I love the cuteness and fun that can comes from the Elf on the Shelf. I’ve seen some creative ideas and very put-together shenanigans for family elves. I think the Elf saved some marriages during COVID, as families found something to rally around and entertain themselves with. We all needed a safe thing to do at home to keep ourselves busy and that was prime Elf time, when I was just having my babies and they were too little to appreciate any of that.
Since I came on board to the idea late, I had a hard decision to make – do I try to jump on the bandwagon at this late stage in the game? My answer is a pretty clear, “No.”
I don’t like the idea of lying to my kids about another thing.
I never liked the idea of making up the Santa Claus story and going with it for years. I know it’s fun and where would we be without it? It feels magical and the kids have some sense of wonderment. However, I want my kids to know I’m going to tell them the truth. No matter what (if they think too hard about it), they will realize I have been telling untruths since the beginning. Once they come to terms with Santa Claus, how doubly hard would it be to realize the Elf is also just a house decoration?
As a single mom, I don’t have much time to get creative and set up the Elf materials.
Generally, I fall asleep when the kids do, pretty worn out. If I woke up to move the Elf around, they’d probably hear me and ruin the surprise aspect since I have a small enough house that it’s easy to hear anything going on. If I can’t get it done, how many times can I say “The Elf was too tired to move” or make up some kind of excuse, otherwise hoping the kids forgot to look for the Elf?
I think the Elf on the Shelf is creepy.
I think the look is a little creepy, especially all the knockoff elves out there. I’m the kind of parent that gets terrified walking around in the middle of the night with weird dolls staring at me or toys randomly activating some music like something on The Exorcist. One of my friends thought he’d have the Elf rappelling down the chimney and it looked like the Elf hung himself overnight. Maybe M. Night Shyamalan should write a movie about it.
Elf stuff is too expensive.
Expensive Elf kits exist so you can set up your Elf in some silly situations. I don’t want to add that onto a Christmas list and there’s no space on it to prioritize something that I’m not invested in.
My execution on DIY and organization leaves something to be desired.
Even if I had all the cool Elf things, I’d probably still mess it up. Where do I store it? Trying to put doll clothes on is hard, I’m sure Elf clothes are even harder. I can imagine making a huge mess and my kids would wake up and be like, “What is the Elf supposed to be doing?”
The names are usually cute but mine would be a disaster.
Other people seem to have cute little names for their elves, even having two elves that have names that go together. Whenever my kids choose names for their toys, I might suggest something cute or that makes sense. Generally, the name turns out to be Red Teddy, so named because it’s a red teddy bear. Otherwise, everything is Elsa and Rapunzel, whether or not it is anything related to princesses. My son doesn’t care, so most of his toys are also Elsa and Rapunzel whether he likes it or not.
Thanks but no thanks, Elf on the Shelf. We’ll make our own magic this year.
