A boy mistakenly dressed as Elvis instead of an elf at his school’s Christmas concert after a family mix up over his costume. Oscar Wilkins, nine, had been given the role of ‘Elvis the Elf’ in the production at his primary school last week.

His bemused family said he failed to mention the ‘elf element’ and told them he had been cast as Elvis. They then sought a costume for the Graceland star, only realizing the error when he stepped out on stage. Instead of being upset, Oscar embraced his starring role and found the whole thing hilarious. His sister Jade Smith, said the audience couldn’t help falling in love with the absurdity of it all.

She said Oscar, from Aberdare in Wales, simply told his family he needed an Elvis costume for the play. ‘He came home from school and all the children had a bit of paper what they were in the concert,’ she said. 

‘His letter said a sparkly Elvis costume. It did not say Elvis the Elf so we all just stupidly thought it was Elvis Presley.’Previously in another year, he had been an alien so it was not always related to Christmas and nativity, which is why we didn’t really question it.

‘We asked him if he was sure he meant Elvis and he said yes with a sparkly costume. He did not mention anything about an elf.’ Jade said the family looked online for a kid’s Elvis outfit and found one that fitted Oscar perfectly.’The only thing he was not happy with was it was not sparkly enough.”

‘We sent him to school in the wrong costume and they all saw the funny side… but did not say it was wrong.’

The two performances at Penrhiwpeier Primary School last week were in front of his parents Stephen and Sarah Wilkins. Jade said they only realized their error during the first performance of the show.

She added: ‘We had no idea what they were planning. We only found out the mistake when we were watching the show and they all walked out. ‘Out of 12 kids, they were all dressed as elves except for Oscar.

‘It was so funny. A week before they had all met up in costume for a dress rehearsal but didn’t tell us anything was wrong. 

‘It was no drama though. Oscar embraced it all and loved that people were all laughing at him. He really enjoyed all the attention.

‘He just played the role of a standard elf, although he was dressed a little funny.’We thought Elvis might come into it somewhere in the storyline but there was no relation to him at all.

‘There was no encore of any of Elvis hits – I thought they might have done some sort of Christmas Elvis song – but it turned out he was just a very extravagantly dressed elf.’

Jade said Oscar’s reaction meant everyone was able to see the funny side. ‘It was very funny and we are all laughing a lot about it now. In the moment when he first walked on stage it was a bit mortifying. Within seconds we realised what had happened.’You never want your child to feel awkward but Oscar totally embraced it and that helped us all see the funny side of it.

‘He’s still got the outfit and has now been introduced to Elvis’ music. He loves older music anyway so we can see him becoming a bit of a fan.’

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‘you only pass through this life once, you don’t come back for an encore.’

-elvis presley