Bloody Elf turns up in a balloon now

[DressingGownofDoom]

I know IABU and a curmudgeon but why does everything have to be such an exhibition at Christmas? Elves can't just appear this year they have to float from Lapland in a balloon with a present I know, I know if you don't like it don't do it. That's fine but I do feel sorry for the kids whose parents don't have £15 to spend on an elf balloon and then a present on top just because it's the first of December. I thought this year might make us all step back and maybe consider a simpler celebration of Christmas but no, the social media onslaught of who can be the most ostentatious Christmas fanatic is worse than ever. I hate it.

[TheKeatingFive]

Who the actual fuck has a full time job and time for elf on the shelf?

Me. And plenty of people I know.

It’s only as elaborate as you want to make it.

I’ve never spent more than 5 mins in setting up the elf.

[Puddingypops]

@Gancanny @Paddingtonthebear thank god there are people with hearts on here like you!

I rent, I’m on disability benefit, I don’t do the elf....I do however do lots of massive Christmas things for my son, parents, partner, ex husband, friends s rather be renting and on low income than a self righteous sneering prig!

If people enjoy the elf, let them do the elf, we all know social media is a lie most of the time but I enjoy seeing families having innocent fun, better than covid conspiracy theories!

[Gancanny]

Not sure why that means it's tacky for my children to enjoy Christmas though.

Sorry but due to cutbacks, Christmas is now only for naice middle class children from owned home whose parents meet the minimum income thresholds set out in the Christmas Charter.

[TheKeatingFive]

I feel more sorry for the spoilt children who do.

And how exactly does moving a soft toy around your house make your children ‘spoilt’?

Answers on a postcard ...

[OneForMeToo]

We have an elf. He has arrived and locked himself anyway in isolation (glass cabinet) wrote a note to say he was here but can’t do anything until out of isolation. No balloon, no breakfasts or presents. Just appeared and no post on Facebook.

[Pickledpenguin]

@WheresMyMask

I don't feel sorry for kids who can't afford a ballon riding elf and present.

I feel more sorry for the spoilt children who do.

Who the actual fuck has a full time job and time for elf on the shelf?
I'd sooner stick rusty needles in my eyes than start that crap.

I do ;)

[AlohaMolly]

DS is 4 and we’ve never done elf on the shelf... but I’d he comes home this year and is upset because his friends at school are saying they’ve got one, I’m going to go out and buy one. This year has been shit, he’s not seen my mum or the rest of my family since July - just once in 2020. I’m in Wales where our first minister has shut basically everything down now so can’t even go to soft play if we wanted to. If a stupid tacky elf brings him a little bit of joy, then he can have it.

[sapnupuas]

I refuse to engage in this bullshit. He's only four so I wonder how long until he realises other people do it.

[TheKeatingFive]

First response, everyone! Some of you owe me a fiver and the rest need to take a drink.

Dammit princess, you win

[LoisWilkersonslastnerve]

I hate all this crap too but I hate snobbery even more. That's not directed at you op, more some of the awful responses.

[TheKeatingFive]

Christmas is now only for naice middle class children from owned home whose parents meet the minimum income thresholds set out in the Christmas Charter.

Don’t forget you must list reading the Night Before Christmas as one of your Christmas traditions. That is the naice middle class thing to do.

Don’t get tripped up on the poor scanning throughout though!

[adogisforlife91]

Elf on the shelf aside, it makes me despair for the planet. You'd have to be living in a cave to not be aware the impact that single use plastics are having on the planet. An elf doesn't need arrive in a balloon. Nor does your precious first born NEED a single balloon with their name on for their first birthday, or worse a bloody balloon arch.

[PrincessNutNut]

@TheKeatingFive

First response, everyone! Some of you owe me a fiver and the rest need to take a drink.

Dammit princess, you win

In retrospect, I'm not entirely sure that post was genuine, especially when I clocked the username. Still, first response! I would have thought it took at least a couple of posts for people even to be able to think of it. It was right off the mark.

[BadTattoosAndSmellLikeBooze]

We’ve never done elf on the shelf but I don’t know why it bothers people so much if other people do it.

That's fine but I do feel sorry for the kids whose parents don't have £15 to spend on an elf balloon and then a present on top just because it's the first of December. I thought this year might make us all step back and maybe consider a simpler celebration of Christmas but no, the social media onslaught of who can be the most ostentatious Christmas fanatic is worse than ever. I hate it.

There will always be people that have more/less money than others or those that will spend more/less on their kids. People won’t not buy their kids things because other people can’t afford to. And why would you think this would make people step back and consider a simpler Xmas, did you really think that? We just do what we like at Xmas, although we don’t have social media, as what we do, we do for us, not for anyone else to see. That’s just social media for you though, people can’t have a hospital appointment without posting photos of it. Attention seekers.

[Worrysaboutalot]

We have only done the Elf thing for the last few years, after my mother bought one and gave it to the kids!

But the kids love him, so he stays. Normally I give myself a budget of £10 to buy small treats or props from poundland.

I pre plan what he does in Novemberl so I have a list and don't have to think on the day. I repeat anything the kids liked. The biggest favourite is the Elf putting their clean underwear on the Christmas tree. Plus nothing complicated, just simple things.

But this year, due to ill health and I can't get to Poundland. I am finding the thought of the Elf harder. But it is likely the last year we will do it properly, as the kids are getting older. So I will make the effort this final year.

Next year he can just hang out in the Christmas tree.

[Carolines100]

@Paddingtonthebear

WTF has renting got to do with it? Does it make someone a lesser person?!

Ironically, our rent is twice the amount of most of our friends mortgage repayments.

Clearly it does, especially if you live up North and rent ...

[BadTattoosAndSmellLikeBooze]

Who the actual fuck has a full time job and time for elf on the shelf?

To be fair, the people I know that do elf on the shelf only spend less than 5 minutes each day on it.

[BestZebbie]

I refuse to do EOTS because it has to be done every year once you begin - one time might be amusing but then it is a drag.
However, we have a wide range of cuddly toys with distinct personalities in our house anyway, and now and again (not that frequently) I set one or a few of them up "doing" something for my DS to discover - he enjoys finding a toy "reading" his schoolbook or whatever but I don't need to think of another idea for the next day...

[Gancanny]

I am finding the thought of the Elf harder.

What ideas do you have so far? Happy to share some of you like.

[WoooooGhoulsDoAFlit]

I rent in the SE and my rent is about double what my friends and family pay for their mortgages. Oddly enough it's not only poverty stricken scumbags who rent - a six bed pile up the road from me has just come on the rental market for £4750 pcm.
(I also don't do elf on the shelf - can't be arsed).

[Gancanny]

*if

[ArosGartref]

Remember that class markers are changing all the time so strictly speaking it's a lump of coal for every child whose mother doesn't have a post grad qualification.

[Thesearmsofmine]

I rent/am low income and we don’t have an elf, I must be broken!

I hate the elf thing, each year it seems to get more and more excessive all for the parents to show off on social media. I do chuckle at those who moan on social media about having to do the elf like they are being forced? It is so fake.

do it, it

[CottonSock]

Everything is becoming more exhibitionist year by year. This year it's on steroids. Pumpkin patch, elf, Christmas eve box, door bows etc. Kids find this season special enough, now my kid just wants to know why she's the only one without an elf.