My son is too old for Elf on the Shelf pranks, but I do it every year anyway. I think I have more fun with it than he does.

"The first Christmas I tried the Elf on the Shelf trend, my son was already 6. It was during the pandemic, and I thought it might cheer us both up. I had a friend who was doing it with her kids, and it seemed like a lot of fun. I didn't think it was necessary to buy the trademark Elf. I had a little gnome that we used as a Christmas decoration, and decided to use that as our Elf."

"For the first prank, I wrapped my son's shoes in plastic wrap - or rather, the Elf did. When my son woke up the next morning, he was confused, to put it mildly. For the first few Elf pranks, I tried to keep up the illusion that the Elf was the one responsible. But my son figured out pretty quickly that it was me, all along. I kept doing something different each night anyway, and my son just thought it was funny."

"I started sending pictures of the pranks to my friends when I thought they were especially funny, but I really loved sharing ideas with the friend who had introduced me to the Elf on the Shelf. It gave us something extra to bond over. The Elf extended beyond something I was just doing to make my son laugh, and helped me connect more with friends, too."

Parent began Elf-on-the-Shelf-style pranks during the pandemic to cheer up a six-year-old son. The parent used a small gnome instead of the trademark Elf as the moving figure. The first prank involved wrapping the son's shoes in plastic wrap, which left the child confused. The child quickly realized that the parent was behind the pranks, but still enjoyed waking up to new antics. The parent continued creating different setups each night and shared photos with friends, especially the friend who introduced the idea. The exchanges fostered bonding and creative inspiration via Pinterest and social media. The pranks produced laughter, playfulness, and unexpected social connection.

Read at Business Insider