Every year, many parents use Elf on the Shelf as a spy for Santa and spend night after night setting up cute and playful scenes for the elves to surprise their kids, but this year is different. During COVID-19 Christmas, many people have decided that rather than making the usual mischief, that little spy needs to spend a couple weeks in quarantine.
A viral Facebook post by a user named Hilary Soria explains the trend: “Elf on the Shelf will need to quarantine for 14 days after his trip from the North Pole,” it says. “This should help you mamas!”
https://www.facebook.com/hilary.ellis.10/posts/3436588896428307
The post has been shared more than 436,000 times since November 6 and gotten over 15,000 likes. The idea is to stick the elf in a container and not have to worry about moving it for the first half of December. Many moms and dads are grateful for a convenient reprieve from the chore of inventing new mischief for the elf to get into each night.
“What a great idea because I’m not feeling it this year,” one parent writes. “I literally just found him the other day and wanted to trash him.”
Facebook parents aren’t the only ones considering an Elf on the Shelf quarantine. On Instagram, dozens of parents are already sharing their creative contraptions, letters from the elf and other accessories to facilitate a 14-day isolation for the Christmas toy.
Some are using decorated glass jars to act as “quarantine houses.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGWJ5KcgsOw/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CHRQp03DPzl/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Others are sticking the little elf guys and girls in handmade quarantine boxes.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CHlythzge_9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
A search for “Elf on the Shelf quarantine” on Etsy yields more than 2,000 results. And, if locking your elf in isolation for 14 days isn’t your style, some crafters are also selling elf-sized cloth face masks.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFclAb4AgTb/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
The official Elf on the Shelf website states that elves don’t actually need to quarantine because they are magical creatures who can’t get the virus. Still, they note that if your child hates wearing a mask or is bummed about having to stay home during the pandemic, the elf could be a useful, light-hearted tool for modeling responsible pandemic behavior, noting, “[Elves] are happy to honor the practices of their adopted, human families and they always set a good example.”
Plus, kids are typically forbidden from touching the elves — the tradition includes the rule that touching the elf could make it lose its magic — so having the elf in a jar could offer kids a rare opportunity to interact with the toy.
Most importantly, elf quarantine gives parents and caregivers one less thing to worry about. While many families enjoy the Elf on the Shelf tradition, it can be taxing to come up with new ideas for the elf all month long, and most people have enough on their plates. In a year in which so many moms, dads and caregivers are just trying to keep it all together and maintain their sanity, sticking the elf on an actual shelf for once doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.
