Elf on th shelf

[aaf90]

Hi I'm wanting to do the elf on the shelf this year but not really understand what ya say about him how does he get here? And why? Does he just turn up one night from Santa then do naughty things every night then goes on xmas eve? Lol

Hi!

I LOVE elf on the shelf (I work in an official elf adoption centre i.e. my shop sells them )

Ours arrived on the 1st December with DSDs advent calendar two Christmases ago. The official elves come with a lovely hardback book telling the story of the elf, how he's came to make sure the children are being good, that he reports back to Santa every night, and that you can't touch him or he'll lose his magic.

Every night when DSD goes to bed I just put the elf in a different place, and she enjoys looking for him the next morning!

Oh and ours leaves on Christmas Eve, and leaves behind a Christmas Eve bag for us all (obviously it depends whether you'd want to start that but DSD enjoys that it's her last thing from the elf).

Ours never went home last year...we couldn't bear to let him go because we'd had such a lot of fun.

They arrive on 1st December and don’t have to do naughty things, they can do silly, funny things or bring treats or just cuddle up in bed with their child.

Be prepared for devastation when the elf has to leave though. I never wanted to do it but Ds spotted his in a garden centre age 6 and he ended up coming home with us but he was so devastated at the idea of him going, he had to stay til new year’s Eve so that Christmas wasn’t ruined! He does wind down after Christmas though in the hopes that ds will get bored of him! He also comes for ds’s birthday in May.

The trouble is DS is 9 now and really the whole Santa thing should be winding down but I tho k the elf is keeping it going 🙈.

we love elf on the shelf! Our elf turns up at the beginning of december, and each night they do naughty things . eg: our elf spilt cornflakes out the box to write her name (emma), unrolled all the toilet paper etc. the kids really enjoyed not knowing what she would do next. she left on xmas eve.

Do kids really believe this cr*p lol

There are not enough hours in the day for this bollocks

Plus i don't like the spying-on-your-kids aspect.

and the official elf looks like he'd murder you all in the night and eat your livers with a nice mulled wine

Grey - of course they do.
I'm doing it this year and I don't even have little children

Do you think a two year old would understand it?

Don’t do it!! Seriously the amount of stress those things cause is not worth the small bit of fun lol! Every single night we go to go to bed and then have to move the sodding thing! If you do do it start small! By year 2 or 3 it gets incredibly hard to find new big things to do with them

yes, my 2 year old ds loved it

Ours arrives with advent calendars, and he’s just around. Mostly sits on the tree, no great production or spying on the kids.

Ours comes on the first with a behaviour chart, a Lego advent and letters for children to write to Santa. He does funny and naughty things such as cover the Christmas tree in toilet roll. He leaves on Christmas Eve. It does get harder to do different things but I now buy my elf props so it makes it easier. He has a elf swing, bed, different clothes and a shopping trolley to name a few.

Matalan have this cute elf. Harder to hide than the official one but you make up your own rules.

www.matalan.co.uk/product/detail/s2697939_c000/keel-toys-elf-27cm-green?gclid=CjwKCAjwt7PcBRBbEiwAfwfVGJ_j3iFIfUi_l1vDeeBZmLWvHmj3kuF5zcyy7EbRBTEi8yT4hUiLwRoCai0QAvD_BwE

There are not enough hours in the day for this bollocks

Totally worth it for DS's reaction.

Plus i don't like the spying-on-your-kids aspect.

You don't have to do that bit. I don't know anyone who does.

and the official elf looks like he'd murder you all in the night and eat your livers with a nice mulled wine

Agree with this, but our cheapy, non official elf is adorable.

Our elf arrives on the first, with the advent calendar and a little note for DS. He disappears on Christmas Day though because enough is enough.

Goodness no , don’t do it ! It’s a load of bollocks ! And if you must do it please don’t plaster it all over Facebook , no one wants to see that crap !

You could do Kindness Elves instead, they sound more gentle but still fun/magical.

Mine loves it but I kind of wish I’d never started it... lost count of the number of times I’ve gone to bed and realised I’ve not moved the fucking elf. If you’re going to get one though, just get a cheap one from eBay and Pinterest has loads of good easy ideas.

We don’t really do Santa here so I don’t do elf either. I don’t like the spying aspect (although this isn’t just elves as I see “Santacams” are a thing, and every old biddy and shop assistant seems to want to threaten my children with Santa watching them come December 🙄) and I hate the “being naughty” crap- WHY would Santa be checking you were good by sending a little shite of an elf???? Why????

Anyway. We do an advent angel- who is a rag doll hidden every day with little treats which could be cookie cutters to make salt dough shapes or a new Xmas book or our Xmas PJs. Like spreading a xmas eve box out over Dec really, as I don’t see the point in a last minute thing when the exciting day is actually upon us- mad!
We don’t pretend she is real though- she is a doll. We don’t really do untrue stuff at all though... like Santa.
Christmas is magical enough.

I love ours! I agree the original one is creepy, we bought a soft toy elf. Love going on Pinterest and finding new things for him to do! Just all part of the Christmas magic.

Oh, I’d just come on here to ask if anyone had an alternative to Elf on the Shelf - have done it for the past few years, and have run out of ideas and motivation. Nothing worse than getting into bed, just about to fall asleep, and realising the Elf is still under the sofa (or somewhere that isn’t an imaginative scene).

I like the idea of the advent angel! Does anyone else have any alternatives?

OP - my 3 kids have all loved the Elf, but mine and dh’s love for them (Buddy has a tendency to be naughty and need extra elves to watch over him 🙄), has seriously dwindled!

There are loads of ideas on Pinterest on how to do this.

My two children are both in secondary school and yet still expect the elf on the 1st. He brings food that I would hardly ever buy, he hides all over the house, sticks eye stickers on the fruit in the fruit bowl and he writes silly notes.

Previously I have done the whole shebang with him, but now he just hides mostly.

The best thing I ever did was have him climb the curtains, you literally just use straight pins in the back of the curtain and pin through. It was especially funny when they had stopped believing and couldn't work out how I had done it.

I did perform surgery on him to insert wires to make him pose-able. Maybe the elf grows up a bit and stops doing naughty things. Like I said, my two won't let him go. They have very fond memories of him. He taught them that even good people are naughty sometimes.

Hate it, kids at school saying how lucky they are to have one and the kids who don't have one feel 'unlucky.'

We did EOTS last year and it was fun for the kids.

I planned what to do in November. Gave myself easy set ups for busy school nights and the elf bought small games or craft things at weekends, when we had the time to do it.

I bought a few props from Poundland and used a few toys around the house too. I made a bed and chair for him, which we will reuse.

I have started planning this year's EOAS. Repeating the best ones from last year.

Sometimes the easiest ones can be the best ones. For example our kids loved it last year when the elf put their clean underwear on the Christmas tree !

But planning is the key. Have it written down what you are doing every night and pre buy/locate all props in your house.

So then you don't have to think every evening in December what to do with the darn elf!