The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition

I cant believe the price! This is the same thing the local stores were selling at over double the price here. It is the same box, same book, same elf, everything! This is really an awesome find! I bought it after Christmas and am putting it away for next year but even so, the stores still had it over double the amount. I took it out the box and inspected it, read the book and found nothing wrong with either one. My grandchildren already have one of these, the same one in fact so I know what it feels like and does and I cant find any difference in them. They both feel the same. Although I never seen their book, this one tells the story about the elf and what to do. It even has a place for you to name and register it. (How cute is that!) So I am assuming it is the same book as all the others because I do remember them mentioning that with their elf plus when I looked locally, you can see the book in the box and it looks the same. The little grandkids will have fun next year because they dont know *I* have it and when they come over they will think their elf (they have the same boy scout) is really watching them. Theyll wonder how they left their house and saw it there and came here and walked in to see it waiting for them. It will just a little wonder, magic, fun to the holiday season.Remember, the elf leaves Christmas Eve (goes with Santa) so this is one decoration that isnt out Christmas Day or after. (Dont understand? The book explains everything!) I cant wait to see the expressions on their faces!

Our three year old twins are getting old enough where they are starting to understand certain concepts so we thought this Christmas would be the perfect year to purchase an Elf on the Shelf. They loved it and had so much fun with it! I believe Elf on the Shelf is a relatively new tradition but I love the look of the scout elf because he has the look of a 1950s figurine. Included in the very sturdy and reusable box is the elf and a colorful, hardcover storybook which explains in a rhyming, storytelling manner how to use the Elf on the Shelf. The elf itself is approximately 13 inches tall, fully-extended, and his outfit feels like it is made of a felt-like material. His body is stuffed with plastic pellets and his head is made of hard plastic with nicely painted-on facial features. He doesnt sit very well by himself but there are plenty of ways to prop him up. His hands are also stitched together which makes it fun to dangle him from a doorknob, chandelier, or any other fun spot you can think of! The storybook is a beautiful hardcover with colorful pictures and the book reads like a rhyme. It is approximately 26 pages long and explains how the Elf on the Shelf works. The idea behind it is the scout elf is sent to your family each year and will keep an eye on the children on behalf of Santa. You get to name the elf and he will continue to be your familys scout elf. At night, the elf will fly to the North Pole to report good and/or naughty behavior, then fly back to the family where he will get into something during the night and the children will wake up the next morning, excited to find him! The elf is always watching and the only rule is that the elf cant be touched otherwise the magic will disappear. When the elf flies back to the North Pole on Christmas Eve, he wont return to your family until the next Christmas season. I really love this activity for my kids and felt that, at almost three years old, it was the perfect age to introduce this to them! My kids always got so excited to look for our elf in the morning and kept asking throughout the day why he was trying to get out the door or why he was hanging from the Christmas tree. I was also very impressed with how well my kids listened to the rule and they never touched him. Whenever they started acting up, I would tell them our elf is watching and we dont want him to have to report any naughty behavior to Santa. It didnt always work but hey, I tried. Overall, I think this is a great activity for families and I felt it was very reasonably priced for the amount of fun we had. I highly recommend this to give your kids something to look forward to every morning during the Christmas season!

I purchased the Elf on the Shelf in November and started using it December 1st. We are not doing the naughty elf, so he simply changes positions every night. It has made getting up and going in the morning more enjoyable for my 2 little kids (3 & 4). If we ask them if they want to see if Chippy (our Elfs name)has moved overnight, they are happily getting out of bed. This has been a nice change from the sour attitude weve had lately from the 4 year old. The story is nice to introduce the Elf. The website where you go and register your elf is well made and the activities (coloring pages, letter to Santa, etc.) were fun for my kids to do. I like what the elf looks like because he reminds me of elves my grandma had as decorations when I was a little child. My kids are not afraid of him, but I can see how some kids might be. My one and only complaint, and the reason that I didnt give it 5 stars, is that I really wish that the elf was posable (had wire in his arms & legs). It makes it difficult to be too creative with what to do with him when he is limited to sitting places. I will be spending a bit of time this morning seeing if I can insert some wire myself.

I used it for my autistic child right after xmas

I was so nervous to try this out. I didnt want to blow Christmas/Santa for my 6 year old. I worried that he might not buy into it, and therefore might not buy into Santa anymore either (he might start questioning it all). I think its incredibly important how you introduce this, so make sure you put a lot of thought into it. I decided to create a letter from Santa & snuck it into our mailbox (and had my 6 year old get the mail that day). Santa told them (6 & 3 year old boy) that because there are so many children in the world for him to watch over, hes decided to send one of his elves to watch over our family. I think its incredibly important to immediately address WHY youre getting an elf right now (when you didnt before) and why YOUR house is getting one, when not everyones house has one (I was worried about kids at school). Santas letter announced that the elf would be arriving that night, so to watch for him in the morning. The next morning the elf showed up sitting up in the Christmas tree, with the book about him underneath the tree, and a handwritten letter (Moms left-handed writing). It was a flawless entrance, and my 6 year old believes it all even MORE than my 3 year old! He was instantly writing letters back to Santa, asking our elf to take it back to Santa that night, etc. The rest of the month was SO fun, not only for the magic in my kids faces each morning, but for the fun my husband and I had each evening getting the elf set up in new fun ways. Make sure you have a plan in place for if they touch him (there need to be consequences or they wont believe hes magical), and make sure to set a daily reminder on your cell phone (I did 10pm). You dont want to blow it by not having moved him one day. They almost cried the day he had to say goodbye! On the last day he was holding baby Jesus from our nativity, leaving a note to remember that while Santa & presents are fun, remember that Jesus is the real meaning of Christmas (were quite religious normally, so I had to tie it in somehow, without being the lame family that doesnt allow Santa stuff at all). ;) Definitely recommend!!!

This was a big hit this year with our daughter. She is 8 and we were not sure she would enjoy it. We were very wrong. We brought this out after Thanksgiving, read the book and have been enjoying the crazy and weird things this elf does every night. On a few occasions, our daughter swore he moved when we were not home and even left it a picture and notes. It is nice to see her wake up happy and ready to find the little rascal. The elf itself consists of a typical stuffing material and is pretty bendable and strong. We have had him bend-hung-flattened and he is like new with no signs of any issues. The box it comes with is very solid and makes for a great sturdy storage for in between seasons. Great idea that once you buy it, will provide years of enjoyment. Highly recommend. Might even be adding the girl version in the future. I took one star away as the hands lacked an important feature. They come stitched together which limit the function for positions, etc a great deal. They should put strong magnets in the hands so that you can separate them and use them for metal object ideas, etc.

I would give this 5 stars, but I ordered back in October and just put it on top of my closet til the night of the 30th of November. And when I got it out I noticed it was a girl and not a boy like I ordered. Still using the elf and just calling it a boy, but my kids cousins have pointed out to him that his elf is a girl. And Ive assured him either is fine, its just here to report back to Santa each night. Just wish since boy is advertised that thats what I wouldve got sent.

I got this for my nephews first christmas and my sister loves it. I cant wait to see what she does with him and how hell love it.

My son loves this whole thing....I have been going nuts every night making his elf that he named Spikey Hattie do strange things all over the house. There are two things that I would complain about though....first, that the elf doesnt have bendable arms and legs. You would think that this company would know what people will be doing with it and would make the elf capable of holding onto things and staying in certain positions, instead of just being all floppy and really difficult to make it stay in whatever position you are trying to get it to stay in. I ended up having to do middle of the night emergency elf surgery, and opened up the ends of his arms and legs to put wire inside and them sew it back up, so that I could get him to the point where he was able to do more than just sit awkwardly. Also, the price is pretty outrageous, especially for a floppy and not so well made toy elf. I mean, cmon....thirty bucks is ridiculous for something like this....Its taking advantage of the fact that parents want to make their kids christmas special by doing things like this. If I knew how to sew better than I do, I would just make my own, and just buy the book or something.

this was my first year with Elf on the shelf- my daughter is almost 4. He arrived the evening of thanksgiving on the front porch. We opened the package/ read the book and she was so excited. She didnt quite understand until about the second day. But the book is cute and really starts the Christmas magic for the season. Our Elf Ben is a good elf, he packed her bag for school one day, colored pages out her coloring book one night (like 30 pictures all over the table), he missed the cold so one night was in in the fridge, he left her little supries like ABC flashcards, one night her left her a frozen workbook for writing letters, etc but every morning she would look for ben and seeing the excitement through her eyes was great. I wish the elf was alittle more sturdy and I think this next year ill take the advice from pintrest about adding wire for stability but I have no complaints and I enjoyed having him- again he didnt do anything crazy (he did go poop (brown mms) in her toilet and left paper all in the bath room which she was not amused and thus was the craziest thing he did). Children ONLY have a few Christmass of pure magic/wonder- lets embrace it and kindle that spirit.