His Wife Dared Him to Dress Up as Buddy the Elf and Frolic Around N.Y.C. The Results Could Not Be Merrier (Exclusive)

• Ryan Beeler and his wife Melissa flew from their home in Oklahoma to New York to celebrate his 40th birthday
• Before they left, the couple decided to watch Dwarf get into the holiday spirit
• After watching, Melissa got an idea: she challenged her husband to dress up as Buddy the Elf from the iconic Christmas movie and hop around New York to recreate the scenes
• She later posted several clips of Ryan completing the challenge on TikTok, where they have since gone viral, garnering millions of views and comments.

One man is the best way to spread Christmas cheer.

Days before Ryan Beeler and his wife, Melissa, flew from their home in Oklahoma to New York to celebrate his 40th birthday, the couple decided to watch Dwarf get into the holiday spirit. Then Melissa got an idea: she challenged her husband to dress up as Buddy the elf from the iconic Christmas movie and hop around New York to recreate the scenes.

In the 2003 film, Will Ferrell stars as Buddy the elf who travels from the North Pole to the Big Apple to meet his father Walter Hobbs (played by the late James Caan) for the first time.

“I was like, ‘I bet you’re not going to do that,'” says Melissa, 37 PEOPLE exclusively. “I didn’t think he would, but he said, ‘Order me a costume,’ so I did.”

Melissa Beeler with her husband Ryan Beeler dressed as Buddy the elf.

Melissa Beeler

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Even when Melissa got the costume, she thought to herself, “There’s no way he’s going to do that.” But in the end, after they got to Times Square, she gave him the clothes and then watched him put them on and go out into the cold.

“He is not ashamed of anything,” she says. “He’s so funny.”

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While Ryan spent the day wandering around town dressed as Buddy the elf, Melissa took a picture of him. She later posted several clips on TikTok, where they have since gone viral, garnering millions of views and comments. In one video, Ryan, a firefighter, jumps across the sidewalk; in another, it spins and exits a revolving door.

Another clip shows Ryan approaching an NYPD horse, which tries to bite him and keeps looking at him from the side.

“People loved it,” Ryan tells PEOPLE. “Everybody’s cheering me on. I remember some random kid yelling at me, ‘Oh my God, it’s Buddy!’ I thought people in New York would be rude or angry that I was doing this. In New York, everyone is always in a rush, but people were nice.”

“It was funny to see how happy it made people,” adds Melissa. “I was definitely nervous about him at first, thinking, ‘Oh my God, I don’t know how people are going to take this.’ But to see how happy it made everyone was really cool.”

“It was also cool to see it go viral online and spread Christmas cheer,” she adds. “I love that people are taking it that way. I loved watching it and I just love that people at home can laugh too.”

Ryan Beeler dressed as Buddy the Elf with an NYPD officer and a horse.

Melissa Beeler

By the time Ryan tried to go out the next day and do it all over again, it was too cold and the costume leggings weren’t very warm. So he hopes to return to NYC next year and go to the Empire State Building to recreate the scenes of Buddy entering the landmark, where his father Walter works.

“In a world full of doom, gloom and negativity, people can still have a little fun and spread Christmas cheer,” says Ryan.

For Melissa, seeing her husband in action was priceless; the only thing that would make it better would be Ferrell joining the fun. She says, “That would be the highlight of my husband’s life, not getting married or having children. That scenario would literally happen.”

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Source: HIS Education