The Elves must go, 6yo looking for them at 2 am!

Next year send her a letter in the post from the elves, to arrive late November saying that Father Christmas needs them in the workshop and so they won’t come and stay. Then you’re able not to do them!

I wouldnt take the elf away. Your DC are clearly invested.

I'd just leave the Elf in one spot for one night with a note from the Elf saying they couldn't move and play because your DC was still up and searching for them and the elf can only wake up when the DC are asleep and in their beds.

Same for Santa.

I think if you take the elf away you could still have the same problem with your DC searching to see if they came back.

Just default to the traditional position that a child out of bed won't get a santa visit. They have to be in bed asleep for santa to leave presents and apply that to the elf.

I’d just write a letter to say that they’ve had to go back to the North Pole because Santa needs extra help in the toy factory…

The magic of Christmas' is a great big pile of hooey.
Throw out the elves. Tell the DCs they visited for a while but they've now moved on. If you like, compose a note 'from the elves' telling the kids what sweethearts they are and wishing them a very happy Christmas, but it's time for them to return now to the circle of hell from which they came...
Never speak of them again.

Absolutely this.
Or make them do a naughty thing and tell them kids they are banned and won't be allowed in next year.
Put a note out next year with a picture of on elf in a red circle with a line through it and put it on the front door with them!!

My kids love the elf. Do it/don't do it, entirely up to you, but the level negativity towards it from some quarters is weird.

Can't they just be told they aren't allowed to leave their rooms until a reasonable hour in the morning (while the elf hides downstairs?) With good behaviour being especially important this time of year.

Obviously the OP isn't going to just stop if her kids love the elf, that's way too harsh.

I wouldn't be averse to the elf going back to the North Pole a few days early, but bear in mind it may not solve the problem. 6 is peak Christmas in my experience, the excitement will be sky high anyway.

Exactly!

also all this ‘magic’ nonsense. 🤢 a loving family is where the magic is at

I didn’t even bother with this nonsense. A recent new fad which is so stupid and unecessary. I would be upset and tell them this isn’t ok. Even my 3yo waits until after dinner to open the chocolate advent.

Chuck the junk in the bin. Your kids can still enjoy toys and food as normal, forget The Magic, it's a made up thing to make women feel guilty. Opt out.

A bit of disturbed sleep is just part of Christmas- no one is going to die.

It’s one more week. So what if they find them at 2am? Doesn’t matter. My DD (6) had a bad dream the other night and had an advent calendar choc at 3am. It’s not the end of the world.

Banish them for encouraging naughtiness.

Honestly it's an unnecessary level of shite.

I couldn’t be doing with the setting elf in naughty situations nightly (I’m already exhausted by bedtime as I’m sure most of us are) but I also didn’t want my DC wondering why everyone had an elf visit and they didn’t. Compromise was a cute soft elf arriving with a letter from Santa that they’d be returning to North Pole occasionally to help him and let him know how DC were. The elf arrived with chocolate and a book. It moves most nights (or sometimes when they are at school) but only within livingroom (eg on to tree, on mantle nothing taxing!) and will occasionally leave a gift (craft set I want to do with them or a sweet treat on a weekend) and even more rarely another letter from Santa. DC accepted that they got a “kind elf” that doesn’t so naughty things like some of the classmates elves do. Win win. Little effort on my part but they still get the elf.

Can you send those elves back to North Pole on important elf business then have a new elf arrive with a Letter from Santa saying they are kind elves so won’t be doing naughty things nightly but will be going back to North Pole and reporting on DC sleeping well.

Aw that is so cute and funny though. Maybe not so funny at 2am but in years to come when they are all grown up and are grumpy teens, you’ll look back and laugh about it.
Reminds me of 3 year old foster child awake at 130am having opened all his stocking presents and merrily eating all his chocolate which was EVERYWHERE in his bed and come morning all stuck over his PJs. At the time it really wasn’t funny but we laugh about it now.
As what to do about the elf, maybe they need to start being naughty during the day instead because you have set up a special camera to watch them overnight?

I come from a pre-elf time. A happier and less stressful time. Can guarantee you that my now teenage children still felt the magic of Xmas without all the mental extra load ( for me!) of devising elf shenanigans. I’d knock it on the head. It’s American bollocks anyway isn’t it?

Apart from the obvious solution of stopping doing the elves, as a compromise, move them in the daytime instead. When the children are at school, out with somebody else, or even simply in another room.

I remember my parents telling me (with solemn faces) that my seventh birthday would be my last with a party, lots of people over, etc, because I had "outgrown" them, and that next year, it would only be "birthday tea", with a friend or two coming over. I'm not sure if this was for better or for worse: I think I started a thread about this on MN some years ago, but it taught me about making a "managed" exit from something you don't want to do any more, a process I have sometimes followed as an adult.

This response among all the sweet suggestions of "Oh no, I'll have to go back to the North Pole early through my special elf door," etc., made me laugh so much 😂

They're flying close to the sun on that naughty list if you ask me. If the elves catch them out of bed at the wrong time, they will report back to Santa. All year's being good out the window.

Keep it for this year and think of a good reason why they don't appear next year. Your dc will be giddy with the last week run up to Christmas anyway so will probably wake up elf or no elf.

Mine got sent back to North Pole very early 1 year but left a chocolate coin. This year the elf lost his head and the dog has eaten it - teenagers!

1. Sort out doing the elves in the early evening. Do some research and plan out your remaining elf days tonight.
2. Lose the elves/bin them. Next year confess it's all bollocks in October.
3. Live a long and happy life.

Do they really believe the elves are real? I'd just tell them if they keep getting out of bed you'll stop moving them and giving them the surprise of seeing them in the morning.

The Elves heard that someone was hunting for them in the night so now they are too scared to move around any more. Then leave them in the same spot for several days.

And put a clock in the kids' room with instructions on when they are allowed to get up.

You should set them up with a note explaining that they won’t be able to return if they continue waking up in the early hours. I’d try that first before removing the tradition all together personally.