This time-saving Elf on the Shelf hack is impressing busy parents

An Elf on the Shelf trick is impressing busy parents with its ability to save them time.

Mother Courtney Boles previously came up with an idea that meant she didn’t have to find different places for Santa’s scout to hide each day.

She posted pictures on social media that went viral and they have resurfaced this year in the run-up to the holidays.

Father Christmas sends elves to keep a watch over the happenings in the homes of children and once everyone is asleep the elf flies back to the North Pole to report back to Saint Nick if the kids have been good or bad.

Each morning when the elf returns he plays hide and seek with the family as he sits in a different spot each day.

But mum Courtney for around finding a new place for the festive spy by putting a cast, signed by Santa and his reindeer, over his leg and telling her offspring he had broken his limb.

She wrote on Facebook: “Poor Buddy fell and broke his leg, he has strict orders from Santa not to move for two weeks! Parenting WIN!!”

Courtney’s photos have been shared more than 40,000 times and they are going viral again this year as parents copy her idea.

However, Courtney was criticised by some who thought she was not getting in the Christmas spirit for her children.

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But she defended herself, explaining that her son was autistic and struggled to follow the rules of not touching the elf.

She added that she was going away to support her footballer daughter while her other children stayed with their grandparents and thought it was easier of making up an excuse for why Buddy couldn’t go too.