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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to have never heard of Elf on a Shelf before?

84 replies

whatsthatcomingoverthehill · 10/12/2014 12:59

I'm 30-something and this is the first Christmas I can remember where people are going on about some bloody elf. Suddenly seems all over facebook, people complaining about not being able to get one etc etc. Where has this come from? I'm guessing some kind of american import. And what even is it?

OP posts:

ShadowKat · 10/12/2014 13:56

YANBU.

It's a bit creepy really.

The DC's nursery have one but i hadn't come across them before.

OddBoots · 10/12/2014 13:59

A nursery has one? Wow.

ApocalypseNowt · 10/12/2014 14:00

Now....where to find a tiny little gimp mask... That's going to be very niche and will introduce a troubling entry to my browser history

EatShitDerek · 10/12/2014 14:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Songofsixpence · 10/12/2014 14:05

We've had an elf for years. We bought it the year DD1 turned 3, she's now 13.

We don't have a proper EOTS, we've got a little pixie like these

We have refillable advent calendars, the pixie fills them and then hangs around until Father Christmas picks her up on his way through on Christmas Eve

She doesn't do anything special, no reporting to Santa or getting up to mischief, and at 9 and 13 my girls are old enough to know it's a load of old tosh, but they love it when she arrives and they compete to spot her when they come down for breakfast in the morning (assuming I've remembered to move her)

ApocalypseNowt · 10/12/2014 14:05

Aces Derek

It can be our 'thing'. We will be kajillionaires this time next year!

inconceivableme · 10/12/2014 14:06

I'm the same OP! Same age as you and had never heard of this before this year.

shelfontheelf · 10/12/2014 14:08

I have a £1 from card factory. I am so over it already and its only the 10th. Unfortunately the toddler twins bloody love it and I woke up in a cold sweat at 6am this morning realising I had forgotten to do anything with him.

They love it the only reason I caved was to try and control their atrocious toddler behaviour - hasn't worked

WD41 · 10/12/2014 14:11

Isn't it better from a believability (is that a word?) point of view if Father Christmas is kept vague? I would worry that by introducing elves it's over complicating it somewhat...I mean do DCs actually believe that an inanimate toy becomes alive at night? I'm not sure that my 3yo would believe that, it would probably lead to a load of questions, and being connected to FC could just end up prematurely throwing doubt on his existence.

ChickenMe · 10/12/2014 14:16

I think it looks creepy too and pervy. Another candidate for an Op Yewtree exposé.

Bellerina2 · 10/12/2014 14:29

Never heard of it! Now Imp in a Gimp I could get behind...

ApocalypseNowt · 10/12/2014 14:31

Never get behind Imp in a Gimp mask. He'll squeeze one out just to spite you

ItIsSmallerOnTheOutside · 10/12/2014 14:36

I've only read about it on here. Having read on this thread that there is an official elf toy, I'd say it's a creepy marketing ploy.

LoblollyBoy · 10/12/2014 14:36

I really want to know about the 12 Christmas Robins now!

OP, YANBU. At all.

DustyCropHopper · 10/12/2014 14:40

We have and we are having great fun with him, they believe he is like woody and buzz from toy story. Mine was not £25-£30 pound though, I would not have paid that. I haven't played much on the reporting back to Santa though. It is harmless fun and most of his antics take me minutes to do, but give the children lots of fun. My children are 9, 6 and 3. I think this will be the last year of ds1 believing so glad I have done something different this year. I am generally vague on the whole Santa front, so as not to tie myself in knots. It has posed no awkward questions, in fact he has helped save me from the questions of why they haven't been chosen to go and be Santa's helpers at his home from my 6 year old after two school friends last year received invites down the chimney (£50 to £60 per person, including adults). Our elf is far cheaper and can be used again and again!

ItIsSmallerOnTheOutside · 10/12/2014 14:40

Wow there is an elf on the shelf website. Apparently it's "a beloved family tradition"... whose family would that be then?

eddiemairswife · 10/12/2014 14:42

I only heard about it this year on here. It's a book written by an American woman published in 2004, so is a very recent 'tradition'. Big in America.

Hatespiders · 10/12/2014 14:55

Ah, one of those five year-old American 'traditions'! Like Black Bloody Friday!

OddBoots · 10/12/2014 15:19

LoblollyBoy The robins started out as a silly little simple thing but my children make it more complex, they are just floristry robins with wired feet.

On the morning of 13th Dec the first robin appears somewhere in the living room or kitchen, the children come down in the morning to see where it is, they appear one a day until the 12th robin arrives on Christmas eve. On Christmas day night they start disappearing one by one each night until on 12th night they are gone and leave behind a little gift to say thank you for having them visit for Christmas.

The children (now 15 and 11) have started charting them, they (each year starting afresh) give them names and jobs - they may give up on them all together one day but they love them for now.

RustyParker · 10/12/2014 15:37

Never heard of it before MN either. Just googled and it looks like Noddy in a Christmas outfit. All owt about nowt!

I can see how some parents might want to create their own traditions with their children (and faff around on fb with the photos!) but I don't like the whole threatening children with no presents from Santa if they are "naughty".

Original poster

whatsthatcomingoverthehill · 10/12/2014 15:38

It's the way people seem to be talking about it like it's something everyone knows about, on a par with the tooth fairy

OP posts:

ItIsSmallerOnTheOutside · 10/12/2014 15:38

OldBoots I think the robins sound lovely. That's a proper, family tradition, not a weird corporate one.

Mousefinkle · 10/12/2014 15:58

I first heard about it two years ago and this is our third Christmas with our elf. The Dc are very fond of him and are excited every day to come down and see what he's up to. I don't do majorly elaborate things and he isn't a naughty elf, I've seen some people wrapping the tree in toilet roll which is a step too far for me- no one touches my tree and gets away with it . To me it's just a bit of fun. I paid £25 and its paid for itself IMO because he's been a source of joy for three christmases and will continue to be until the DC stop believing when he'll become a decoration!

I don't find it creepy, it's no more creepy than the old fat guy that apparently breaks into your house once a year. He's cute!

To answer your question, yanbu to not have heard of it before this year. It does seem to have taken off a bit more this year than other years but it first came about nine years ago in America. The actual tradition is a very old one, parents would often use an elf ornament, tree decoration or topper etc to "spy" on the children. It's just part of the fun and magic of the season IMO. You could say it's commercial rubbish but then you can say that about pretty much anything Christmas related. Christmas kind of is a commercial event. Most people spend a lot of money because it's the one time of year we feel justified in "going all out".

Sallyingforth · 10/12/2014 15:58

It's just one more US exported 'tradition' that we don't need here thank you very much.

AnnoyingOrange · 10/12/2014 16:07

I am thankful that my dc are teenagers and I don't have to give this 'tradition' any headspace

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