How do you explain not having a elf?

[ItsJustASimpleLine]

Really don't want to have to do elf on the shelf. Can anyone help with and explanation for why we don't have one that DD would believe??

If you don’t want to do it, don’t do it!! If she asks why other kids get elves, just tell her that it’s the mums and dads pretending to be elves. The whole thing has got out of hand.

christmas Eve box

A box you open Christmas Eve that you open Christmas Eve and may contain - PJs Christmas film slippers hot chocolate sweets popcorn face mask type stuff

The Elf

is a naughty elf who becomes alive when you're asleep and wrecks havoc around the house - know to like drink loo tool chocolate etc you take pics and share them with similar minded adults - and the kids love to find out where the Elf has gone and what's he's done wrong now

I would be brutal and honest on this one.

“We don’t have an elf because in this house we believe that giving presents is about love and celebration, not about being good or ‘naughty’. Father Christmas is about wanting children to be full of joy. These elves aren’t real and they are toys, you can see that, but if they were real I would never ever allow an elf to spy on anyone in our house”

OK, not wholly honest, depending on where you stand in the FC thing. But IMO the idea of FC is about children, live , joy and giving.

May I just extend an invitation. If and when you finally get sick of all this competitive commercialised consumerfest, come along to your local church and be restored by the peace and love of a community simply celebrating the birth of Jesus, the ultimate gift to all of us.
Admission is free - you can put a donation in the plate if you want but it’s not required.
Have an hour’s breathing space from the madness, sing some lovely carols, share the prayers for others and go home refreshed and restored, knowing that you are loved by God.
It’s the whole point of Christmas, and the perfect antidote to bloody “elves on shelves”, and extra “present boxes for Xmas Eve” and all the other nonsense that gets worse each year! Do give it a try.

£3 in tesco...

We didn't buy into trick or treat 20 years ago as 'we aren't American', nowadays we are the exception not to be doing it or going to adult halloween parties.
In 20 years, I would not be surprised if almost everyone was doing elf and there was some kind of adult spin off in tandem.
To answer OP's DD?
Perhaps they don't have an elf-spy because THEY HAVE AN ALEXA instead?

My dh really didn't want to do this but I found a cute elf in a pound shop so... we've compromised and just do it for one week before Xmas. Starting from 1st Dec is too much of a commitment!

cos we have real tomte/nisse in the house
and you dont upset them with a mawkish kewpie doll faced interloper
because nothing good happens when you upset the nisse

Of course you can say that the elves are just parents doing things but unless you want an adult saying that to your DC about Santa it doesn't seem a sensible response.
If you try it OP you might enjoy it, my DC have got a lot more enjoyment out of it over the years than they have from Santa. It is something that you can do as much or as little as you like with.
Personally I don't like the actual elves so have Xmas gnomes, with no spying involved. But another family can set it up another way.
DC really are small for a very short time and compared to the effort of getting them to brush their teeth or eat a healthy diet it is no great hassle.

Stop the madness

We didn't buy into trick or treat 20 years ago as 'we aren't American', nowadays we are the exception not to be doing it or going to adult halloween parties

As any of the Scottish MNetters can tell you the halloween tradition of guising long pre-dated "trick or treat" and the production of cheap, nasty , plastic tat. I don't know anyone who goes to adult Halloween parties.

Stop the madness

Hear hear.

The picture says a thousand words

IF she asks, say it's because Santa only sends the elves to keep an eye on children who have been naughty, and he knows that she's been good, so he doesn't need to send an elf to keep an eye on her.

IF she asks, say it's because Santa only sends the elves to keep an eye on children who have been naughty

Said 10 people already - and decided that it wouldn't be a good idea for the child to tell their friends they were naughty

No tales of Santa, elves on fucking shelves, tooth fairies , Prince and princesses , Easter bunnies or any other shite and we all grew up fine. And so did the next generation.

It’s perfectly possible to say it’s not real and to not ruin anyone else’s traditions. My kids don’t believe in Santa, and neither did I. I never would have told another child that he wasn’t actually real thiugh.

Thus far, and my third child is now in yr1 at school, there have been no accidental disclosures that Santa doesn’t exist to any friends.

Just tell the truth.

We did have a tooth fairy misshap, but that was a surprise as it was my 5 year old who accidentally told a 11 year old that the tooth fairy wasn’t real, innocently assuming that all children that big already knew.

IF she asks, say it's because Santa only sends the elves to keep an eye on children who have been naughty

Said 10 people already - and decided that it wouldn't be a good idea for the child to tell their friends they were naughty

Add another one. Have some posters lost all common sense over this? That is a really horrible thing to say to a child about their friends.

Tell the truth. The elf is just a shop - bought Christmas decoration and the OP doesn't think it's a particularly attractive one.

Freak the kids out by saying "but we do have one... can't you see him watching you right there...?"

Have some posters lost all common sense over this? That is a really horrible thing to say to a child about their friends.

Lighten up. It was a suggestion, perhaps in hind sight not the wisest one I've ever made, but a suggestion never-the-less, not a commandment set in stone.

It was a really stupid suggestion. Ordering me to "lighten up" doesn't mitigate the stupidity.

Are you really so lacking in imagination that you don't realise that lie will almost certainly be repeated to the other children who have an elf?

So the children that do have an elf in their home are made to think they're naughty?

Do you also think it would be ok in reverse Shepherd? So if my daughter asks why her best friend doesn't have an Elf should I say it's because naughty kids don't get sent one? I think that would be a bit of a shitty thing to do personally.

FYI I didn’t compare elf on the shelf to religion. I used religion as an example of something not everyone believes in. Anyone of course the Elf and religion are no way similar, as far as I know the elf hasn’t started wars .