Kindness Elf Ideas: 24 Notes Your Elf Can Leave in December

The simplest kindness elf ideas are short notes the elf leaves overnight, each asking the kids to do one small, free act that day: make someone else’s bed, draw a picture for the mail carrier, thank the bus driver by name. Below are 24 of them, one for each day from December 1 to 24, each written in the elf’s voice so you can copy it onto a slip of paper, plus a 12-day version for families who start late and a version with no elf at all.

If your house already has an elf that turns up somewhere new every morning, you have most of a kindness calendar built. The only change is that the elf is holding a note asking the kids to do something for someone else.

Any elf works: store-bought, hand-me-down, a paper one cut from a cereal box, or none at all. Nothing here needs a particular product or a shopping trip. One rule runs through all 24: the child does the act, not the parent. The grown-up’s job is to drive, to stand nearby, and to stay quiet about it afterwards.

How the elf notes work

One line, one act. One thing to do today that the kid can finish and call “done” by bedtime.

Doable with what is in the house. If the act needs a trip to the store, it will not happen on a school night. Every note below uses paper, crayons, tape, and whatever is already in the kitchen.

Written in the elf’s voice. Short, a little mysterious, slightly bossy. Kids will do for a mysterious note what they will not do for a parent’s reminder.

The kid can do most of it alone. Where a grown-up has to be there (anything outside the house, anything with a neighbor or a stranger), the note says so.

There is no report card. Nobody loses points for a missed day.

Copy the line in quotes onto a slip, sign it however your elf signs things, and tuck it in the elf’s arms. For kids too young to read, read it aloud as if you are just as surprised.

The 24 kindness elf notes

The order runs from the people at home, to the people who help your family every week, to neighbors, relatives, and people who will be working or alone over the holidays, then back home for the last days. Each one has an easier version for the mornings when the day is already full. The easier version counts.

1. Make someone else’s bed. “Mission one: make a bed before its owner sees it. Not yours. Tell no one.” Easier: Straighten one pillow and put the blanket back on.

2. Draw a picture for the mail carrier. “The person who brings your mail walks a long way. Draw them something and tape it to the mailbox.” Easier: Wave at the mail truck and say thank you if you see it.

3. Thank the bus driver or crossing guard by name. “Find out the name of a grown-up who keeps you safe on the way to school. Use it today with a thank you.” Easier: Say “thank you” on the way off the bus.

4. Set the table without being asked. “Dinner needs a table. Set it before anyone asks. I will be watching for forks.” Easier: Put out the forks and napkins.

5. Pick three toys to give away. “Choose three toys in good shape that another kid would love. Put them in a bag for a grown-up to drop off.” Easier: Choose one. Grown-ups: call the place first and check what they take. Many shelters and toy drives only accept new, unwrapped toys.

6. Make a card for a grandparent. “Somebody who loves you lives far away. Make them a card and we will mail it.” Easier: Call them and tell them one thing that happened this week. The stamp is the only cost on this list.

7. Ask someone new to play. “At recess, find a kid you do not usually play with and ask them to join in.” Easier: Say hi to one kid you have never talked to.

8. Help a brother or sister with their job. “Someone in this house has a chore they do not like. Help them finish it.” Easier: Do one part of it, like carrying the laundry basket.

9. Leave a kind note on the bathroom mirror. “Write one nice thing about someone in your family on a sticky note and leave it where they brush their teeth.” Easier: Say the nice thing out loud at breakfast.

10. Thank your teacher with a detail. “Tell your teacher one thing they did this year that you liked. Be specific. Elves love specific.” Easier: Say thank you at the classroom door on the way out.

11. Make a snack for someone. “Somebody in this house gets hungry at four o’clock. Make them a snack and bring it to them.” Easier: Pour someone a glass of water and hand it to them.

12. Clean up a mess you did not make. “Find one mess that is not yours. Clean it up. Do not say who made it.” Easier: Put away three things that are not yours.

13. Ask a grandparent about when they were little. “Call someone old (they will not mind the word) and ask what December was like when they were your age.” Easier: Send them a voice message asking the question.

14. Clear a neighbor’s step. “With a grown-up, sweep or shovel the front step next door.” Easier: With a grown-up, bring a neighbor’s trash cans back up from the curb.

15. Give a compliment to everyone at dinner. “Tonight at dinner, say one true nice thing to each person at the table.” Easier: Pick one person and say it to them.

16. Teach a younger kid something. “You know how to do something a smaller kid does not. Show them.” Easier: Read a younger kid one picture book.

17. Make a card for someone working on Christmas. “Some grown-ups work on Christmas Day: nurses, firefighters, store workers. Make a card for one of them.” Easier: With a grown-up, say “thanks for working” to a store worker this week. If you drop cards at a hospital or fire station, take cards only and hand them to the front desk; many hospital units do not accept homemade food.

18. Let someone else choose. “Today, someone else picks the show, the game, or the seat. Smile about it.” Easier: Let one person go first in line.

19. Write a list for a sibling. “Write five things you like about your brother or sister. Fold it up. Leave it on their pillow.” Easier: Three things, or one drawing.

20. Carry the groceries in. “When the shopping comes home, carry bags until there are none left, then help put things away.” Easier: Carry one bag.

21. Make a card for someone who is sick or lonely. “Somebody we know is having a hard time. Make them a card to cheer them up.” Easier: Draw them a picture and a grown-up can send a photo of it.

22. Do a grown-up’s chore before they ask. “Find a job a grown-up does every day and do it before they get to it.” Easier: Put every shoe by the front door in a neat line.

23. Thank someone who cooks for you. “Whoever makes your food deserves a thank you. Tell them which meal is your favorite.” Easier: Clear your own plate tonight and say thanks.

24. Leave your own kindness note. “Your turn. Write a secret kindness note for someone in the family to find tomorrow, and hide it well.” Easier: Tell the family which day of the 24 you liked best.

The 24 notes as a copy-and-paste list

The notes only, ready to print, cut into strips, or paste into a document.

1. Mission one: make a bed before its owner sees it. Not yours. Tell no one.
2. The person who brings your mail walks a long way. Draw them something and tape it to the mailbox.
3. Find out the name of a grown-up who keeps you safe on the way to school. Use it today with a thank you.
4. Dinner needs a table. Set it before anyone asks.
5. Choose three toys in good shape that another kid would love.
6. Somebody who loves you lives far away. Make them a card and we will mail it.
7. At recess, find a kid you do not usually play with and ask them to join in.
8. Someone in this house has a chore they do not like. Help them finish it.
9. Write one nice thing about someone in your family on a sticky note for the bathroom mirror.
10. Tell your teacher one thing they did this year that you liked. Be specific.
11. Somebody gets hungry at four o’clock. Make them a snack.
12. Find one mess that is not yours. Clean it up. Do not say who made it.
13. Call someone old and ask what December was like when they were your age.
14. With a grown-up, sweep or shovel the front step next door.
15. At dinner, say one true nice thing to each person at the table.
16. You know how to do something a smaller kid does not. Show them.
17. Make a card for someone who has to work on Christmas Day.
18. Today, someone else picks the show, the game, or the seat.
19. Write five things you like about your brother or sister and leave it on their pillow.
20. Carry grocery bags until there are none left, then help put things away.
21. Make a card for someone who is sick or lonely.
22. Do a grown-up’s daily job before they get to it.
23. Tell whoever cooks for you which meal is your favorite.
24. Write a secret kindness note for someone in the family to find tomorrow.

If you would rather tick boxes on paper than cut strips, the free printable kindness checklist works on the fridge alongside the elf.

The 12-day version (December 13 to 24)

If you find this list late, or know that 24 days of anything is too many in December, twelve days from December 13 to 24 is a full run. Use these notes, in this order:

Date	Note	Date	Note
Dec 13	1. Make someone else’s bed	Dec 19	14. Clear a neighbor’s step
Dec 14	2. Picture for the mail carrier	Dec 20	15. A compliment for everyone at dinner
Dec 15	4. Set the table unasked	Dec 21	17. Card for someone working Christmas
Dec 16	6. Card for a grandparent	Dec 22	19. A list for a sibling
Dec 17	10. Thank your teacher with a detail	Dec 23	23. Thank whoever cooks for you
Dec 18	12. Clean up a mess you did not make	Dec 24	24. Leave your own kindness note

If school lets out before the 17th, move note 10 earlier.

The no-elf version: kindness slips in a jar

Some families do not do the elf, and some kids have outgrown it. The notes still work.

Write each of the 24 notes on a slip of paper, fold them, and put them in a jar on the kitchen table. Each morning, one child pulls a slip. The jar does the job the elf did: the choice is made by something other than a parent, so nobody argues with it. Take turns pulling if there is more than one kid, and let the puller read it out.

If you want the full family version without the elf’s voice, with an easier option for each day aimed at adults as well as kids, the kindness advent calendar is the same idea written for the whole household.

By age

Ages 3 to 5. Read the note to them and do it with them. They carry the drawing to the mailbox, they put the forks on the table, they hand over the card. Skip the notes that need reading or writing alone (9, 19, 24) or let them draw instead of write. The kindness for kids hub has more ideas sized for this age.

Ages 6 to 9. The sweet spot. They read the note themselves, do most acts alone, and the elf still has full authority. Let them keep each finished slip in a box.

Ages 10 and up. If they still play along, it may be for a younger sibling. Make them the elf’s assistant: they pick and hide the next day’s note. The family kindness hub has ideas if they want to write their own.

What to skip

A few habits turn a kindness elf into something less kind. Leave these out.

• Using the elf as a threat. “The elf is watching, so you had better help your sister” turns kindness into compliance. The notes should ask, never warn.
• Points, prizes, or nice-list scores for doing the act. If the reward is a treat, the act is a trade. The point is that nobody pays you for it.
• Notes that need money. One stamp on day 6 is the only cost here. If an elf note sends you to the store, rewrite it.
• Filming the kid doing the act for social media. If it needs a camera, it is content, and the other person did not agree to be in it.
• Sending kids to strangers alone. Anything outside the house, with neighbors, or with people your child does not know happens with a grown-up standing there.
• Homemade food for hospitals or care homes. Many units will not accept it. Cards and drawings are always welcome; call first for anything else.
• Catching up on missed days. If the elf forgot for three nights (it happens), do not leave four notes at once. Pick up at today’s date.

After the 24th

The elf goes back to wherever elves go. The habit does not have to.

Try the daily challenge as a family. The elf worked because someone else made the choice each morning. The daily kindness challenge does the same thing all year: one small act a day, picked for you, free, no account. Read it at breakfast the way you read the elf’s note.

Start January together. The new year kindness challenge picks up where the elf leaves off.

Keep the jar. Put the slips back in, add a few the kids write, and pull one on Saturdays.

Frequently asked questions

Does the elf have to leave a note every day?

No. Some families do kindness notes on school days only, or two or three times a week, and let the elf get up to its usual mischief on the other days. Fewer notes that all get done beat 24 notes that stop on the 9th.

What if my kid does not want to do the act?

Offer the easier version. If that does not land, let it go until tomorrow; a kindness note that ends in a standoff has missed the point.

Do I need to buy anything?

No. The only cost is a stamp on day 6, and its easier version is free. A paper elf you draw yourself works as well as a bought one.

Can teachers do this in a classroom?

Yes. Run the 12-day version before break, swap the at-home notes for classroom ones (hold the door for the whole class, thank the custodian), and read the note at morning meeting.

Get one small act a day

Reading a guide is easy; changing your habits is hard. The free daily kindness challengesends one small act at a time so kindness becomes a practice, not a bookmark.

Start the daily challenge