After months of lockdown, it can be a struggle to get creative but it's the time of the year again where parents send their children off to bed and then have to start holding back giggles over their elf's latest bit of late-night mischief.

As ideas run out, you look to the internet for the newest trend which doesn't require your Elf on the Shelf making a big mess. 

READ MORE: North-East Snowman and Snowdogs trail brings Christmas cheer in lockdown

Celebrating its 15-year anniversary the Elf on the Shelf returned to homes across the North-East and North Yorkshire this Christmas. 

Festivities can finally get going as Santa’s official Scout Elves cheekily visit homes to spread mischief and cheer - luckily there are no travel restrictions being imposed on the North Pole helpers. 

Nothing short of a phenomenon, the Elf on the Shelf has become children’s third favourite Christmas tradition, behind advent calendars and leaving milk and biscuits for Santa.

Popular shenanigans include elves getting 'trapped' in the TV, with the help of YouTube and a smart TV, or tangled in toilet roll.

Darlington museum Head of Steam even has its own elves, aptly named Loco and Motion. 

The pair have already been up to no good, eating too much chocolate from the railway museum's advent calendar. 

Loco and Motion must of been hungry, they have made a start on the Advent Calendar, not sure they know you only open one day at a time! pic.twitter.com/eeOr2Qhi3Z

— Head of Steam Museum (@HeadofSteamMus) December 2, 2020

We want to see what your Elf on the Shelf has been up to, send in your pictures below and we'll include it in a list of elf-spiration.