Over a third of American families with young children have a “friendly scout elf.” The majority of parents think it’s a fun tradition to hide their little toy elf each night and tell their children that he’s watching for good behavior to report back to Santa Claus. Oh yeah, and don’t touch the toy elf, lest they lose all their holiday magic.
On the other hand, the most common reason for families to skip the tradition is because they think it’s “weird and creepy.” So people’s opinions about the relatively new holiday tradition are a real mixed bag. Scroll through social media, and you’ll probably find just as many parents complaining about the stress of finding a new hiding spot as parents bragging about how they made their little elf look like he was making snow angels by sprinkling some flour on their kitchen counter.
I came to the tradition innocently enough. I was visiting my sister’s family during the holiday season when her kids were elf-age. They had an elf, and the rest is history. It seemed harmless and ubiquitous. Buy elf. Name elf. Hide elf. Threaten children that elf will snitch on them if they don’t shape up. So as soon as my children were elf-age, I didn’t overthink it. I bought the book and the accompanying elf doll, and we were off and running.
Instead of being annoyed with hiding the elf in 24 different spots for yet another year, I look forward to it. I’m with the majority of elf-having households who think it’s harmless and fun. The pressure and expectations of the elf tradition bring me joy and force me to be creative.
The reason lots of people complain about their scout elves is one of the reasons it drives creativity; the elf tradition comes with a lot of constraints. I have to hide the elf every night for 24 nights and come up with novel hiding spots each night.
In one study, Catrinel Haught-Tromp found that forcing people to use specific nouns to make couplets increased creativity. A common misconception is that people would be more creative if they could use any words they wanted, but constraints can help drive creativity.
I don’t have to think about the limitless ways to spread holiday magic each night or create a new tradition. I just have to hide the elf in a new location each night. That constraint allows me to be more creative with my hiding spots.
If I only had to hide our elf one night, I wouldn’t be praising the tradition as an exercise in creativity. But because I have to hide it 24 nights in a row, I’m forced to start thinking more and more outside the box.
Repetition is one of the reasons improv boosts divergent thinking. One of my favorite games is called Seven Things. You give someone a category, and they quickly name seven things in that category. Similarly to my elf-hiding, the first few ideas are usually obvious, but being forced to go beyond the obvious makes ideas six and seven land further afield.
Divergent thinking is all about working within constraints to develop as many novel ideas as possible. Forced repetition like Seven Things and elves on shelves helps us get creative.
Finally, I’m getting optimal creativity benefits from my elf experience because I’m in that “fun and harmless” majority. I’m having fun scrambling to find a new hiding spot before the girls wake up, and mood matters when we’re talking creativity.
Studies show that a positive mood enhances creativity. There’s a brain region called the anterior cingulate cortex that’s active when people are thinking of “out there” ideas or solutions, and good moods help prime the anterior cingulate cortex to follow its flights of fancy. That means it’s easier for us to come up with off-the-wall (or off-the-shelf) ideas when we’re feeling good, when we’re silly and present and light.
So don’t be a Grinch. If you’ve committed to a life of elf-hiding, see it as an exercise in constrained creativity. Join the majority of us elf hiders who see it as the fun and harmless exercise it is, and get weirder and weirder with those hiding spots as we head closer and closer to Christmas.
References
Ballard, J. (2020, December 22). What parents think about “elf on the shelf.” YouGov. https://today.yougov.com/society/articles/33476-elf-on-the-shelf-parent…
Davis, M. A. (2009). Understanding the relationship between mood and creativity: A meta-analysis. Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 108(1), 25-38.
Haught-Tromp, C. (2017). The Green Eggs and Ham hypothesis: How constraints facilitate creativity. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 11(1), 10.
Kotler, S. (2021, January 29). 3 science-based strategies to increase your creativity. ideas.ted.com. https://ideas.ted.com/3-science-based-strategies-to-increase-your-creat…
Mourey, J. A. (2020). Improv comedy and modern marketing education: Exploring consequences for divergent thinking, self-efficacy, and collaboration. Journal of Marketing Education, 42(2), 134-148.
The Constrained Creativity of Elf on the Shelf
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06.12.2023
Over a third of American families with young children have a “friendly scout elf.” The majority of parents think it’s a fun tradition to hide their little toy elf each night and tell their children that he’s watching for good behavior to report back to Santa Claus. Oh yeah, and don’t touch the toy elf, lest they lose all their holiday magic.
On the other hand, the most common reason for families to skip the tradition is because they think it’s “weird and creepy.” So people’s opinions about the relatively new holiday tradition are a real mixed bag. Scroll through social media, and you’ll probably find just as many parents complaining about the stress of finding a new hiding spot as parents bragging about how they made their little elf look like he was making snow angels by sprinkling some flour on their kitchen counter.
I came to the tradition innocently enough. I was visiting my sister’s family during the holiday season when her kids were elf-age. They had an elf, and the rest is history. It seemed harmless and ubiquitous. Buy elf. Name elf. Hide elf. Threaten children that elf will snitch on them if they don’t shape up. So as soon as my children were elf-age, I didn’t overthink it. I bought the book and the........
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