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The season is here, let's spread some cheer, With Elf on the Shelf, bringing joy near! From festive setups to sweet little sights, He’ll brighten your days and cozy nights. With endless ideas to spark delight, Making holiday magic feel just right!  *Thank you for clicking and purchasing through my affiliate links. I earn a very small commission at no cost to you* It’s that time of the year again where Santa’s elf is coming to visit! In our house we don’t have a naughty elf, but one that is here to spread Christmas cheer! I created a guide last year and decided to do it again this year! When wandering around the Christmas aisles I found this 24 Day Ultimate Elf Kit. So if you are looking for something easy with preplanned ideas this may be the way to go for you. I snagged it because it has 3 different backdrops and different props that I will be able to use with my elf for the different activities I have planned. It also includes your letter from your elf and idea cards for each day. This year we will be going up to The Polar Express Experience, so I tried to plan some of my days easier than others. I also have a baby this year too so I didn’t want to stress myself out too much. When I was at Hobby Lobby I snagged some cute craft ideas (all under $5) because they were all 50% off! I will link some of those (non affiliate) and others that are similar as well that I suggest. This is a fun way to spread Christmas cheer and these are our activities for the month, so I don’t mind spending some money. We also only do the 5 gifts (want, need, wear, read, do) so this is another way for our kiddo to get some extra fun during December. 
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I love to get into the spirit during the holiday season and over the last few years it has changed so much with having a kid. My daughter loves Christmas time, Santa, and all the family activities that we do. With this being her last Christmas as an only child, I decided that I wanted to make it as special as I can! I have done Elf on the Shelf the last two years but I never really planned anything and just winged it. I am not a fan of the "naughty elf" because the whole point is making sure that we are being kind to others. I tend to have our elf bring activities or little treats that we can enjoy together. This year I decided to also use our advent wall hanger that I snagged a few years back, it comes with the blank cards that you can write on. There are others I found on Amazon too, this one is customizable or you can go more simple with just numbers
I decided to map out the activities we would do for our advent wall hanger and match them up with our elf. I thought was a fun idea to hit both at the same time, and making it more about spending time with family rather than just silly things our elf was doing. If you are interested you can download both of these as PDF files below if you want to use them yourself! If you post on Instagram I would love if you tagged my account @mrsmathfashion so I can share how you used or modified! I also have them shared in this google drive folder as well if you want the images along with the pdf! I will be working on updating and creating little cards too for specific days that have notes about our activities and will be adding these to the folder as well!
I will be updating this post as I go with the photos of our elf and our activity each day! That way if you want to pick and choose you can see the examples of what we did first. Anything that I purchased I will try to link for you as well so you can see where I got it from! Again, I try to spend as little money as possible and use what I already have in my closet. I am also planning on us taking a photo of our activity each day as well with our instant camera and then adding those into the days too!
I tried to make the Advent days accessible so that you don't have to purchase much, most of these things I already have at home, found on sale at the craft store, or found in the dollar spot at Target/Walmart.
1 - She found her elf waiting in the tree this morning with her special note. She was SO excited and I told her the elf also wrote me a special letter to help arrange all the activities in her advent calendar so he can bring her special activities throughout the month. Day one activity is to make a Christmas countdown with a paper chain. This is so easy to do, just cut out colored paper and then have your little one write the number, if they're too small you don't need to do it, it's just great practice for them with handwriting and counting. Then, just staple them and hang them up so each day they can take one off for their countdown!
If you're looking for a gift for a little one this holiday season, look no further!
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This little toddler loves trying to help so I made sure to include her in my baking adventures today. Today we made chocolate chip - peanut butter - banana cookies [recipe here] and had so much fun.
Toddlers can be very messy in the kitchen so here are some of my tips and tricks:
Being stuck in the house all day with a toddler has made me start looking for even more ideas for ways to keep her busy without just turning on cartoons. She has been getting really into coloring so I decided to try out a paint project! This was so easy and mess free and the final product turned out great!  How to throw the best birthday party ever. Okay let’s be real, The Office is one of our all time favorite shows, and since the 1st birthday party is realllly about the parents surviving the first year, naturally we made it about ourselves. I’m not lying when I say we are ridiculously huge fans, if you ask any of our friends it’s generally on as background noise when they come over and we cycle through the series constantly. When I was on maternity leave Stevie learned to recognize the theme song and would turn and smile when she heard it. I know, we have a problem. Here is my list of the must haves for your office party - and don’t be like us and forget the jello!  Since sleep is lacking for me I figured I could use all the random hours I’m up to start putting her birth into words. Like a lot of people, my birth plan didn’t go as expected but in the end we had to do what was best for our baby girl.  |
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