With Christmas fast approaching, parents up and down the country have been busy getting their kids in the festive spirit by taking part in Elf on the Shelf. While the fun game is a joy for kids, one mum has shared an urgent warning for other families taking part in the mischievous challenge after a major mishap with the toy nearly set her house on fire.
Mum Max Oliver, 27, from Cornwall decided to get her son Charlie who was five at the time a popular elf toy for him to play with at Christmas time. However, just 15 minutes after introducing her son to the new activity, things took quite the turn.
Max explained that she'd been taking it in turns with her partner to organise where the little elf would appear - but one placement turned into a disaster.
She said: "We were taking it in turns every day so one day it was me and one day it was him. On this particular day I said 'I forgot to move the elf - can you move it for me?' He said he'd got just the place."
However, just as Max was getting into bed she heard her boyfriend run upstairs shouting that something was on fire downstairs.
As the pair hastily legged it downstairs and searched for an electrical fault or similar, Max looked up and noticed none other then a little elf's legs dangling from a lightbulb.
Max continued: "He went and hid it and we thought nothing of it. Fifteen minutes went by and he came rushing upstairs saying 'something's on fire, I can smell smoke'. We were going around the house sniffing every plug socket in the house which was quite funny.
"It wasn't until I got downstairs in the front room and bent down to smell the plug socket. I looked up and saw these little legs dangling from the light bulb."
When they rescued the little elf she noticed that his face had been completely charred and it had turned black.
The mum added: "It wasn't just melted - it was cremated - it was black. I was in hysterics.
"My partner was a bit worried there was a fire in the house then he saw the funny side. We were both creased up and it was one of those funny things. I found it a lot funnier at the time than he did.
Nearly two years on from the incident and Max has finally been able to talk about this experience after her partner felt it would not be the best idea to post online about initially.
She said: "We still have the elf under the sink. It's stayed under there.
"I'm putting it in a memory box and we'll keep it in the house forever now."
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