It's time for the Elf on the Shelf to hang out at your house once again as the day after Thanksgiving is the unofficial start for the little guy's pre-Christmas journey of watching over your kids! This little bright-eyed being has become a family tradition around the households of the nation over the last several years.

If you are about to partake in this tradition for the first time, there's plenty of Elf on the Shelf offerings in the stores today. It's Black Friday and the perfect day to pick up your very first scout as a family tradition.

It's back!

Families use the Elf on the Shelf in different ways, so it is a great tool to start your own family tradition. You can name your new friend and then send him on his journey around your home. According to Chicago Now News, the kids get up in the morning and search for the elf. They do this every morning from the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas.

Parents get to work on the poses

Parents put the elf all over the place, on a shelf, in the bathtub, on top of the blender and, well...

you get the gist of moving the little guy around. Some folks are extremely crafty and pose the Elf on the Shelf in various activities, like wrapping it up in toilet paper so you can just see the elf's head peeking out from the toilet paper roll. The elf can be sitting on the edge of a jar filled with M&M's with a little fishing pool made from tooth picks and thread.

Posed this way it looks as if the elf is fishing for the candy.

Family tradition

The Elf on the Shelf comes with directions and a back story of tradition, but basically no one is allowed to touch the elf and each night when the children go to bed, the elf moves into a new position to watch how naughty or nice your brood can be!

This Elf on the Shelf has gotten so popular that the elf was one of the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade balloons this year. People get very creative with their elf poses, but most of all the kids love finding their elf in all these different scenarios each morning.

You can have your elf be a bit mischievous like the little guy below.

You can bring your elf back for the first time this year by putting it on the kitchen counter and spelling out in Cheerios, M&Ms or even raisins... "I'm back" or "I missed you." Or just have the elf make a mess like this little fellow!

Creep out the kids?

One mom found a good way to use the Elf on the Shelf as a tool! She uses it as a getting-your-kids-to-bed tool. While it might work for some kids others may be a bit creeped out if their elf suddenly starts talking to them, as this tweet from The Scary Mommy suggests below.
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