in the mini teepee with the Dino Train crew
12. Taking selfies with the Toy Story camera & Toy Story crew
13. Making a snow angel with 100s & 1000s
14. Reading a book in Cs reading corner
15. Colouring in a colour book with crayons
16. Flying with Toothless the dragon
17. Tea party/picnic with Olaf
18. With a rolled up Christmas scavenger hunt for E

and I have to come up with a few more in the coming days. Any ideas or suggestions?