Elf on the Shelf display ruined when dad turns on oven, Kansas photos show

A Kansas City-area mom says her Elves on the Shelf got a little more than they bargained for while “warming themselves up” in the family’s oven.

Elf on the Shelf is a Christmas tradition that encourages good behavior in kids leading up to the holidays. Parents hide the elves around their homes each day for children to find, and then the elves are tasked with reporting back to Santa.

Parents are known to get pretty creative with their elf displays.

One such parent is Chelsea Hightower from Overland Park, but one of this year’s Elf on the Shelf set-ups didn’t quite go as planned.

After a day in the fridge, the Hightowers’ three elves, Jingle, Bell and Magic, decided to warm up in the family’s oven, Hightower wrote in a Dec. 11 Facebook post.

Photos show the elf trio sitting on an oven rack, wrapped in paper-towel blankets with a sign reading: “It’s a lot toastier in here!!”

At some point during the day, Hightower headed out to do some solo Christmas shopping at Target, she wrote. While she was there, her husband Matt turned on the oven — with the elves still inside.

“It wasn’t long before our oldest, Braelon, (yelled) from the kitchen, ‘Daddy! Who turned on the oven?!’” Hightower told KCTV.

Realizing what had happened, Matt Hightower pulled the elves from the oven, the outlet reported, but the damage had already been done. Thankfully, their two youngest children were playing in another room and didn’t see the carnage.

The elves’ red suits appeared to withstand the heat, but the elves themselves weren’t so lucky. Photos show two lying mangled on their sides, and all of them with charred, melted faces.

Hightower was still out when she got the call.

Matt said, “Babe I feel horrible (insert long awkward pause) I cooked the elves,” Hightower wrote.

The elves ultimately recovered — by way of an hours-long shopping trip through the city to find replacements — and showed up on the counter with a message to parents: “Bake cookies, not elves.”

This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 12:19 PM with the headline "Elf on the Shelf display ruined when dad turns on oven, Kansas photos show."