Ummm, anyway back to my point! My attitude changed though after some of the kids started talking about this magical Elf and the naughty things it gets up to. Seeing their wee faces and hearing the excitement in their voices made me realise that this is actually an amazing thing, kids aren't young for long and the magic of Christmas doesn't last but this is one way to make it last a bit longer.
Don't think you have to compete though, I certainly don't. Our Elf comes 12 days before Christmas day, the same day I put the decorations up. I unfortunately also have severe depression and can get very tired and anxious so even a little thing like setting up something for the Elf to do could be difficult for me, so on those nights all I do is move the Elf to a different place, simple, takes seconds to do and guess what... my kids love this. You DO NOT need to do elaborate and buy costly things, it isn't a competition and of course you don't need to post it on Facebook or Instagram either!!!
Again, these can be as cheap or expensive as you like. It can just be a little party bag with some sweets and very cheap toys like bouncy balls and erasers. I like to have a box that contains new jammies, a soft toy, some Christmas DVD's from the poundshop, reindeer food, hot chocolate and some sweets. What I usually do is buy a lower priced filled Christmas Eve box then just add a couple of items extra (DVD's, Reindeer food and a Poundshop toy)
