I really like the holiday season. I have always been that person who starts listening to Christmas music starting on December 1st, and we usually have our decorations up before the month begins. There is so much that I love about this time of year – spending time together as a family, embracing old traditions, twinkling lights, holiday cards and packages waiting on the porch, and thinking about and recognizing those in our everyday lives.
But even with my love of this time of year, I’ll be real – I don’t like everything that comes with it. As a mom, the holidays are absolutely exhausting and my to-do list stretches out to an unmanageable length. I get cranky and tired and overwhelmed. And I don’t love how my kids, fueled by sugar cookies and hot chocolate, can sometimes veer into a spirit of the “gimmies”. With glittering gifts waiting under the tree in plain sight, lists for Santa being made, and advent calendars with a small treat greeting them every single morning, it’s obviously easy for kids to love this holiday. But it’s also potentially easy for them to lose sight of the intended spirit of the holiday season. In my house, we have started to use the Kindness Elves to keep the focus on kindness, compassion, and togetherness this time of year.
I first heard of the Kindness Elves a few years back, when the girls were only babies. My friends with older kids had complained so loudly and so convincingly about Elf on the Shelf that I was immediately intrigued by an alternative. The basic idea of the Kindness Elves is that they pop in to your house every morning (similar to Elf on the Shelf), and they leave notes that suggest kind tasks for the kids to do each day. When you purchase the Kindness Elves, there is a book that provides a story to the children about who they are, why they are visiting your house, and what they’d like help with. It explains that there is so much kindness that needs to be spread that the elves could really use the help. They also have voices so magical that they are inaudible to the human ear and thus you can only communicate via notes (which are heart-shaped, of course!)
Although I received our Kindness Elves set a couple of years ago, it is only this year getting use. The girls are three and a half and arguably still a bit young to understand the full concept, but we’re giving it a go anyway. So far, it has been a big hit! The girls love racing to the little Kindness Elves house each morning to see what their kindness task is for the day. It has definitely helped us to focus on others this holiday season.
The hardest part was coming up with the list of kindness tasks for the girls to do that would be age-appropriate, achievable for their given schedule, and in the spirit of giving and kindness. I brainstormed tasks for every day in December leading up to Christmas, but in looking more closely at the Kindness Elves website, they recommend keeping it to only 12 days (between December 13-24) to tamp down the hectic nature of the season and avoid having another thing to do this time of year. Regardless, I share below the list of kindness tasks that I had brainstormed for this year to give you some ideas if this is something you may be interested in. Importantly, I don’t think it’s really necessary to have the official Kindness Elves set to put this into motion!
December 1 – Make a Christmas card for our mail carrier and put it in the mailbox (Note: We already got a note back from our mail carrier on this one and she loved their cards – and the girls loved the positive feedback on their kindness skills!)
December 2 – Donate supplies to an animal shelter (Note: This one required my researching the local humane society’s donation policy, and also setting aside the cat food items)
December 3 – Make a list of polite words, put it on the fridge, and use the words as much as you can
December 4 – Smile at everyone you see today
December 5 – Play a game with your sister (without fighting!)
December 6 – Draw and color a picture for your nanny to enjoy this upcoming weekend
December 7 – FaceTime your great-grandparents and ask them how they are doing
December 8 – Walk around your neighborhood and pick up trash/recycling
December 9 – Clean up your playroom without being asked
December 10 – Draw funny pictures on sticky notes and post them around the house to make your Mom and Dad laugh
December 11 – Give your parents a big hug and tell them that you love them
December 12 – Think of nice things to say to the people you see today
December 13 – Donate some of your toys to other children through a charity
December 14 – Bake a homemade treat for the neighbors and deliver it to them with a smile
December 15 – Set up a nice bath for your mom to relax in (Yes, yes, I really do feel a bit guilty making this a task!)
December 16 – Help your nanny with a chore around the house
December 17 – Tell your teachers at school nice things and try to make them laugh
December 18 – Ask someone to play with you at school that you don’t usually play with
December 19 – Let a friend go first at school
December 20 – Give your dad as many snuggles as you can today
December 21 – Pass out candy canes to people you see today
December 22 – Help your grandma with a chore around her house today (Note: I had to change some of the tasks to be appropriate when we will be staying with family over the holidays.)
December 23 – Make up a funny dance with your aunt and make her laugh and smile
December 24 – Help cook Christmas Eve dinner
What do you think of the Kindness Elves? Do you have any great kindness task ideas that I can use next year?
pomelo / 5621 posts
This is a great idea. I love that a couple of your tasks involve giving to a charity but that for the most part they are simple things a 3 year old can just do.
pomelo / 5084 posts
I love this! For that price it should definitely come with the ideas though
Like pre printed notes by age!!!!
pear / 1648 posts
I really like this idea! I am saving it for next year when the youngest is 3 and can participate better. Thank you
kiwi / 617 posts
This is a great idea! I NEVER plan on having an elf on the shelf, but in case we ever get to the ‘everyone else has one’ issue I’m totally using this instead!
I hope that you post these ideas every year…and crowdsource the boards too!
pear / 1565 posts
That is a great idea! Maybe I would alternate doing this vs advent calendar! I just can’t do both lol! It would wreck my brain
pomegranate / 3973 posts
Love these… we have an elf on the shelf, but he just moves around and occasionally reminds the kids to be good; I love the idea of him giving them specific ideas for ways to be good…
guest
I’ve never heard of the Kindness Elves but love the idea! And you came up with a great list! Will definitely look into them!
blogger / apricot / 439 posts
@ALV91711: @peachykeen: @josina: Catherine: I’m so glad you like the idea! I had the same reaction when I first heard of it and I’m really liking how it’s improving the girls’ behavior and focus this time of year.
@wrkbrk: This is a good point. I should have mentioned that they DO include pre-printed cards with the package. That said, I found them to be geared towards older children and so I was only able to use a handful of their ideas this year. Still, it should definitely make for easier prep in years to come!
@jennlin821: Crowdsourcing these ideas is a great idea! I will definitely plan to do that next year.
@graceandjoy: I feel ya! It feels like this season is an endless fun to-do list!!!!
pomegranate / 3105 posts
I love this! This year I bought a “Kindness” advent calendar which we are loving so far. It comes with a whole bunch of magnets; I put 25 random ones on and every day there are things like “Say thank you to your school custodian” or “bake cookies for your local fire house or police station”. So wonderful