What are Kindness Elves?

Kindness Elves are a fun tradition for the holidays and throughout the year and an alternative to the popular Elf on the Shelf tradition.

A Kindness Elf is meant to replace the mischievous Elf tradition at Christmas. Instead of a little elf who will spy on you and report to Santa if you have been good or bad, Kindness Elves inspire kind and giving acts.  Placing the focus instead on positive, character-building activities for kids.

We first learned of Kindness Elves in 2013 when a customer requested a Christmas Elf for the Kindness Elf Tradition. Since then it has become a fast growing family tradition all over the globe. We are proud to have been offering handcrafted holiday elves for your family traditions since 2013. Always made in the USA.

This is a brief outline on the Kindness Elf tradition.

• They typically arrive in your home around the holidays and are sent to share some love and magic.
• They will only share kind ideas and noticing things that are lovely. There's no focus on negativity, but there can still be lots of fun and silliness too!
• They normally are moved somewhere different each morning, sometimes in funny situations and positions, often next to an item that is need for that day’s kindness activity e.g. inside a mixing bowl ready to bake some cookies as a gift
• Many times they will be holding little suggestions for acts of kindness, love or helpfulness that your children can do together that day for e.g. “Let’s collect some of your toys and give them away to the children’s hospital”, “let’s make some cookies for the neighbors ”, “shall we visit an elderly friend/ relative?” etc
• When they see the children doing kind and lovely things, they will leave a little note for them to find in the morning e.g. “I loved it when I saw you reading your new book with your little sister” or “you were very kind to help your Mommy fold the laundry!”.
• Some mornings your little ones might wake up to find the elves have lined up their shoes, tidied their playroom, got the breakfast things ready or fixed a broken toy etc. Modelling direct ways to be kind and helpful as a prompt for the children in the day."

For some more fantastic ideas for your Kindness Elves Tradition check out our newest blog post. There are tons of great ideas and free printables. 

What I love about this tradition is that it can easily be altered to fit your family and is not something that can only be used during Christmas. 

We have families who have used our Angels, Fairies, Pirates and Leprechauns for Kindness Dolls. Some use them for the Christmas season and some for a little year-round magic. 

Some Kindness dolls arrive through magical doors and stay only during December and others pop in throughout the year to inspire kindness and giving. 

We carry Elf Doors for your Kindness Elf to enter.

We also added a Elf Mail Box.This adorable wooden box is just the right size for exchanging notes, or even a little gift with your new elf friend. 

If your Elf needs a place to sit, we carry these cute little wooden Elf benches. 

From baking cookies to making cards, Kindness Elves can suggest any number of kind and loving acts. Even something as simple as smiling at people or saying hello to another child at school.

They are also known for leaving little notes acknowledging kind acts they noticed little ones preforming throughout the day.

 Many have their elves appear each day from December 1st until Christmas, but some find there is not enough time in the day to craft mini notes and elf plans for the entire month. 

I say, do what works for your family. The great thing about this tradition is how it can be molded to fit each family. Maybe your elf only comes once a week, maybe he comes year round....maybe, your elf isn't even a elf and instead is a fairy, angel or even a knight!

The point is, go with what works for your family and enjoy this tradition in a way that fits your life.  

Bring  a little extra magic into the holiday season, or all year round. 

Who wouldn't love a sleigh ride? We have wooden sleighs for your elves to ride in too. 

We carry Holiday Elves in many different hair and skin tones to fit your family.

We have our traditional red & green elves as well as Scandinavian inspired, Angels and Gnome/Tomten looking ones too. 

All of our Elves are handmade in the USA by owner, Suzanne Barker

Scandinavian Christmas Elf Girl.

Gnome/Tomten

Scandinavian Christmas Elf Boy.

Our Holiday elves and Kindness Elf doors can be purchased on our website here-- 

Holiday Elves for sale

 On Instagram?

Tag pictures of your Wildflower elves with #WildflowerElves and we will repost on our page.