Love it or loathe it, today’s annual return of the mischievous elf has become a modern-day Christmas tradition for many families – and Co-op reveals the last minute online purchases of panicked parents as they prepare for daily elf escapades . .
Whether it is messages written in toothpaste, loo-roll zip wires or, snow angels or footprints in flour, the annual elf activity is all-too-often a last minute pursuit for many time-pressed parents.
Co-op today confirms the most popular items ordered through a dedicated ‘elf ideas’ online list it has created for the first time on shop.coop.co.uk, which delivers from store to door is as little as 60 minutes or less:
- Rainbow coloured multi-coloured sprinkles/strands – hundreds-and thousands (online orders of this product up 125% week-on-week)
- Sellotape (up 92%)
- Milk chocolate coins (up 73%)
- Plain white flour (up 62%)
- Skittles Fruits (up 56%)
- Marshmallows (up 23%)
- Loo roll (up 20%)
- Cling film (up 17%)
- Large tortilla wraps (up 10%)
- Aluminium foil (up 8%)
Scarlett Rhodes, head of Q-commerce – last mile and customer, said: “The annual return of the mischievous elf has established itself as a modern-day tradition, but we know that at such a busy time of year, many parents are time-pressed and the daily elf escapade is all-too-often a last minute thought. Our focus is on taking the stress out of top-up or forgotten items – delivering what you want and need, quickly and conveniently.”
For parents struggling for quick and easy elf escapades, a selection of ‘top-up’ elf ideas include:
- Elf swinging on a tinsel/loo roll swing or zip-wire
- Messages written in toothpaste
- Decorate eggs with funny faces
- Elf caught with flour and tray of mince pies / cookies
- Little footprints in flour / snow-angel in flour
- Elf tangled in sticky tape
- Warm and ‘toasty’ with hands / head through a slice of toast
- Story time / tea time with other toys
- Loo roll down the stairs (elf inside the tube)
- Elf rolled-up in tortilla wrap
- Caught with choc-spread on elf’s hands and face
- Elf with cotton-wool/marshmallow snow balls
