Dislike 'Elf on The shelf'.

[Oblomov]

I don't get it.
And it is' everywhere'. Endless facebook posts.
It really is silly.
Bar-humbug me.

I dislike it too. And enough with all the hampering. Why does Christmas need to be so stage managed?
Yep, I'm a grinch. Don't buy me a hamper and have it delivered to me by flipping elves!

I don't mind the Christmas Eve hampers so much. We do similar with new pyjamas (not necessarily Christmas themed, however), nice hot chocolate etc But we don't present these thing in, or call them, a hamper.

It's the December the first hampers (there have been a couple of threads about this I think) and putting trees and decorations up at end of November that I don't understand. With the latter, if you're taking the tree down around Twelfth Night, then it's been up for over a month!

I just completely don't get elf on a shelf. It seems like a lot of work for no reason..

I'm doing a wooden advent calendar with notes in everyday with different Christmas activities and I have to confess to loving the Christmas Eve hamper!

Ours is a basket I once got given Yankee candles in and it had pjs for both DD's, a DVD for the evening, new toothbrushes, bubble bath, chocolate biscuits, a candy cane bone for the dog and a poundland Christmas blanket... Can't wait

we do new pjs, slippers and dressing gowns on xmas eve which is ££ but the only other times we buy pjs are birthdays and the summer holiday shop, we also team this with 1 new dvd but it is a christmas dvd, last year it was the nutcracker AND arthur christmas AND white christmas whoops, this year it is mickey's once upon a christmas :) so yes in a way we do 'hampers' but the dcs pick there own dvd. Advent calendars are one suprise one and one chosen each (usually 1 choc and one toy/beauty/book). No elves aha

We don't do hampers but they generally get new pajamas as it helps to get DS2 to bed nice and early. I once told DS1 that the reason that Father Christmas on Norad looked like that is so that terrorists couldn't find him, he was about 12 at the time though

What is Elf on the shelf??

Elf On A Shelf

Oh. More work, more crap to buy.

Crap, my (well meaning) SIL has sent me an Elf on the Shelf in the post! I am anti-elf but how do I tell her this without sounding like a cow? Her and my brother are going to be expecting 'hilarious' elf antics on Facebook - not going to happen.

I like our elf. He cost £2 and he doesn't do much - he doesn't bring any thing or suggest we make cookies, he just sits in different places so DS has to find him in the morning . He certainly isn't a Santa spy - that's horrible!

Also the hamper thing it is just trying to dress something up (with extra expense), that doesn't need to be dressed up.

We have always done new PJs, watched a movie, read a book, had popcorn/hot chocolate with marshmallows etc - , the new PJs are useful as they get lots of wear out of them, but I don't need to get a NEW movie, or a NEW book or a NEW special mug etc etc.

Kids don't register a hamper gift the same way an adult does, they will remember watching the movie and spending time with their parents as the real tradition not that it arrived in a gift basket.

A lot of the time it just sounds like spending for the sake of spending.

Depends on whether it's an extra bit of Xmas fun for the kids, or a horribly manipulative way to get them to behave in fear of losing the loot. No issue with the former, but the latter is icky in the extreme, IMO.