Elf Party, Take Three

We almost didn't do it, but we when some of our friends said they had never seen Elf, we had to host another Elf party last month!

I invited three families over and warned them that I likely would not go "all out" with decorations and games and such this year, but figured we would just eat a light supper with candy and watch the movie together.

My children protested.  They wanted decorations and games again.  So we all pitched in.

We hung paper chains, snowflakes, and signs bearing "Elf quotes" all over the house.  My favorite this year hung above the toilet:  "you sit on a throne of lies!"

Members of the Adkison, Kirkman, and Wood families gather around with our family to watch the movie while eating the traditional "Stinky Santa" (beef and cheese) sandwiches and candy from the basic food groups.

We played a lot of the same games we have played other years (click on those two links to see the past two Elf parties),  But this year we also added an obstacle course.

First participants put on the Santa hat, then they crawled around the candy canes, and had to put gumdrops on a toothpick which they held in their mouth. Next they crawled through a tunnel in the doorway between our living room and kitchen. . .

Once they were in the kitchen they hopped across the "crosswalk" on the floor into the dining room where they had to build a Lego creation according to the directions on a card.

As soon as they completed the Lego station they ran back into the kitchen where they sang "You'd better watch out, you'd better not cry, you'd better not pout I'm telling you why, Santa Clause is coming to town!" at the top of their lungs.  

It was hilarious to both play and watch, and we had two bracket of competition--one bracket for teens and adults, and the other bracket for those 12 and under.

It wouldn't be an Elf party without the classic Coke-chugging competition.  Here the four dads face off.  As I recall, Aaron won this round.  He was very competitive as he also placed in the top three in the obstacle course.

And here is a picture of the after-party party.  It turns out you shouldn't use cheap white Duct Tape to make a crosswalk on your kitchen linoleum. We tried Windex, goof-off, olive oil, and lemon essential oil to finally remove the sticky residue.

If we have another Elf party in the future (which I assume we will as they are always a resounding success, fun for all ages, and the kids especially love them), we will be using painter's tape for the crosswalk (which we might cover with white duct tape) but we will never again put duct tape on the linoleum!