A thrifty mum who refused to pay £16 for a 'quarantined' Elf on a Shelf in a balloon for her daughter got creative and made one herself by using a condom.
Sapphire Grimes-Williams, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, really wanted to get her little girl Alayla Kelly the toy but just couldn't bring herself to stump up for it.
After trying to recreate it using a balloon, and the doll's head getting stuck, she decided to see whether a fresh condom would work and, after giving it a wash, it did, very, very well.
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And the five-year-old was thrilled when she saw the return of the Elf on the Shelf.
Sapphire said: "We did Elf on the Shelf last year - a bit late because I wasn't going to do it. She remembers some of the things we did and thought it was really funny.
"I wasn't sure if I was going to do it again this year as I just couldn't be bothered. I saw someone advertising them and selling them properly. I thought they were amazing and I wanted one.
"I messaged that person and they were charging £16 and I was like, 'I am not paying that'. It's a lot of money just to pop a balloon on 1 December."
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After conventional balloons failed to do the trick, Sapphire looked to order really big ones online, but they would have arrived too late.
And it was then that she had her lightbulb moment.
"I had to think really quickly," she says. "That's what came to my mind [to do] a condom. It was the only thing I had in the house at the time.
"It went into the condom really easily. I was quite surprised about it, but it worked.
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"I didn't really think of it being a funny idea but I sent it to my sister and she said, 'Sapphire, that's absolutely amazing'."
Sapphire says Alayla was over the moon when she woke up last week (19 November) to find the elf waiting for her in its condom quarantine.
Sapphire, who works as a personal assistant, said: "Her reaction was brilliant. I put it down in the evening and she woke up to it in the morning, and all I heard from her was, 'mummy come here now'.
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"I said, 'what's the matter, what's wrong?' and she said, 'come here'. I walked into the living room and she said, 'the elf is back - in a balloon'.
"I read out the letter to her and she was like, 'mum, do we get him out now?'. I said, 'no, baby, he's got to stay in there because he needs to self-isolate'."
Adding: "She has picked up on the virus quite well so she understands he's got to stay in there because he's come from the North Pole. He's got to isolate."
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Since sharing her creation on social media, her use of a prophylactic has garnered quite the reaction, receiving more than 3,000 likes and comments on the post.
She went on: "It's been a really good response. I thought, with a child touching a condom, there would be a lot of mixed reviews from people asking why I let my daughter touch a condom, but obviously to her it's a balloon.
"I know it's a condom, but to her it's a balloon."
Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and MediaTopics: Toys, Christmas, Funny, Festive, Elf