Parents under pressure offer creative tips for moving Santa's spy Elf on
the Shelf
[December 05, 2025]
By ALICIA RANCILIO
A few years ago, Kurt Neesley of Redondo Beach, California, was
brainstorming where to put his family's Elf on the Shelf for his three
kids to find the next morning.
He decided to make it look like the doll, named Elfie, had painted on
their kitchen wall. Neesley used Tootsie Rolls to build an elf-size
climbing wall, posed Elfie on it with a paintbrush, and painted a
message in green reminding the kids to behave. There was even paint
splatter on the floor. (The paint, Neesley said, was left over from St.
Patrick's Day when a leprechaun visited and made a mess.)
“Three glasses of wine usually gets the creativity flowing,” said
Neesley, who had planned to repaint that kitchen wall anyway. “Elf on
the Shelf can be very stressful.”
This isn't just the holiday season. It’s Elf on the Shelf time, and
parents like Neesley need ideas.
Elf on the Shelf, who turns 20 this year, has created lots of family
memories, laughter and the occasional parental panic over where to move
the elf next.
First, a wee history
If you’re unfamiliar with Elf on the Shelf, here’s how it works: Parents
stage the doll in different spots around the home during December. The
idea is that Santa Claus has dispatched the elves to keep track of the
naughty and nice.
The idea of small, mischievous elves who protect the home -- if they are
treated well -- can be found in Scandinavian folklore. The modern Elf on
a Shelf began in Atlanta in the 1970s, when Carol Aebersold introduced
her twin daughters to a magical elf doll named Fisbee who would visit
each December. They would wake to find Fisbee in a different spot each
morning after his quick trip overnight to the North Pole.
The sisters, Chanda Bell and Christa Pitts, remember telling Fisbee what
they wanted for Christmas, believing he gave them a direct line to
Santa. “It's the most wholesome thing you'll ever see,” said Bell, who
also recalls that the elf would be placed up high so they couldn't touch
it. (This is now part of the lore. Children must not touch the elf
because that will take away its magic.)
In 2004, Aebersold and Bell self-published an “The Elf on the Shelf”
book that came with a doll. Pitts helped with sales and marketing. It
eventually took off.
Bell and Pitts co-founded a company, Lumistella, which has also created
other dolls from Santa's world. Netflix streams four Elf on the
Shelf-related movies, and there's an Elf float in the Macy's
Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Some parents have mischievous fun
Antonia Katsanos of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, has made her family's
Elf, named Twinkle, a year-round presence for her two daughters.
“The elf is watching, you have to eat your dinner. You can't just be
good at Christmastime,” she'll say. Twinkle has left notes to the girls
asking them to pick up their Barbies.
Twinkle can also be mischievous. One morning, the girls found her seated
in the shower by the soap, dressed like a mermaid. Other days, she was
in the ice machine or hanging upside down in the car.
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This combination of photos shows an Elf on the Shelf doll in various
locations at the home of Antonia Katsanos in Totowa, N.J. in
December 2020-2021. (Antonia Katsanos via AP)
“I am a creative person, but you do go dry at some point doing this over
and over again, year after year,” said Katsanos. “I Google ideas and
look at Instagram. It's sometimes a nuisance. I've popped up from sleep
at 3:30 a.m. remembering I need to move the elf."
Seeing her daughters' faces in the morning when they discover where
Twinkle is makes it worthwhile, she said.
Some parents keep it simple
Others keep the tradition low-key.
“We don’t get elaborate, we just move the elf,” said Ashley Zavala of
St. Paul, Minnesota, who works late as a bartender and doesn't want the
stress of dealing with anything too detailed when she gets home.
“Our kids like it and they don’t know the difference because they
haven’t had their elf do crazy things."
Still, Zavala looks at pictures online and sends clever ideas to her
cousin who goes all out.
Draft the elders
One option for parents who feel fresh out of ideas is to recruit a kid
who has aged out of the experience.
“Reacher” star Alan Ritchson says his older son has done just that and
it's worked brilliantly.
“Here’s the cheat code. You get a 13-year-old who figures it out a
couple years earlier than he should, and then he becomes your little Elf
on the Shelf weapon. So they get excited. They’ll never miss a night.
And you get a kid who’s coming up with ideas for you. That’s the trick,”
he said.
Elf on the Shelf, meet Mensch on a Bench
Ohio father Neal Hoffman was inspired by Elf on a Shelf to create a
similar tradition for Jewish families. His Mensch on a Bench doll and
book combo teaches kids about Hanukkah. Hoffman successfully pitched the
idea on ABCs “Shark Tank” in 2014, where he recruited investors.
Sandi Celentano, also of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, introduced both Elf
on the Shelf and Mensch on a Bench to her interfaith household, but it
was too much work so she stopped.
“The amount of time and energy that it took thinking of creative ways to
display these things every single day -- it just took over everyone's
lives. I've boycotted it for about three or four years,” she said.
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