Those Christmas elf things

[Rememberwheneveryonetoldcheesejokes]

I want to do Christmas elves for my Dd..but..I don’t want it creepy..I was reading how the kids are not allowed to touch the elves and how they’re always watching them or something 😬
Can I just buy two cheeky elves and make a story up about how they’ve come to visit, then put them in different silly places each morning?
Has anyone done low key (and cheaper! Without the book, adoption certificate etc etc)
Any ideas? As in where do you say they came from and why are they here?

Definitely, but you'll regret it after about 3 years when the novelty wears off and you have to keep it going for another 10, 13, 15.....? Years 😂

I do it the way you’ve described- I just bought a cheap toy elf, say she’s going to count down to Christmas by doing a funny trick/ hiding in a different place every day… They leap out of bed to see what she’s up to! The kids move & play with her after they’ve seen the trick. And she’s definitely not a spy!

Yep we did. I don't have the energy for all the ridiculousness.
Our elf is uniquely a 'tree elf'
It can only be in the tree. And each morning it seems to have done something silly on the tree. Nothing destructive, just like sitting on a reindeer decoration. DD loves it.
And 'its magical, you aren't allowed to touch the elf' seems to work.
She got kitchen tongs to move it, as not allowed to touch it!
We didn't do the reporting back to Santa thing, just silly antics.

They arrived magically from the north pole of course, which is magically connected to the Christmas tree. And then after Christmas they go back to live there till next Christmas.
But on pain of death must the bloody thing be hidden really really well

You can do it much cheaper if you head to the Works or Poundland and buy them there (although there are lots of Elf related accessories you can waste your money on there too).

It is tiring thinking of new situations for them. Mine used to turn up late each December because Santa relied on them for extra help with toy development, and that gave me a few days of respite before I had to start planning hilarious tableaux.

The worst bit is when you wake at 3am and remember the elves haven't moved and have to run downstairs and hide them in cereal boxes or whatever.

DD was hugely into the elves for several years - I even ended up buying elf babies on ebay, which she loved, but DS isn't that bothered. Once the elves have arrived and been moved a couple of nights he loses interest. Much easier for me, although I miss the joy DD got out of them.

If you are a creative person, you can have a lot of fun. For the rest of us YouTube and Facebook provide some good ideas.

We do what you're talking about. It doesn't cost anything. Elfie comes from the NP to keep us company during December. He is moved every night but it's mostly pretty lame. The kids love it. 😆

DC have been asking for an elf (9 & 5) as lots of their friends have them. But they have them at school & I pointed out that the idea is the elf comes to check on them & report back to Santa about if they were good & they quite sensibly decided it was best we don't have one of our own

So will they just appear out of nowhere on the 1st? Should I have them hanging out somewhere as a surprise or what 😂

Then I say how they’ve come from the North Pole to help us count down to Christmas? Do they go back home on Christmas Eve? Do we say a s ok Ecuador goodbye? This could get complicated 😁

*A proper goodbye

Ours goes back with Father Christmas when he drops the presents off on Christmas Eve.

Ours arrives on the first with the advent calendars. Then leaves on the 24th with a gift like an activity book or similar for Christmas Eve. He normally writes a short note to say hi/goodbye

My two DS had been nagging for one then remember we had a soft toy elf about the 5th December.
Brought him down and were soooo excited when he moved overnight. He tends just to move around (hangs from doors, sits on clocks, swings from lampshade and also sits in decorations)
His magic vanishes after Christmas so he goes back in the drawer with the Christmas jumpers.
We've always been quite low key about Santa and elves but surprisingly at 10 and 8 mine still believe.

They give me the willies!

I got our first elf in asda cheaply. We are v laidback with it, the dc touch them etc. I have bought other bits through the years, like a wee elf door, tiny snowballs, tiny connect 4. They were all cheap too. Ours are not creepy, or spies, just fun and a bit mischievous. I think it is fun!

Yes def don’t want them to be spies or creepy 😂
Just naughty and funny really

We did it for years but with a homemade elf. We just created fun scenarios with the elf rather than the ominous 'watching you' thing. It was as much fun finding things to do with it as it was for them to find it next day.

You should probably have them bid goodbye to the elf on the 23rd, just in case they become really upset and spend Christmas Eve crying that their hilarious magical elf friend has fucked off.

Elf on the shelf - order from Amazon or something. Comes with a book.

I think it's very sweet. I subscribe to the notion of 'just move the Elf'.

There's not a hope that I have the time to do elaborate Elf on the Shelf gimmicks for 24 days straight. I do it occasionally but mostly each night we just move it - hang him on a door nob, place him in Christmas tree, stick him in the fridge, put him inside the box of Weetabix, sit him on a chair, put him on the stairs, put him inside a shoe, inside kids wardrobe, in the bath etc etc.

If kids say 'oh but X's elf had the flour out and did xyz' - I reply, he must be a very naughty shelf, I'm glad our elf visitor has better manners than to make a mess ;-)

Ours has an elf door that is stuck on a skirting board (can't get the bloody thing off!!). So we say that the elf put the door their the first Christmas and to check if he came we sprinkle glitter down on the night before the 1st. Kids run down to check if glitter is on the floor on 1st December and then when they see there is - run off to find him.

Oh our Elf also writes a note, saying hello - missed the kids, so glad to be back, couple of things about the year - e.g and I know X got a gold star for swimming (type of thing) and a goodbye note.

Ours leaves on the 25th, so 26th there's a couple of chocolates left outside the Elf door and the glitter is gone.

Oh stop being such a spoil sport @Rememberwheneveryonetoldcheesejokes there's nothing better than waking up and thinking "oh f* the naughty elves!" then going and throwing Coco pops around the kitchen before the morning havoc starts 🤣

We never see ours but a little door appears somewhere in the house. So the DC know she's here

Whoever invented the elves is an absolute knob and an enemy of womankind.

I resolved never to do it because I correctly guessed that after about 3 days it would always fall on me to do it and I'm not very creative and I try to always make sure putting the kids to bed is my last job of the day.

Anyway by the time my eldest hit year 1, he was begging for a magic elf, writing Santa letters pleading for it, making his own and asking for them to be magic.

So now we have them and my kids commented last year that despite my best efforts out elves never do anything all that funny do they?

I can't wait to offload this one job onto the older ones tbh.

I refused to do this shit - it's a sales gimmick to make people spend more on useless tat around Christmas

Elves weren't really around for DTs and when one of my younger children asked about it I just used the story to my advantage - the elves are sent to watch children who have not behaved as well as they should to make sure they're good in Dec and can have Christmas presents. My children hadn't been naughty enough to need watching by an elf.

They were only interested for a day or two a year for a couple of years and I've saved myself a load of headaches.

Yours, grinch :D

I refused to do this shit - it's a sales gimmick to make people spend more on useless tat around Christmas

Not for us. Our elf cost five euro six years ago. I haven't spent another penny on it. Of all the Christmas stuff around, it's by far the least costly/tat inducing.

Ours is a small, wooden, articulated toy/puppet that I bought from Tiger about 12 years ago. It appears somewhere in the living room on 1/12 and moves randomly whenever I remember (so about 3 or 4 times through the month!). No naughtiness, no antics, no fuss. Over the years it has occasionally been used as a behaviour tool but my kids were generally well behaved so not really needed. Once or twice it has been a courier for letters/messages between them and Santa. The Christmas Eve some pyjamas 'miraculously' appear on their beds and the elf is gone. Minimal effort while still ticking the box for the kids (basically my entire parenting strategy!).

I resolved never to do it and stuck to it. I'm super into Christmas but this felt naff when it first came out.

The spying aspect is totally grim, that was much bigger at the start I think, put me off for good.