Your kids’ names and your elf’s name in a hello letter for the first morning, a goodbye letter for Christmas, and a dated note for every morning in between — counted from the day after Thanksgiving, with a 9 PM reminder each night. Free, in your browser, no sign-up.
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The hello letter is dated with the arrival morning and addressed to your children by name. In the sweet version the elf introduces itself, says Santa sent it to help your home get ready for Christmas, explains that it will sit in a new spot every morning with a note nearby and counts the days of the visit. The funny version arrives squeezed between a sack of candy canes and a sleepy reindeer and announces elf rule number one: there is no such thing as too many sprinkles. Set it out the night before, next to the elf.
For an elf that has visited before, tick “Our elf is coming back” and the first letter becomes a welcome back letter: “Welcome Back! I’m Home Again!” at the top, the elf telling your children it missed them all year and heard how much they have grown, a reminder of how the morning hide-and-seek works and the number of days it will stay this time. The funny version brags about a year of practicing sneakier hiding spots (the cereal box, upside down in a mug) and signs off as “Your favorite roommate”. Returning-elf searches peak in November, so print it the week of Thanksgiving.
The goodbye letter is the one people search for most, almost all of it in December. It thanks the kids for sharing their home for the exact number of days the elf stayed, says it saw them being kind, helpful and patient, and that it is flying home to the North Pole with Santa. The funny one leaves with two cookie crumbs and one very lost sock. Both carry the line you write, so you can name something real from this year.
The maker counts the mornings between your two dates and prints one note for each, four to a page, numbered and dated so you can stack them in order. There are 31 sweet notes (small kindness missions: a card for a neighbor, three thank-yous, a toy to pass on) and 31 funny ones (sleeping in a sock, a spider named Gary, a race lost to a dust bunny); the first note is always about the first night and the last one says tonight is the last night. The .ics file puts a reminder in your calendar at 9 PM on the night before arrival, every night with the note number to leave, and on the last night for the goodbye letter.
| Year | Thanksgiving | Elf arrives (day after) | Notes to Dec. 24 | From Dec. 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Thursday, November 26 | Friday, November 27 | 27 | 23 |
| 2027 | Thursday, November 25 | Friday, November 26 | 28 | 23 |
| 2028 | Thursday, November 23 | Friday, November 24 | 30 | 23 |
Thanksgiving Day is the fourth Thursday in November by federal law (5 U.S.C. 6103(a)); dates checked against the OPM federal holidays calendar. Notes run from the morning after arrival through December 24 (up to 60).
Press “Suggest names” in the maker for six at a time, or build one yourself: pick a first name from the left list and a last name from the right (the generator skips pairs that start the same, like Cocoa Cocoabean). Kids tend to love the ones that sound like a dessert.
Pepper · Jingle · Twinkle · Sparkle · Cocoa · Tinsel · Juniper · Nutmeg · Ginger · Holly · Pip · Clover · Maple · Sprinkles · Noodle · Biscuit · Plum · Button · Bramble · Merry · Figgy · Pinecone · Sugarplum · Snickerdoodle
Snowflake · Candycane · Gumdrop · Mistletoe · Starlight · Jollybell · Tinseltoes · Hollyberry · Frostbottom · Cocoabean · Puddingpop · Twinklenose · Merriweather · Fizzlewick · Sugarsock · Glimmerboots · Sprinklesnap · Peppermint · Wintergreen · McJingles
Put the details after a # in the address and this page opens with the worksheet already filled in — handy for a class newsletter, a bookmark or a link from a chat assistant. The part after # stays in your browser; it is never sent to our server.
Parameters
#names= up to three children’s names#name= the elf’s name#style= sweet or funny#mode= back, for the welcome back letter of a returning elfCombine several with & (for example #title=…&words=…). Separate list items with |.
Examples
Whenever your family likes; the maker starts with the morning after Thanksgiving, so the arrival letter is waiting when the kids wake up. In 2026 Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26, so the elf shows up Friday, November 27 and stays until Christmas Eve, with 27 morning notes. Starting on December 1 gives a 24-day visit (23 notes). You can change both dates.
The goodbye (or departure) letter thanks the children by name for having the elf, says how many days it stayed, mentions the kind things it saw and says it is flying home to the North Pole with Santa — maybe to come back next year. The funny version adds cookie crumbs, a lost sock and a window seat on the sleigh. You can add one line of your own.
If your elf has visited before, tick “Our elf is coming back” in the maker. The first letter then opens with “Welcome Back! I’m Home Again!”, says the elf missed the children all year, reminds them how the morning hide-and-seek works and counts the days of this year’s visit. The goodbye letter and the notes stay the same.
One for every morning between the arrival and Christmas Eve: the maker counts them from your dates (27 for the day after Thanksgiving 2026, 23 from December 1) and prints them four to a page, each with its number and date. The last note says tonight is the elf’s last night.
No. The letters and notes are drawn in your browser and the names you type are never sent to a server. The calendar file is created on your device too. Your last settings are remembered only in this browser.