Tag: holiday traditions

Posted in: Christmas, Elf On The Shelf, Food, Holidays

There Was An Elf Spotted In The Campground (You’ve Been Elfed)!

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on There Was An Elf Spotted In The Campground (You’ve Been Elfed)!

At our old sticks-and-bricks, we used to make and deliver Christmas cookies to everyone in the cul-de-sac. There were a few times we did Elf Bags as well, but it mostly the cookies. It was a great way to try to bring a little brightness to someone else’s life. I do miss our neighbors and the cookie tradition. Sometimes the neighbors joined in: one of our neighbors would bake sweet bread and bring it over, another would sometimes give us an ornament when we dropped off the cookies, one year a neighbor and their family went caroling.

With Covid, I have noticed not as much community get togethers in the campgrounds, which I totally get (and support). We’ve been staying to ourselves as well, with just the “hello” in passing for the most part. However, I think everyone needs some cheer, especially this year, so we wanted to do the Elf Bag at the campground. Due to Covid, we didn’t do any homemade treats and tried to make sure everything in the bag was sealed or washable. Elf Bags are similar to the Halloween boo bags, only Christmas themed. (I’ve also seen it as You’ve Been Jingled.)

We found a cute ornament kit and a Hershey’s Build-A-Santa bar at Target (ornament kit in the deal bins at the front of the store). We also added in a bag of red and green suckers, a penguin tic tac toe game, candy cane filled with red and green candy, and some mini candy canes. For more Elf Bag ideas, you can see my list here (from my mom blog). The campground store also had a packet to put in the fire pits that caused the flames to change* color, so we put one of those in as well.

You can find the free Elfed printable here.

*Affiliate link

Posted in: Christmas, Elf On The Shelf, Holidays

Elfing Around: Adventures of the Mini-Elf Days 4-11

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on Elfing Around: Adventures of the Mini-Elf Days 4-11

This elf gets around!

With just four rooms, it has been a challenge for him to hide and observe. However, he is making the most of the small space as we all are.

Mini-E likes to go high for optimal viewing perspective. This round, he found his way onto valences, slide outs, stockings and even behind the mirror on the medicine cabinet.


Days 4-7

NOTE: The oldest found Mini-E in the bathroom to be creepy because he felt watched while he went. The family has requested E provide some privacy and abstain from bathroom watching in the future. Looks like he is down to just three rooms.

Days 5-11

Days 8-11 found Mini-E hiding in Will’s messy desk, behind Ben’s green screen he uses for work, sleeping on our bedroom slide, and in the pantry guarding the bag of chips.

Posted in: Christmas, Elf On The Shelf, Holidays

Mini-Elf on the Shelf In A RV: Eugene P Elferton III, Jr.

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on Mini-Elf on the Shelf In A RV: Eugene P Elferton III, Jr.

Our Elf On The Shelf (Eugene) went missing!

I swore I packed Eugene before we left Ohio, maybe in the Fall/Winter clothes bin under the bed. I couldn’t find him anywhere. Luckily, Target had some cloth elf ornaments for $3. It looked a little bit like the big Elf. (The kids also know the truth behind the elf, so switching out the Elf shouldn’t be a problem.) I think the smaller elf may actually help me hide him more places! (About 8.5″ tall vs about 14.5″.)

Even though the boys are older, they still like finding the Elf and seeing what crazy shenanigans he got up to overnight. (He’s gone ice skating, zip lining, fought with Darth Vader, had a Lego house, got stuck in a snow globe and a water bottle, made a paper chain obstacle course for the boys…) I had a list of ideas I wanted to try at the house, but those won’t really work in the RV. Hiding an elf in 2,300ish sq ft house seems much easier than in the 400 sq ft RV. I’m going to have to get creative!

Days 1-3
Posted in: Christmas, Holidays

St. Nick’s Day In An RV

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on St. Nick’s Day In An RV

If you have read my other mom blog Daily Messes, you know we celebrate St. Nick’s Day (it’s on 12/6).

We need to travel light(ish), so we did not bring any of our holiday decorations with us. We bought things along the way for each holiday, but wanted them all to be disposable or donatable. Luckily, there is a dollar store pretty much in every town/city we’ve been to. Now, you can use a traditional Christmas stocking, a sock, or a shoe to fill with things for St. Nick’s Day. However, my family has always used a stocking, so I was on the hunt for some stockings for the RV. I was lucky enough to find some at the Dollar Tree.

We do have a mantle (kind of), but I was worried the stockings would hang too close to the heat source from the fireplace. I saw a great idea on Pinterest with hanging them on the edge of the living room slide with Command Hooks. I think it’s going to work out great, other than maybe having to duck a little to sit down. (The other option was to hang under the island. However, I didn’t want to put holes in the underside and the strips don’t stick as well on a textured surface.)

The stockings are a little lighter than normal this year, as we don’t have the space for much. They are getting some candy (including some I found along the way that I hadn’t seen before at home) and a puzzle book. I’ll probably download an ebook to their Kindle as well and slip a note into the stocking.

Posted in: Christmas, Food, Holidays

Our New RV…Gingerbread Style

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on Our New RV…Gingerbread Style

We have always done a gingerbread house at Christmas. We found a really cute RV kit at Target this year.

The kit came with the gingerbread pieces, gum drops, candy beads, light bulb candy, red and black decorative icing, and a white Royal icing. There were a few paper decorations as well: Santa, a grill, and a picnic bench/tree.

There was a plastic tray with indents for the wheels. It did help a lot as the RV sides set. The directions said to do the front/back/sides and let sit, then add the roof. If you don’t have it perfect, the roof doesn’t fit in easily. Next time I may put the roof on as soon as the sides/front/back are iced together, so that the icing is still pliable and it can all set/dry together.

The boys had a blast decorating it and it turned out pretty well. They especially enjoyed eating it for Thanksgiving dessert!

Posted in: Costco, Exploring California, Halloween, Holidays

Finding a Pumpkin Patch in San Diego

Written by tepetravels 2 Comments on Finding a Pumpkin Patch in San Diego

One of our Halloween traditions has been going to a pumpkin patch with our friends Dave and Megan. We have been going for years, even before either of us had kids. We wanted to keep some of our traditions going while on the road, so we looked for nearby pumpkin patches. We planned on FaceTiming with our friends while they were also at a pumpkin patch.

This year’s group picture

We ended up choosing Bonita Pumpkin Farm. It wasn’t too far from our campground and it was listed as one of the “farm” locations for this company.

There was a line to get in, as they were limiting the number of people in the area (COVID). You entered under a tent, with hay bales and decorations for picture taking to the right, and the check out to the left.

Walking straight ahead through the tent area, there were rows of pumpkins. Off to the right were port-a-lets, a petting zoo (it looked like goats only), and a cut-your-own sunflower patch. They also offered a hay ride and a train ride. There was a small patch of pumpkins growing, just much much smaller than I was expecting. We did see large boxes of pumpkins behind the petting zoo by the bathrooms, so I think most of their pumpkins were shipped in.

Top Right Corner: You can see the small pumpkin patch and part of the sunflower field behind it.

The sunflower field was off to the right of the entrance tent, behind the petting zoo. You could use one of their clippers and cut your own for $2/stem. The sunflower field was bigger than the pumpkin field! They were really pretty (and one of my favorite flowers).

Back home, it can be a little bit of a hike through the fields to find the right pumpkin and they loved finding the biggest one. When they were younger, we carried the pumpkins, but as they got older we made it a rule that they have to be able to carry their own pumpkins. The kids have to be able to carry it back to the hay ride (to get back to the cashier), to the check out line, and to the car. It’s worked so far, and the kids love picking out their pumpkins. Here in San Diego, the pumpkins were a lot more expensive, so they had a price limit and ended up with smaller pumpkins that were very easily carried.

It was a different experience than I was expecting, or used to. I guess growing up in Ohio, we were spoiled and used to a larger sized farm for our pumpkins. It was still nice to catch up with our friends and do a virtual pumpkin patch together.

We did also get a larger sized pumpkin later in the day at Costco.

Comparison of Bonita Farm, Irons Fruit Farm, and Costco Pumpkins

Posted in: Halloween

Halloween In A RV

Written by tepetravels 3 Comments on Halloween In A RV

We finished up decorating the RV for Halloween this week. The decorations are mostly on the outside, although I do have a mini pumpkin and skeleton bat on the mantle/over TV.

We have a skeleton on the rear ladder, a spiderweb wreath on the front door, a skeleton hand sticking out of the marigold, googly monster eyes on the family room slide out, skull banner along the front and back, bat fencing by the right corner, and a solar eyeball on the left. Finally, we added paper bats* to the outside of the RV.

We have boo’d our neighbors for years and the boys wanted to keep the tradition going. This year, we just did one bag. It was a reusable pumpkin bag filled with a plastic skeleton, skull coffee mug, witch fingers suckers, 3D erasers, Halloween themed mini pens, Tootsie Pops, Halloween themed towel, and a candy corn container. We also added a container of Play-Doh. Last night we boo’d one of the RV’s in the campground. The kids picked one that was super decorated for Halloween.

*Amazon Affiliate Link

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