# People don't do Elfie for their kids. They do it to impress friends on Facebook. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 16, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182 "2012-12-16T14:12:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/41 "2012-12-16T23:47:58Z")
Is it wrong my Elf wears camo, holds an automatic weapon and wears night vision googles? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/42 "2012-12-17T00:06:09Z")
So it’s kind of like Waldo becomes a spy for Santa? ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/43 "2012-12-17T00:29:06Z")
My mother says that she remembers seeing these elves attached to boxes of Whitman’s candy in the late '50s or early '60s…they weren’t associated with the story at that point though. She still has three of the elves; they bear a striking resemblance to the ones sold with the “on the shelf” story. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/44 "2012-12-17T00:35:37Z")
> [@Lucky\_13](#): > > I’m so glad my family and friends haven’t bought into that fad. Me too. The other one that is a ridiculous joke is this diamond wedding ring stuff. I’m sticking with the traditional sewing thimble. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/45 "2012-12-17T00:38:25Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > He’s talking about Elf on the Shelf. Elf on the Shelf—I burning your dog. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/46 "2012-12-17T00:57:31Z")
My cousin’s wife has been posting elf pictures, as well as sighing about how hard it was to come up with new spots to hide the damned thing. I’m sitting there thinking “well, _don’t_ then.” ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/47 "2012-12-17T04:32:43Z")
> [@hrhomer](#): > > Goddammit, they keep making Christmas worse and worse. Like. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/48 "2012-12-17T04:50:15Z")
The only elf photo I’ve seen on FB was the elf with the following caption. “I wonder what your screams sound like.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/49 "2012-12-17T05:42:35Z")
I’m a bit perplexed as to how I’ve apparently completely missed this, as I’m on Facebook multiple times a day and have plenty of friends with kids. I wonder if it’s a regional thing. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/50 "2012-12-17T07:37:11Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > My mother says that she remembers seeing these elves attached to boxes of Whitman’s candy in the late '50s or early '60s…they weren’t associated with the story at that point though. She still has three of the elves; they bear a striking resemblance to the ones sold with the “on the shelf” story. I wonder if that’s where our [elves](http://tinypic.com/r/359iwba/6) came from. We had several when I was a kid. I still have three of them and put them out every year for fun. Speaking of elves and such, I was told any number of things as a kid. I can’t say that I believed many of them actually. Because I had a brain and was able to think and all. These fictional kids needing psychiatrists because of a patently ridiculous storybook must be pretty fictionally stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/51 "2012-12-17T07:47:29Z")
Well… they’re coming out with a new Chucky movie next year ( [Chucky (character) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chucky_%28Child%27s_Play%29#Curse_of_Chucky_.282013.29) )… so it will be interesting to see how this plays out for Christmas 2013 after the kids have seen commercials for Chucky at Halloween. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/52 "2012-12-17T08:49:28Z")
> [@](#): > > The tradition begins when Santa sends his scout elves out to Elf Adoption Centers. Waiting for their families to bring them home, these patient elves hibernate until their family reads The Elf on the Shelf, gives their elf a very special name, and registers their adoption online. Fridge horror sets in when you realize that for every unsold or damaged copy of the book, there’s a living being who’s doomed to spend eternity sealed in plastic, buried in the bottom of a pile of rotting garbage. _Merry Christmas!_ ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/53 "2012-12-17T11:34:19Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > But a no-touchy-tattle-tale-elf is just good fun for parents. Oh… for the joys of procreation… I was totally against EoaS until this post. I now see the benefits of hanging Santa’s little spy from the bedroom doorknob. A Yuletide Do-Not-Disturb sign! ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/54 "2012-12-17T13:08:18Z")
I think it’s cute. I enjoy my friend’s posts of her creative Elf poses. I think she does it for fun, and because she loves how much it delights the kids. I’ve certainly encouraged her to keep posting the pictures. It’s a little bit of lightheartedness amongst the talk of the massacre. It’s funny how some people think everything on Facebook is directed at them personally. It couldn’t be that they’re saving good family memories in what’s effectively a diary/blog. Nope. Must be about making other people feel inferior. That’s the only explanation, ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/55 "2012-12-17T13:17:10Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > It’s funny how some people think everything on Facebook is directed at them personally. It couldn’t be that they’re saving good family memories in what’s effectively a diary/blog. Nope. Must be about making other people feel inferior. That’s the only explanation, I thought the last part was what Pinterest is about, not Facebook. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/56 "2012-12-17T13:31:24Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > I thought the last part was what Pinterest is about, not Facebook. 😉 Pinterest is for saving other people’s creativity, not your own 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/57 "2012-12-17T14:21:17Z")
How _dare_ people post photos of a toy on facebook, where it might take me an entire quarter of a second to scroll past any post that doesn’t interest me!! Stinking rotten _ **bastards!!!** _ ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/58 "2012-12-17T16:21:34Z")
> [@Lucky\_13](#): > > I’m so glad my family and friends haven’t bought into that fad. Is it OK if I bought into this fad, but this is the first time I’ve mentioned it to anyone online? ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/59 "2012-12-17T17:32:47Z")
I hadn’t heard about this Elf on the Shelf until a friend recently started doing it with her 3 year old. The kid doesn’t seem freaked out by it at all, she says the Elf is her friend. Although, she has started lying about the elf. When I was there the other day, I told her she should share her toy with another child that was visiting. She said she didn’t have to, so I said, “But doesn’t the Elf want you to share?” Without missing a beat, she says, “No, hers come off the shelf and whisper in my ear a secret, she say she no want me to share. Because Elf is real and she say that.” Well, I can’t fault the kid for combating my lie with an even more ridiculous one, so carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182/60 "2012-12-17T21:14:08Z")
I remember seeing those around my grandmother’s house a looong time ago, but they were never presented as spies, just decorations. Guess someone else remembers them and decided to make a buck off it. Good on 'em. Someone should start posting pictures of them in the creepiest/least appropriate places possible (heck someone probably has) like a graveyard, slaughterhouse, hospital, etc. - start a new Slender Man-style meme. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-dont-do-elfie-for-their-kids-they-do-it-to-impress-friends-on-facebook/644182.md?page=4)