- The first Elf on the Shelf was sold in 2005, but the story actually begins in 1974.
- The Elf on the Shelf company is based in Atlanta.
- Elf on the Shelf products are sold in 17 countries.
Once upon a time, there was a young mother who had made it through her son’s first five years without an Elf on the Shelf.
“I’ll never have one of those,” she thought. “Who has time to move an elf every night during the busiest time of year?”
Then her little boy came home from kindergarten with a question: “How come we don’t have an elf? My friends all have one.”
So much for that. Welcome to the family, Jingles.
I now have another son and two more elves, Twinkles and Ginger. They arrive on Dec. 1, and each has its own decorated box for resting after their nightly elf shennanigans. My younger son writes them notes, whispers to them, and leaves them sweets on tiny plates. It is as adorable as it sounds.
But, my fellow elf parents, have you ever wondered how something so small got so big? How did this toy elf, which holds the power to launch us out of bed at midnight because we forgot to move him, become such an important part of our holiday traditions?
The answer is simple: with a whole lot of love — and a little bit of magic.
How this world-famous elf came to be
The first Elf on the Shelf was sold in 2005, but its story begins decades earlier with a mother named Carol Aebersold.
In 1974, she introduced her three children to a toy elf named Fisbee, a gift from her mother when she was a child. Fisbee’s job, Aebersold told her daughters and son, was to keep an eye on them and report to Santa if they had been naughty or nice.
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Years later, Aebersold’s daughter, Chanda Bell, spotted the family’s elf sitting — you guessed it — on a shelf, and she had an idea.
“I told my mom we should write this story,” Bell said. “We were really driven by this idea, this love of tradition, this love of family.”
Their book, “The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition,” tells the story of Santa’s scout elves, who make themselves at home and fly back to the North Pole each night.
“I’ll be back at your home before you awake, and then you must find the new spot I will take. You’ll jump out of bed and come running to see: who’ll be the first to spy little old me?”
Publishers were not interested in bringing the story to market, so the family, including Bell’s sister, Christa Pitts, “took several leaps of faith” and self-published their book. They sold it at trade shows, and after a segment featuring the book aired on “The Today Show” in 2007, it quickly made its way to bookstore shelves.
“Now we’re here with over 100 employees that work for Santa Claus year round,” Bell said from the company’s headquarters outside Atlanta, a place she calls “the southern branch of the North Pole.”
“I never imagined in my whole life that this is where I would be, that people would embrace this tradition, that we would get to be a part of peoples’ most special memories,” she said.
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The Elf on the Shelf world explodes
These days, there is much more to the world of The Elf on the Shelf than the original book and accompanying elves, who spend their days watching for naughty behavior and their nights swimming in bowls of marshmallows, riding toy firetrucks, hiding in Christmas trees and drawing mustaches on family photos.
The Claus Couture Collection, a line of elf clothing, was introduced in 2009. Elf Pets — a reindeer, a Saint Bernard and an Arctic fox — launched in 2014.
An animated special, “An Elf’s Story,” debuted on CBS in 2011. The Elf on the Shelf balloon joined the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in 2012.
“The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Musical” debuted in 2019, and in 2020, Bell’s Lumistella Company announced a partnership with Netflix.
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The Elf on the Shelf product line is available in 17 countries.
If you were wondering, Bell has elves in her home.
“Our elves still come, and (my children) are 21 and 16,” she said. “No matter how old they get, it’s a staple of their Christmas season.
“I know what this means to kids that grow up with it, having your own best friend from Santa Claus and the North Pole,” Bell said. “It’s magic.”
Why parents participate — or don’t
Someone has to make that magic, though, and while some parents enlist their family’s elves as scouts for Santa, others make it all about fun.
Valerie Seward, a mom of three, said her family’s elf, Rex, arrives on Dec. 1 “and brings a bit of Christmas joy each day, like a string of lights, hot cocoa, cookie cutters.”
“He is not a spy for Santa,” she said. “They don’t need to stress about it, feeling like someone is always watching them. It’s just about being kind and spreading Christmas cheer.”
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Megan McNally, also a mom of two, admits that while remembering to move her family’s elf each night can be a pain, “seeing the joy and the magic in my kids’ eyes … makes it all worth it to me. My son, who still believes, cannot wait for the elf to return on Dec. 1, and constantly talks about his favorite memories of the elf.
“I have honestly enjoyed being creative with the thing over the years,” she said, “and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.”
From a parent’s perspective (and spoken from personal experience), it can sometimes feel like your elf isn’t doing “enough.” Some elves arrive with fanfare: balloons, cookies, letters from Santa. Others just appear, perched atop a kitchen cabinet holding a candy cane, or peeking out from behind the curtains.
There are Pinterest pages dedicated to cute and creative scenarios to arrange your elf in, and businesses that sell kits with ideas and accessories, personalized stuffed animals and other treats for the elf to bring. It can be overwhelming, and some parents choose to keep things simple.
“We have an elf but weren’t prepared to keep (remembering to) moving it, nor are we creative,” said Debbie Lotito, a mom of two. “So we told our kids that the elf only moves when they are bad and he has to report back to Santa. So now the kids check to make sure he is in the same exact spot every day!”
Others skip the experience entirely.
“We never started it,” said Kami Colella, also a mom of two who said December is a busy time, especially with her daughter’s birthday days before Christmas. “I feel like the elf is ruining my son’s Christmas spirit because some friends have the elf give their kids small gifts. Some elves make mischief around the house (which my son thinks it terrible) and some move around and leave nice notes. He questions me why we don’t have one. I tell him I have Santa’s phone number and we don’t need the elf to tell Santa anything.”
Bell, who said she enjoys when families send her photos of their elves and their creativity, stresses “it’s not a competition with other elves. It’s really about your own family’s memories and what the elf means to your family.
“We say all the time that elves match the personality of the family, that’s the magic of it,” she said. “It’s magic for you and your family, that’s what makes it special.”
I will keep that in mind as I plan the return of my family’s elves. Their shoeboxes will be waiting, with elf-sized pillows and blankets inside, and they will deliver a note signed in sparkly, elf-like writing. They may wrap the Christmas tree in toilet paper, leave jokes on the bathroom mirror, or fall asleep on the living room fan.
Am I looking forward to remembering to move them each night until Christmas? To be honest, no. Will I set an alarm on my phone so I don’t forget? Absolutely.
But would I go back in time and hold strong when my little boy first asked for one? No way. Our children are small for such a short time, and making the world magical for them is one of the best things about being a parent.
Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to sgriesemer@gannettnj.com.
