to think Elf on the Shelf is an awful concept!

[5Foot5]

I had never heard of such a thing until I saw the phrase bandied about on Mumsnet. I didn't really know what it was all about but thought the name sounded quite sweet, if a little twee so, as a dyed-in-the-wool Christmas-aholic I decided to look it up. I was appalled at the idea

Basically he is some sneaky Big Brother who is going to spy on your kids and then grass them up to Father Christmas if they don't behave! I think that is sinister and horrible. And the way he is meant to keep moving around the house under the cover of darkness is just a bit sinister.

Hmm! Even if the idea had been mooted to me when DD was small I would not have wanted anything to do with it thank you very much.

YANBU, it's awful. Mind you, so is the concept of "Father Christmas won't bring presents unless you're good" - would you want a present if someone said "you can have this if you do as I say?"...far removed from the Christmas message to me.

At least the creepy elf is only around for one month of the year. I was brought up as a Catholic and God was watching me every minute of every day.

I just bought a cuddly elf toy from the supermarket and we called him Edgar.

We always put him on the shelf in the evening and in the morning ds would be up, washed and dressed in seconds because he was so eager to find out what Edgar had been up to in the night. He loved it, one morning, Edgar was wearing a pair of ds' underpants, he thought it was hilarious.

but we have tomte and julenisse in our house anyway
and they can play some havoc
certainly they dont have any trademarks

In Sweden, "tomte" is an old tradition and keeping an eye on the family is precisely what he does- but not just the children, the adults too.

We had a tiny "tomte" figurine stood under the wardrobe all year to keep us under control- until one year my mother hoovered him up by mistake. We all laughed cruelly and foretold all sorts of disasters.

I personally can't wait to do Elf on the Shelf with my DS as I think it is the kind of thing he will enjoy, seeing him move about each night. Also it is the first Christmas DS will really understand the concept of Santa brings presents for well behaved children so I don't mind using the elf to help him get this concept.

My DF though thinks it is evil. He thinks it will create paranoia if a doll is constantly 'spying' on my son. In my eyes, it can't be worse than my brother, who in a bid to get his kids to behave told them that when the light of the movement sensors on the burglar alarms were on, it meant Santa's elves were watching... at least the Elf is only in one place.

I thought the point of Santa was that he doesn't need spies, he sees you when your sleeping, he sees when you're awake, he knows if you've been good or bad, he don't need no elven spy for fucks sake.

Not keen here. I try to keep the whole Father Christmas etc as simple as possible in the hope that they'll believe for longer (now 7&5). I think EOTS would lead to lots of questions and blow the whole thing, mine would be far more likely question something like the elf than FC.

this is how scary the elf would have to be to make my lot behave.

Aw yabu! I think the elf is cute but I do have a warped sense of what is cute. I love our little elf. We don't focus on the whole "He's watching you so you better behave!" side of things, it's more just the fun of where he's hiding in the morning. They also find it exciting when he arrives and it really adds to the Christmas spirit throughout December and they love the little hamper he leaves behind when he vacates on Christmas eve too.

It's all just a bit of extra fun so I fail to see the issue.

Ive got one for this year.I like the creepy spying aspect of it,but then i like creeping out the kids and scaring them,you should see my mask ive got for halloween.

We have a christmas fairy, she's lovely. She eats the chocolates and brings them christmas crafty stuff and writes notes for ideas we can do. She also likes pants.

But I am that awful type that puts decs up on the first, apart from this year now my hours have changed and I'm always bloody tired.

There seem to be a lot if Christmassy things around this year that I have never heard for before.

I agree the elf is creepy and i don't think I'd do it as i think £30 is a rip off and I don't think I could be arsed thinking of imaginative things to do with it every night! I think it could be quite an exciting thing for kids tho so understand people doing it but I agree I'm not keen on the "reporting to Santa".

One thing I've never heard of until recently is "Christmas Eve hampers" which loads of people seem obsessed with. I think the idea is an elf delivers a hamper with tasty food and chrimbo PJs and DVDs etc on Christmas Eve for everyone. I guess it's quite nice to all sit down as a family and get excited about Christmas but the thing I've been about is loads of mentions of "reindeer food" and "Santa keys" and special plates for putting the mince pies on etc. People are actually buying glittery keys and the like to put in these hampers and it just seems like such a waste of money when the next day everyone is getting presents anyway. Maybe I'm just a big old Scrooge tho!

We're doing it this year, I can't wait (first timer).

Freaky! I think I once said Father Christmas watches everyone via the internet, but not sure that was a good plan as it sounds a bit pervy!

I do the whole burglar alarm being santas CCTV thing. And the other year when the sibling rivalry and bickering was seriously adding to my grey hairs I downloaded the sleeps lite app on my iPhone and recorded a message for them both from Santa, saying just how disappointed he was in their behaviour and did they think that x and y (things they had done/said) was the right way to behave?
I have never had such well behaved children as in the run up to Christmas that year, it was bliss. Sadly they are even more horrible to each other now and since they have asked some rather pointed questions about Santas existence recently I don't want to push my luck trying it again.

Ringaringarosy just became my favourite MNer ever

I didn't realise the EOTS was meant to report back and I think that he might do well to remember that nobody likes a tattletale.

But a healthy dose of scariness does a child good. I used to love playing in the garden after dark and looking for witches, because after reading Rapunzel I was convinced that one was going to come after me. A better parent that I am might have told DS that vampires aren't real but I don't want to spoil the magic of the undead so I've told him we eat too much garlic in this house for them to bother with us.

I think with the glittery keys and plates thing, once you've bought them you've got them for years, so not much different to any other decoration you might buy.

Christmas Eve hampers seem to split opinion but in our case, when we were small we would visit my grandmother on Christmas Eve, which was her birthday. She would open her birthday presents, we would have a sort of buffet style tea, then she would give us our Christmas presents and we would give her hers and we would all open them together.

We didn't always see her on Christmas day, so it was nice to open them with her, and because it was Christmas eve she would often give us new pyjamas as part of the present so we woke up in new ones the next day.

My Mum likes to carry that on now as we don't always see her on Christmas day, or my brother isn't there with his kids.

We don't go as far as special food and DVDs in hampers but my Mum always puts together a gift bag with pyjamas, a soft toy, a book and some hot chocolate as part of the Christmas present she gives DS and his cousins, bought from the budget she has for their gifts. It's not extra.

But it doesn't bother me that other people have hampers. People still have to eat on Christmas eve, and if they want to eat something from a basket that some creepy little elf has had his paws on then that's up to them. I like the buffet food my Mum does, others like takeaway, each to their own.

I'm fairly sure we have some old Star Trek figures lurking about in the shed. I might have a nosey in there tomorrow and see if I can construct some kind of 'Spock on the Clock' in time for Christmas.

Sarah - Spock on the clock sounds awesome! Now THAT I would do!

The Christmas Eve thing - I really like the idea of all having a nice family Christmas Eve together as a family, I think it's just because I've seen so many Facebook "what do I put in a Christmas Eve hamper" post that I get a bit annoyed that it's such a big deal - like it's one more "thing" you "should" do as opposed to just having a nice evening together. As I said tho I'm probably just being a grinch

No, it should be about the nice evening misskatamari, that's the best bit

PMSL at the smoke alarm Santas! Brilliant.

That Elf on the Shelf is well sinister. Creepy little simpering face.

Did just Google Image him again though and some wag has posed him in various inappropriate situations with a couple of Barbies. What'll Santa have to say about that then eh?

I have a cute little elf. He doesn't sit on the shelf though. He sleeps in ds's bed in December, supposedly he's having a little holiday after making lots of toys in November and he goes on Christmas Eve to help deliver the presents. Last year he hid in a few places and ds had fun finding him, he brought then advent calendars and a couple of christmas craft sets. That was about it. It wasn't a massive deal, ds was 3 last christmas and has asked if Jingle elf is coming back this year. He probably will. He wasn't a snitch though, he was a cute friendly little elf. Pretty sure ds knew it was me and dh doing the hiding etc but it was nice to play along!

we need a thread of things to do with the elf,unless theres one already!