Little elves escape the school

By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

The Christmas season was up and running Saturday, and parents who participated in the ElfFest shopping spree could drop off their children at Little Elf Day at the Immaculate Conception Elementary School.

The kids got to play games, run around the school and participate in an escape room-type game where they had to find Santa’s toybag.

“We’ve made more like escape the school because we were having them explore around the school,” said Laurie Field, instructional support and lead teacher at I.C.

Kids participated in teams of about nine to find the bag and complete the game.

They ran from room to room in the school, accompanied by adults (to make sure they didn’t go into rooms they weren’t supposed to).

There were also “minute-to-win-it” games that the kids were able to play.

The idea for a Little Elf Day came from Cari Barry, a teacher at I.C. who wasn’t able to participate herself because of a broken leg.

“She came up and said, ‘Hey, let’s start a day for kids so parents can get away,’ and then we’re going to use the proceeds to adopt a family at christmas, in need,” Field said. “Anything we get from kids, whatever fee we charge them, that money is going back to help somebody at christmas.”

“We choose this Saturday because ElfFest was going on. We thought maybe parents would need a babysitter for the day and we were here,” Field said.

Elf Day went from 10:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., including a Mass at 4:30 p.m.

“This is the very first time,” that this event has been held, Field said.