As Christmas nears, a common special guest enters households all around the world: The Elf on the Shelf. These elves are brought into households to keep an eye on children prior to the holiday. The Elf on the Shelf isn’t only a popular tradition in the United States. It shows up in other countries like: the UK, Canada and Australia. 

The tradition began in 1974, where a mother told her three children the elf was there to watch over her children and report back every night to Santa. Later on she and her daughters decided to make their tradition one for many. After many failed attempts to publish their book, they finally published it in 2005. Accompanying the book is the magical elf itself, which the family gets to name. 

In 2007, the book and doll became very popular. The elf itself gained a very significant amount of media attention. As time went on, the Elf on the Shelf grew to become a Netflix TV show and even a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

The book goes into detail about how the elf is sent by Santa to children’s homes where they observe the children’s behaviors during the Christmas season. Every night when the children fall asleep the elf reports back to the North Pole where they tell Santa whether they were naughty or nice that day. Then, as the child wakes up, the elf is back to repeat until Christmas is over. 

Elves on the shelves come in all skin tones, genders, and hair and eye color in order to create a diverse choice for families. 

One major rule when having an elf is that the children cannot touch the elf or they will lose their magic. Children are encouraged to speak to their elves and share their wishes for Christmas.