What started as way of bringing Christmas cheer and raising school spirit at R.F. Staples School has taken on a life of its own.
Teacher Stephen Womack’s week of playing the Elf on the Shelf has gone viral and garnered attention province wide.
The idea was simple. Dress up as the titular Elf on the Shelf from a 2005 children’s book, add some props and wait for the cheer to roll in.
“The response has been way bigger than I expected it to be,” said Womack. “I like to dress up and do silly things, but the response has been overwhelming.”
Social media accounts set up for the elf meant that the school elf quickly gathered a flowing on the Internet, and that in turn led to coverage from radio stations and even an Edmonton TV channel.
Yet all the attention from outside of the school wasn’t the point.
“It’s been frightening, honestly,” said Womack. “The intent was to put on a silly costume and make some kids smile in the morning and have a good start to our days and build some school spirit.
“It’s become more than that and it’s not what I expected, but you know, you have to roll with the punches.”
As part of his week of elfing, Womack, whose elf name was Yukon Cornelius, and his helpers set themselves up in different locations around the school.
One day it was swinging from the rafters in the school cafeteria, while on another it was atop a gift-wrapped car in the parking lot. Later in the week the elf was seen camping out over the entrance to the school gym.
Part of the excitement for students has been the expectation of what was going to happen next.
“Kids really like searching him out in the mornings to see what his next location is and the scene he’s created and what it looks like,” said principal Courtney Lawrance. “
Each scene takes about an hour to set up and even longer to plan — the simple gesture designed to bring cheer and spirit didn’t just happen.
Womack had a whole team of helpers, including his wife, who put in hours to make the week a success.
“We’re very lucky to work with creative staff that really come together to help one another,” Lawrance said. “So Stephen is the public face of our Elf on the Shelf but there’s many staff members behind the scene helping him make his vision a reality.”
Lawrance said that the week has been great for the school.
“It’s a really been a nice project of engagement for our students as we gear up to the holidays,” Lawrance said. “It’s something that’s really brought our school together and just created a fun relaxed atmosphere.”
Elf on the Shelf is a children’s holiday picture book — in it the elf watches children to make sure they are behaving and reports the findings back to Santa.
That in turn has spawned a movement of parents who place Elf on the Shelf dolls around the house, often doing cheeky things.
Kids go to bed with the elf in its proper place, on a shelf, and when they wake up, the elf has moved and it’s the kid’s job to find where it’s gone and what it’s doing.
“My wife and I do the Elf on the Shelf with my kids and we have an elf visit us so when my wife found a man-sized Elf on the Shelf costume online she though it would be a funny thing to go down to the school and be in different places every day,” Womack said.
