It's Day 18 . . . or something of Elf on the Shelf, and if — like most parents — you are legitimately out of good, or even bad, ideas for where to stash your Elf tonight, there's a clever hack made just for you.

Thanks to the internet, someone created an hour-long YouTube video titled "Elf on the Shelf Stuck in the TV." All you have to do is hide the actual elf (for real this time) and have this playing on your television screen when your kids wake up. The video is simply a traditional warning screen with an image of the toy elf next to the words "I Hit the Wrong Button on the Remote . . . How Do I Get Out of Here?"

Now, once the kids are surprised to find their elf in 2D, it's up to you where you go from there. You could orchestrate a way for your kids to turn off the TV and then have the elf tucked away behind it or pop out of the DVD player. Or — and this is perhaps more your speed — you could keep telling them he's still stuck and load up the video for "proof" for a few more nights of peace.