To have mega mum guilt

I didn't do it until last year when I caved. It's really not that much of a hassle. I feel a bit mean for not doing it earlier actually...

Every year my son asks for one so last year I bought him one to play with he wanted to know why I didn't buy him one who does tricks while he was sleeping I said 1, you don't sleep (he is autistic and really doesn't) 2, what's the point in that? Just play and have fun with it so he has he even took it to school and told everyone it was a year round elf that you could play with not one who you can't touch (as according to his classmates that killed the elf 🙄) it's a minefield

I have friends who do it, it’s a nice thing to do if you have time and creativity. I don’t do it because I have neither, and my kids are older now and have never complained. I don’t do Christmas Eve boxes either.

I just asked dd15 if she felt damaged or left out by not having an elf.
She said no, they are creepy little fuckers and it’s just parents being weird.
She is very much her mother’s daughter…

Don’t go there op. Literally everyone I know who started it has regretted that choice after a year or two. Advent calendars are lovely, just leave it there.

My children are adults but having a weird elf in the house would have been too creepy!

We have never done it, my.kids never have asked me why we don't do it or had a terrible Christmas because an elf isn't causing mayhem in our house

We like having the elf, he just does silly things not 'surveillance elf' or anything that can be described as creepy. Would I feel guilty if we didn't have the elf? Also no. Each to their own. Comparison is 100% the thief of Christmas joy.

I always told dd elves only went to naughty kids houses 😂

Although she asked if she would ever get one last year because she just wanted to experience it, so I did it and she loved it. She was 10 at the time. She's now turning 11 and asked if it will come back again. So we managed to avoid it for a long time!!

We don’t have one. My two (11 & 7) occasionally ask why we don’t and I, jokingly I might add, say that they bicker far too much and all the elf would do is tell Father Christmas they were arguing again and they’d only get coal in their stockings so we don’t bother!

"Elf-bashing"? Is being an elf a protected characteristic?

Elf on shelf is the worst invention ever!! For me anyway and I love everything about Christmas

When we started doing it, my youngest would sometimes wake up at ridiculous o'clock just to try and see what the elf had been up to and although we wouldn't let him get up, he struggled to get back to sleep.

Another downside, I myself would wake in the middle of the night, realising I forgot to do the elf, so found myself having to get up to do something stupid and random really quickly.

Best thing I ever did was change it to the daft sod arriving on Christmas Eve with Christmas Eve boxes. So much less stressful!!

Creepy little plastic faced voyeur is not welcome in our house. Never has been, never will be.
We bring the Christmas Eve box forward and make it an advent bag with festive PJs and chocolate/sweets so that the PJs last the whole of the festive season, not just Christmas Eve to new year or 13th night. This year I've added a festive Squishmallow to snuggle with while watching a Christmas film which is what we are all doing together tomorrow. The end of November is a sad time in our family so the 1st of December signals that our day of remembrance is over and it's all systems go for Christmas.
Elves are freaky fuckers at the best of times.
There's a boy in DD's class (year 5, so age 9) who is a fully paid up believing member of the elf club and tells ds and others about it very enthusiastically. DS believes in Father Christmas but the elf is too big of a stretch especially when it's plastic.
Creepy freaky fuckers.

I don't know about you but almost every brick and mortar general shop around here sells elves and their costumes and props and unless those parents keep their kids shut in, I don't understand how they can think that their children haven't put 2 and 2 together. It's not hidden, its the most in plain sight christmas capitalisation there could be.

If you feel guilty over it then why didn’t you do it?

Its such a cheap and simple thing to do, there’s no reason why you couldn’t of prepared for it.

I was told off in a car park today for telling my child (asking why we don’t have a naughty elf) that we don’t do that tradition by a mother clutching dc ears exclaiming ‘she still believes!’ My first instinct was ‘believes in what?’ - it is a marketing ploy invented 20 years ago, not some sort of sacred holiday tradition passed down through the ages!

i imagine it would be a bit of fun the first year, but by years 5,6,7 (or longer depending on how many kids) it would get reeaaally tedious. I also agree with others that the core aspects of the story are a bit creepy, and not something I really want to embrace.

My kids asked why we didn’t have one. I told them I told Santa I didn’t want one in the house as I don’t want anyone seeing how messy our house is! Worked for us anyway

We don't do elf on the shelf either or christmas eve boxes or matching pj's but I don't feel guilty about it because I had magical Christmases as a child without any of this.

It's not my vibe, some parents have got time, energy, creativity and kids that have a bigger attention span than mine to make sure they can plan and commit to it as a tradition and wonderful for them, but it's not necessary for a magical christmas to do it.

Me either

Every year we have an elf bashing thread. If you don't want to do it then don't. No need for guilt. No need for snarky remarks about those who do enjoy it either.

FWIW ours never do stunts or elaborate tricks. They just move about and occasionally leave little notes. I know someone who has spent over £100 on props for their elf's capers which is insane to me but again, each to their own.

I literally no NO ONE who does this. Your 6 year old will be super excited with being allowed a small square of chocolate from his advent calendar before breakfast.

Either tell him the parents do it, or that Santa knows he’s a good boy so doesn’t need to send an elf to spy on him.

I refuse to do it too. I find it creepy and absolutely devoid of charm. No objection to other people doing whatever makes them happy but it’s not for me and I won’t feel bad about it!

My son has already asked questions about why Santa doesn’t visit all children (because there are kids in his nursery who don’t celebrate Christmas) and I always just tell him people celebrate different things in different ways. If he asks about the Surveillance Elf I’ll tell him the same thing - that we don’t celebrate with an elf but other people do, and that’s ok because we’re all different.

Yabu. Mega mum guilt over not doing elf on a shelf? Ridiculous. There's no need. There's no need for Christmas Eve boxes either. I've four young kids and am no Scrooge of fun, just have common sense and boundaries.

It's an absolute load of bollocks. All for the socials.

I’ve seen so many Facebook and instagram posts tonight of this huge set ups - balloons, sweets, gifts and the elves, all making this huge thing on 1st December.

Your life would be a lot better if you were not so influenced by Facebook and instagram.