OMG, Elf on the Shelf DOES date to the 60s

[Anonymous]

I too remember my parents putting an elf on a shelf up a Christmas time in the 60s when i was a young child. Don't know where Mom got it. I believe i still have it packed away somewhere.😊

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agreed. I'm not sure who is more creeped out by it, me or my 3 year old.
Those eyes, they are watching me

We never did EOTS at our house, but DS2 heard about it somewhere and asked me about it once, when he was about 6. I told him that some families have an elf that is supposed to be watching the children to see if they are being nice, and the mom and dad move the elf around the house to different rooms. DS2 stared at me, aghast. "That sounds like a horror movie," he said.

[Anonymous]

Okay, I looked it up and found that These same elves came on Joy Dishwashing liquid back in the 60's. That would be what my mom was purchasing to get them. They were plastic wrapped to the bottles.

[Anonymous]

I still have one of the 12 she collected in pristine condition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The book was self-published in 2005, so the "phenomenon" has only been a thing relatively recently.

But yes, similar Christmas elves for decoration have been around forever.

Yes when it came back in, it was like a vague recollection that one existed. But do not trust a single person who says they did this for forever. Nope. I don’t know anybody who had this going on a a kid of the 80s and 90s and 00s (84 born)

It’s possible, so so so so rare.

People mine this for blog content, at least back in the 00s. And now it’s for Pinterest, insta, TikTok.

But it’s so old and no one did this when we grew up.

[Anonymous]

Parent of teens

Totally into Santa back in the day

EOTS is a regret. Maybe if it preceded social media, smart phones …so there was no one upping the elf.

But really - it was more my kids seeing EOTF for sale.

Not a fan

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The book was self-published in 2005, so the "phenomenon" has only been a thing relatively recently.

But yes, similar Christmas elves for decoration have been around forever.

Interesting. Because this elf is the exact same thing that's sold in these books. Not close. Exact.

My mom and others around me had that elf as a decoration in the ‘70s/80s. She may have gotten it in the 60s. It was a popular commercial item.