Elf-help group will add glitter to Christmas tree delivery business

if your tinsel’s tired and your star’s looking sorry for itself, don’t worry, there might be a way of returning the excitement to your Christmas tree – by getting it delivered by an elf.

The unusual scheme has been dreamt up by aspiring entrepreneur Hamish Lawson, 26, who will also push the boat out and deliver gifts of cake and flowers in festive costume. The only hitch is – he’s not working on Christmas Day.

The sales manager from the New Town hit on the idea when he wanted to come up with a short-term business opportunity to keep him busy for the rest of the year.

With plans to launch a more permanent business selling environmentally friendly underwear in the New Year, he was racking his brains for something to fill the time between now and then. “I was just looking for something fun that I could do to make a bit of money,” said Hamish.

“Obviously it’s not going to go anywhere after January, though I hope I can maybe do it on a bigger scale next year.

“From January I’m going to be working pretty hard but I didn’t want to sit around until then, and I was thinking of something I could do on a smaller scale up until December 25. I was thinking, ‘What could I work with?’ I thought of Christmas trees, and thought, ‘How could I add value to that process?’ and came up with the idea of elves.

“A lot of companies already deliver Christmas trees and I wanted to do something a bit different.”

He admits he’s had no more experience than “a few fancy dress parties” when it comes to working in costume, but said the idea had been going down well: “I’ve made a few sales but most people don’t want the trees yet, so I haven’t done any deliveries. Everyone that I’ve spoken to has said ‘What a great idea,’ especially families when they have kids, they can play up the whole idea to their kids and make it more of an experience.

“I wish I had a Santa’s sleigh or something to arrive on, but I’ll just be arriving in a car. But I will be having a dance and a sing – Jingle Bells, perhaps, and I can take requests.”

Having started with the idea of Christmas tree deliveries, he recruited pal David Latham to join him in costume, and has expanded his range of festive elf-delivered goods: “Initially I was thinking about focusing on office buildings, and there are always a lot of Christmas parties, so I thought people might like some cake delivered and then thought they might like flowers. It was about finding something unique for someone to give a gift to their loved one, and we’ll pick up the presents and deliver them.”

He doesn’t plan to work on Christmas Day, but said: “If I have a lot of appetite for it perhaps I’ll see if I can recruit a few elves to work on Christmas.”

For more information see www.christmasdeliveredbyelves.co.uk