Busy Philipps — mom to 10-year-old Birdie and 5-year-old Cricket — is crushing the 2018 Elf on the Shelf [1] game as much as someone who's a slave to moving around a stuffed elf every morning can be. And since we're all stuck in this hell scenario together (OK, it's not that bad, but it's not great), we won't tell if you steal a few of her ideas to get you through successfully to Christmas Eve (some of them are supersimple [2]!).

Take a peek at what Birdie and Cricket's elves have been up to this year — the slime-making is our personal favorite!