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AIBU?

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Original poster

Bloody Elf turns up in a balloon now

437 replies

DressingGownofDoom · 01/12/2020 12:59

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 Confused 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.

Bloody Elf turns up in a balloon now
OP posts:
SleepingStandingUp · 01/12/2020 15:19

@ProudAuntie76

Oh and sis and BIL are VERY middle class. But they do live in the North (Cheshire).
You might want to tell them they're acting a bit below their position and to step up before their DD is bullied for being common 😂😂
PrincessNutNut · 01/12/2020 15:19

I found Santa scary as a child, some kids do. Plenty of others don't, so just do what works for your family. Even back then I had no objection to other kids enjoying Santa even if I didn't.

nokidshere · 01/12/2020 15:19

Goodness there are some very miserable, judgmental people on this thread. Who cares? What other people choose to do in their own homes is nothing to do with anyone else. Nor does it matter what their reasons are.

If it makes them and/or their children happy then let them crack on.

TheKeatingFive · 01/12/2020 15:19

Fuck me, is an advent calendar not enough??

Each to their own surely. My mother has 6 different types of veg on Christmas day and 3 meats. I CBA with so much cooking. Different strokes.

Elfieishere · 01/12/2020 15:21

@KodakNancyEurope

When did it stop just being “December”?

Fuck me, is an advent calendar not enough??

Nope. The elf brings the Advent calendars now 😂
MeepyMupp · 01/12/2020 15:22

Elf wasn't a thing when mine was small. If people want to do it, it doesn't bother me whatsoever. However, for some reason I can't stand all the posts of it on FB. It like some people do it for SM likes and popularity rather than for the kids, thinking they are so 'hilarious' coming out with more and more outlandish ideas (which are never original or funny) for the elf. The daily updates from the same people make me cringe so much. If your kids love it, that's cool. Don't feel the need to subject the rest of us to it. Perhaps I am a nasty grinch 😂

VienneseWhirligig · 01/12/2020 15:22

One of my colleagues put a photo of hers on the works Teams social channel this morning. I never did the elf thing (he looks a bit sinister to me) but it makes me smile to see what imagination others have (and their energy - I could not have been arsed with that!)

BadTattoosAndSmellLikeBooze · 01/12/2020 15:22

No, I don't mind, I found it quite funny. I'll probably just keep being judgemental. I know you won't judge me for that, being the saintly person you are.

😇

ClaireP20 · 01/12/2020 15:22

We have an elf...but it doesnt tell me if the kids have been naughty because I don't like tell tales..it just sits there. I don't like it when parents make a big deal of the elf 'is watching..' x

Cocomarine · 01/12/2020 15:22

Oh an EOTS bashing thread... how seasonal! 🤣

  • most people who get into it do it because of SM (that’s where they saw it, and get the ideas from) for they don’t do it for SM - they do it to make their kids laugh
  • most people that post it on SM don’t do that in a desperate appeal for likes, they do it because the people they are friends with on SM are actually their friends - so they enjoy seeing what their friends are doing
  • it’s one of the cheapest Xmas activities you can do
  • it’s quite the opposite of consumerism when the joy of it comes from the jokes not any material item
  • it takes fuck all time to plan and do, because the internet is awash with easy, free ideas (yay, SM!). That’s not to say that everyone has to want to do it - but the sneery, “who has time for that?” comments are misplaced.

I don’t do it - simply too lazy. Kinda regret it, mostly don’t. Because: lazy.

My daughter has a wooden box advent calendar. Used for many years, and wholesomely decoratively painted by her. Today it contained a pair of recycled cashmere gloves, UK made. Well, one glove - the other wouldn’t fit.
I own my home, and earn above the national average wage, and the calendar and gift tick some environmental credentials... so I guess that means she wasn’t spoilt 🙄

For those with EOTS: keep doing it, and keep sharing your pictures please!!

Insertfunnyname · 01/12/2020 15:23

For Christ sake it’s all optional and most likely the kids aren’t discussing it in the playground. What’s next? No one is allowed a 4 bed house in case those in 3 beds are sad. No one can drive a Volvo because people in a Skoda Miss out?

Everyone can spend their cash how they like especially if it’s a bit of fun for their kids at Christmas.

And no, we don’t have an elf.

lemonsquashie · 01/12/2020 15:25

Agreed. I have seen people doing it and their kid under 2 years of age.

Pointless

Waxonwaxoff0 · 01/12/2020 15:25

@Homebody12 you must be reading a different thread because there's plenty of superiority on this one from people who don't do elves.

Didkdt · 01/12/2020 15:26

Only on mumsnet.com could a thread about Santa's elf turn nasty.

whopooedinthepyrex · 01/12/2020 15:26

@formerbabe I bought an elf for £2 from the pound shop

I think you need to have a word with your pound shop Grin

RedToothBrush · 01/12/2020 15:26

@nokidshere

Goodness there are some very miserable, judgmental people on this thread. Who cares? What other people choose to do in their own homes is nothing to do with anyone else. Nor does it matter what their reasons are.

If it makes them and/or their children happy then let them crack on.

Except you get this shit with letters home from school about how you can spend £X on an event where you can watch the elf on camera and the school is actively involved with the event.

That boiled my piss last year as you get pester power from your kids and the school is actively promoting a commercial product.

So No I don't think its purely a case of it not affecting others and it just being something other people do in their homes. Its difficult enough to say no to 4 and 5 year olds and there were a few parents who felt they HAD to do it otherwise their child would somehow be missing out/ stand out. (They are incapable of saying no to their kids at the best of times).

And it made me even more anti-bloody elf.

As I say, fuck that shit.

SleepingStandingUp · 01/12/2020 15:26

@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.
Oh and there was me thinking going to the ballet might qualify us for a satsuma too, bit then covid hit!! Coal it is 🥺😂
dancingindungarees · 01/12/2020 15:29

We're poor and on benefits. Sadly our goat ate the balloon this morning and quite possibly the elf to as he's missing. Just awful.

AlwaysLatte · 01/12/2020 15:29

We don't have that elf, we've got a handmade one that my sister made. So no other cost other than things to put in advent calendars, etc or things like skittles when we did the colour trick thing. But I wouldn't complain if others wanted to do it - each to their own!

EggBobbin · 01/12/2020 15:30

@SleepingStandingUp don’t worry- you can pop it in the Woodburner.

Angel2702 · 01/12/2020 15:31

Most of what the kids enjoy is WhT mumnetters consider tacky. All I’ve seen is people sneering at other’s traditions and fun the past few weeks. Unless your child only gets an orange in their stocking it’s OTT.

TheKeatingFive · 01/12/2020 15:31

Its difficult enough to say no to 4 and 5 year olds and there were a few parents who felt they HAD to do it otherwise their child would somehow be missing out/ stand out.

Why is this always an argument wheeled out against the elf, but never foreign holidays, expensive days out, fancy tech, shiny bikes, etc, etc?

And honestly, in its simplest form it’s very little expense or effort, so I don’t feel too sorry for those who, for some reason, can’t say no.

MeepyMupp · 01/12/2020 15:32

The posters saying that the kids probably don't talk about it at school.. you couldn't be more wrong. I used to work in a school and it was the hot topic of conversation with the kids young enough to still take part with elf on the shelf. It sometimes caused upset with the children, if the child didn't have an elf on the shelf or another child got presents, sweets etc with theirs. I remember one time a child crying uncontrollably at lunch because she didn't have an elf on the shelf and other children were teasing her. Another child just had the elf but didn't get a present with him and was told be another child it was because she was 'on the naughty list.'

formerbabe · 01/12/2020 15:32

[quote whopooedinthepyrex]**@formerbabe* I bought an elf for £2 from the pound shop*

I think you need to have a word with your pound shop Grin[/quote]
There's a plethora of shit which isn't a pound Hmm

kleew1 · 01/12/2020 15:34

Yanbu. I couldn't believe social media today!

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