When we had our daughter 5 years ago, we immediately started thinking of all of the holiday traditions we wanted to do! Elf on the Shelf was one that I kept seeing all over social media, but we were sold on the idea of him being naughty. (And I REALLY didn’t want to make messes just for myself to have to clean up).
I did a little research and discovered The Kindness Elves and was immediately sure that this would be a Christmas tradition for us!
Unlike the Elf on the Shelf that focuses on bad behavior and reports back to Santa, the Kindness Elves focuses on positive behaviors that help building kind character habits!
How it works-
On the first of December, the Kindness Elves arrive at our home with their little house accompanied by a tiny letter that they have written, reminding the kids who they are and what they will be doing in our family for the coming weeks.
They say that they have heard that the children have kind and loving hearts and they want to see them for themselves! They let the children know that they will be putting out little notes each day, either praising them for the kind acts they have witnessed, or suggesting more ways we can help others either at home, school, or in the community. Our oldest is just learning to write, so I’m excited for her to write letters back to them too!
Here is a simple list of the key points that the creator, The Imagination Tree, put together:
- They only share kind ideas and notice things that are lovely. There is no focus on negativity or shame and they’ve arrived in the home because they’ve heard reports about how KIND the kids are.
- They are still very fun and playful!
- They appear somewhere each morning, often next to an item that we need for that day’s kindness activity e.g. inside a mixing bowl ready to bake some cookies as a gift
- They leave a little note containing a suggestion for that day’s act of kindness e.g. “Let’s collect some of your toys and give them away to the children’s hospital”, “let’s make some cookies for the neighbours”, “shall we visit an elderly friend/ relative?” etc
- When they see the children doing kind and lovely things, they leave a little note for them to find in the morning e.g. “Oh I loved it when I saw you sharing your new book with your little sister” or “you were very kind to help your Mummy load the dishwasher!” etc These notes can be collected into the Little Book of Big Kindnesses as a record keeping journal.
- Some mornings they may wake up to find the elves have lined up their shoes, tidied their coats, got the breakfast things ready or fixed a broken toy etc. Modelling direct ways to be kind and helpful as a prompt for the children in the day.
- Occasionally they leave a treat out as a thank you!
- On the last day (Christmas Eve usually for us) the Kindness Elves leave a little goodbye letter, thanking the children for their wonderful stay and sharing so many lovely experiences together. They say that they might pop back throughout the year for birthdays or other special occasions and that they can’t wait to come again next Christmas!
Now is the PERFECT time to plan out your ideas for acts of kindness for the month and make a Dollar Tree run for little supplies you may need! I even like to help myself out a tad and throw in some, “Let’s be kind to your Mommy and by helping her clean your rooms!” …#noshame
I’ll be sharing all of my ideas for the month ahead over on Instagram, so be sure to follow along! @allisonandersonhome
Happy holidays, friends!!