A failed attempt at an Elf on the Shelf prank resulted in a family’s home nearly going up in flames, after a mum searched for the origin of a burning smell only to find the toy’s face ‘cremated’.
Max Oliver had just brought the mischievous-looking elf into her family home and after crawling into bed, asked her partner to set up their latest scene for her five-year-old son Charlie to wake up to in the morning.
Just 15 minutes later, the undeniable smell of burning plastic started spreading through the house and her boyfriend raced upstairs shouting that something was on fire.
As the tired couple scrambled around downstairs smelling their plug sockets for an electrical fault, the stay-at-home mum glanced up at the light to find cheeky Buddy's stripy stockings dangling from their ceiling light.
Max, 27, then erupted into hysterical laughter as she quickly snatched the toy from the ultra-hot lightbulb, which had been on all day. She then quickly spotted its charred face and said its head completely caved in.
She then revealed that the disfigured elf has been banished to their kitchen cupboard for the last two years to avoid 'scarring her son for life' - after seamlessly switching it for a new replacement.
Max, from Cornwall, said: "It wasn't just melted - it was cremated - it was black. I was in hysterics, I thought it was absolutely hysterical. My partner was a bit worried there was a fire in the house then he saw the funny side. We were both creased up and it was one of those funny things.
Max, 27, then erupted into hysterical laughter as she quickly snatched the toy from the ultra-hot lightbulb, where it had been on all day, before spotting its charred face - and its head completely caved in.
Now she has revealed the disfigured elf has been banished to their kitchen cupboard for the last two years to avoid 'scarring her son for life' - after seamlessly switching it for a new replacement.
Max, from Cornwall, said: "It wasn't just melted - it was cremated - it was black. I was in hysterics, I thought it was absolutely hysterical. My partner was a bit worried there was a fire in the house then he saw the funny side. We were both creased up and it was one of those funny things.
"I found it a lot funnier at the time than he did. It actually happened the first time we got the Elf on the Shelf at home. We'd seen it around and decided to give it a go.
"We were taking it in turns every day so one day it was me and one day it was him. On this particular day I said 'I forgot to move the elf - can you move it for me?' He said he'd got just the place.
"He went and hid it and we thought nothing of it. Fifteen minutes went by and he came rushing upstairs saying 'something's on fire, I can smell smoke'. We were going around the house sniffing every plug socket in the house which was quite funny.
"It wasn't until I got downstairs in the front room and bent down to smell the plug socket. I looked up and saw these little legs dangling from the light bulb."
Max then leapt up to grab the elf which had its arm clinging around the ceiling light - before revealing the elf's haunting face to her mortified partner. Max said: "I instantly knew it was the elf that had melted but I didn't know it'd be melted that badly.
"The light bulb was actually off as well so it was just the fact it'd been on all day and it was the heat from it. Because the light was switched off, he didn't realise it was hot. The elf has little arms with velcro so he'd velcroed it around the light bulb.
"It was about two weeks before Christmas, we thought we couldn't show him it as it'd scar him for life. We hid it under the sink and wrote a note from the elf to say 'I had to help Santa in the toy shop - I'll be back in a couple of days'.
"I then went around trying to find a new elf but because it was a week or two before Christmas, nowhere had any elves left. I had to search high and low in every shop within a 20-mile radius and I found the last one in The Range.
"It was on the bottom of the shelf and looked a little bit worse for wear covered in glitter. We put it in the tree with a note for 'thank you, had to help Santa Claus but I'm back now. Here's a sweet. Thanks for being patient.'
"It looked a little different to the other elf, its hair was a little different, but [Charlie] didn't notice. The new elf has survived the last couple of years and there's been no more mishaps since then."
Now Max has finally been allowed to post the hilarious blunder online two years later - as Charlie's stepdad 'didn't see the funny side' at first. Max said: "My partner didn't see the funny side straight away because he was worried it might have been a fire and said I couldn't post it [online].
"I asked him to post it this year as it's Christmas and he agreed. We still have the elf under the sink. It's stayed under there.
"I'm putting it in a memory box and we'll keep it in the house forever now."
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