Help! I Need Your Opinion on The Elf on the Shelf. A New Christmas Tradition?

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I came across the The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition with Blue Eyed North Pole Pixie-Elf on Amazon today and after the wonderful reviews I’ve seen, I’m considering purchasing it for our boys ages 4 and 2. It sounds like a great way to get into the holiday spirit.

Year after year, children and adults alike are baffled by the mystery of how Santa really knows who’s been naughty or nice. After much urging by the elves and Mrs. Claus, Santa has allowed his biggest secret to be revealed in The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition . Touted as “The best thing since The Night Before Christmas” this gift set includes a light skin, blue eyed North Pole pixie-elf, hardbound children’s book and keepsake box. Children can register their elf online and receive a special response from Santa.

Some of the rave reviews from Amazon:
After hearing from friends and reading reviews how great this was, we bit the bullet and got it. I cannot say enough about how cute this was for our two boys (age 6 and 3). They bolted downstairs every morning to find the elf, and the oldest cried when he touched it accidentally because he thought it would lose its magic. The story and elf was the sweetest thing. Note, however, that parents have to remember to move the elf around every night, or come up with creative excuses for why the elf decided to come back from the North Pole into the same spot! :-).

Wanted a fair skin, blue eyed elf for my blonde, blue eyed grandchildren which is hard to find. This elf is perfect and very well constructed. The book that accompanies it is educational and adds the sense of reality for the non-believer! Pricing for the elf is the best I found in my 2 years of searching for it. My daughter puts it up the day after Thanksgiving and moves it every day. The children look for it first thing every morning and it adds to a positive and joyful discipline experience. They “know” they are being watched by Santa’s elf and never know where the elf will show up. It is absolutely a family tradition that maintains a child’s heart. I hope they never lose it.

But then I came across this review and I started to think twice…

I received this book as a gift and am sad to say how creepy this book/toy is. The elf itself looks like something out of a horror movie…and I’m supposed to let it hang out in my house?! The book has beautiful illustrations, but the story is something else. This elf is supposed to spy on your kids no matter where they are, noting whether they have been good or bad, and report back to Santa. I believe that this is infringing on their rights to be kids. So what if they’re bad once in a while…they’re kids! Kids make mistakes and PARENTS should be the ones to teach them this, NOT some little toy! I’m all for traditions like Santa, but can do without the elf on the shelf.

Do you have The Elf on the Shelf? What do you think of a toy that spies on your children? Do you think it is a fun or creepy tradition? Please help me decide whether I should introduce this as a fun Christmas tradition in my family!

24 Comments

  1. We have had our Elf, Elfie, for a year now. My boys (ages 6 & 7 at that time) loved seeing Elfie, reading the book, naming him, and finding him day after day. When they were high strung, it was a nice way to calm them down, or if they were trying to decide about an action you could ask them “What would Elfie think about that? Would he say that is being nice or naughty?”. About October, the boys started asking when Elfie was returning to our home (he goes back with Santa on Christmas Day) and when he shows up on Black Friday morning, they were thrilled. He is “freaky” in that way that dolls with painted faces (unblinking eyes) are, but really no more than any other toy or doll that is not really lifelike and does not have eyes that will open and shut. My boys do not find him scary or freaky at all… they love him and are happy to have him in the house. Daddy says he’s freaky because of the stare, so we just put him in places where we don’t have to sit and see him all the time. That’s the glory of being the one to move him, you choose where you want him to go. You also can be as tame or wild as you want with the shenanigans that your elf might get in to. One of my friends has 2 of these, and they have been known to take her couch cushions and make a fort and have all the stuffed animals from the kids join them. Elfie, for the most part, just hangs out in various locations throughout the house, as I’m not a big one on making a mess that I’ll have to clean up again, just to make my elf look mischevious. Elfie also leaves notes for the boys… most of these are to brag about something special that they did — an A on a test that they worked hard on, the extra assistance they gave a friend, doing their chores without being reminded — which makes him seem even more real to them… He says how proud he is and how proud Santa was of this action too. If they were extra bad (fighting on the bus) he may mention how disappointed he and Santa were of this behavior but that they both know that my son will do much better today. Yes, I do this as a parent, but this is yet another tool to reinforce it, and my boys love this interaction with their elf. If you also partake of the tradition of having a letter sent to your boys from Santa, you can mention your elf in that letter, which makes it all more believable for your kids. For the most part, the scary elf thing is more an adult issue. Most kids don’t look at the elf and see evil… they see a smiling face. Presented as a friend, most tend to see only that. Only adults have been exposed to so much in the world that we see a smiling happy face and apply something sinister to it. All I can say is… we love our Elfie and we are now in the market for a 2nd one, since I can see this is a tradition that we will be continuing for years to come. And I want each of my boys to have an elf that they can then take with them to their homes and their families down the road. Now if I can just find another one like last years, where you could pick the hair color AND the eye color, not just the eye color.

  2. I bought the elf on the shelf for my 2 yr old son… well I later met a guy that I have been dating for a year and he has an 8 yr old do you think us starting the elf on the shelf now with 8 yr old would ruin the holiday spirit for her? I would be devastated if it did.

  3. My daughter who is 4 got a girl elf for Thanksgiving from her great grandmother. She and my 6 year old love looking for Sparkles every morning. My son likes it best when she is a mischievous elf which she has been a few days this season but cleaning up elf sized messes isn’t always fun so some days she just sits on the shelf. She toilet papered the Christmas tree and made snow angels in my powdered sugar, it has been so much fun for both my kids.

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