The elf’s arrival letter
Four or five lines, left with the elf on the morning it appears: who it is, that Santa sent it, and one house rule. The rule is the part worth thinking about, because you will be living with it until Christmas Eve.
The short answer
The elf’s arrival letter should say who it is, that it moves at night, that it must not be touched, and nothing about moving every night — so a quiet night later is not a broken promise. Elf Emergency writes one signed with the name your child gives it, for $4.99.
Elf Emergency is available now, $4.99 for one child. Ready about a minute after purchase.
Set the expectation you can actually keep
The arrival letter is where most households accidentally promise a nightly performance. “I will move somewhere new every night and you will have to find me” is a commitment to twenty-four consecutive mornings of invention, made in writing, on the first day.
Say instead that the elf comes and goes, that some nights it is too tired to travel, and that it will be back. You have then written yourself permission to have a quiet night, in the elf’s own words.
The don’t-touch rule
Almost every arrival letter includes some version of “do not touch me or I will lose my magic”. It is worth including, because it is the thing that keeps the elf intact until Christmas.
Give it a repair, though. An elf whose magic can only be lost is one accidental cuddle away from a crisis; an elf that recovers overnight if you leave it a note turns the same accident into part of the game.
What to include
- A name, or a line inviting the child to choose one
- That Santa sent it, and roughly what it is here to do
- That it comes and goes rather than performing nightly
- The don’t-touch rule, with a way to fix it
- Nothing about presents depending on behaviour
How to leave it
With the elf, somewhere it has obviously just arrived: on the mantelpiece, in a plant, halfway out of a stocking. Bad handwriting on small paper reads as elf-sized.
If more than one child lives in the house, write one letter to both rather than one each. Two letters get compared, and whichever is shorter becomes evidence of something.
Questions
What should the elf’s arrival letter say?
Who it is, that Santa sent it, that it comes and goes rather than appearing every single night, and the don’t-touch rule with a way to recover if it is touched. Four or five lines.
Should the letter promise the elf moves every night?
No, and this is the single most useful thing to get right. Promising a nightly scene in writing on day one commits you to twenty-four of them. Say it comes and goes.
What if the elf gets touched?
Write the repair into the arrival letter — the magic recovers overnight if the child leaves a note or an apology. An elf whose magic can only be lost creates a crisis out of a cuddle.
While you are here
- Elf Emergency
Forgot to move the elf, got caught, need tonight’s idea, the arrival or the goodbye: a plan for you and a note in the elf’s own hand for them, in a minute. $4.99.
- Easy elf ideas, ranked by effort
Seven elf setups that take under two minutes and need nothing you do not already own. Ranked by how tired you are.
- The elf’s goodbye letter
What the elf should say when it leaves on Christmas Eve, where to leave the note, and the one line to keep out of it.
- You forgot to move the elf
The elf did not move and someone is awake in ten minutes. Four explanations that work and one thirty-second setup that covers it.
Santa knows more than you think.
Tell Santa the small things nobody else knows, and he will tell them back.