Busy Phillips Takes Elf On The Shelf To New Levels

Busy Phillips got really into Elf on the Shelf this year, and she’s got the pictures to prove it.

The actress jumped into the growing holiday tradition of hiding a litlte toy elf in various places around the home. The elf craze stems from the children’s book Elf on the Shelf, which came out in 2005. It allows kids to give the elf a name, and every night the elf reports back to Santa Claus and shows up the next morning hidden in a new place.

For Busy Phillips, it was much more than a game. The mother of two young daughters — 5-year-old Birdie and 5-month-old Cricket — took pleasure in finding all kinds of crazy scenarios to put her Elf on the Shelf into, and then shared the pictures with her Instagram followers.

It’s clear that Busy is loving motherhood. Earlier this year she told the Huffington Post that the family was so excited to be preparing for a new member — none more than Birdie.

“My daughter is super excited,” she said “She’s actually incredibly helpful and … she’s really understanding things, when I say like, ‘Mom can’t carry you right now because the baby in her tummy is pressing down on her bladder!’ She understands what that means and she’s cool with it.”

Philipps added that motherhood also gave her a new level of celebrity.

“I only became a celebrity because I had a kid. Before I was pregnant nobody cared,” she said. “My husband has a theory that celebrity gossip feels so seedy, but if you can put a positive spin on it, like touting a new baby, then people somehow feel it’s okay. I joke to my agent that having a baby made my career.”

This Christmas season Busy was just as famous for her Elf on the Shelf ideas.

Some of the ideas included Tic Tac Toe games, sledding contests, Rice Crispy treat breakfasts, and even some light-hearted vandalism:

To see all of Elf on the Shelf ideas Busy Phillips had to share, check out her Instagram page here.