Three decades ago, nobody knew who or what Elfie was at Christmas. Now, the character is everywhere, as everyone's getting festive.
A dozen years ago there was no Elf on The Shelf, not really. It’s a festive-season phenomenon with one of the most unlikely beginnings of all the Christmas characters.
The world already had Santa or Father Christmas, Coca-Cola turned him into the jolly guy we all know. Dr Seuss gave us The Grinch.
Elfie, as kids call him, they or them, was actually a happenstance explosion into popular culture of a single family’s tradition.
Rewind to 1974. A simple elf named Fisbee lived in the Aebersold family home in the United States. He was placed on a shelf or windowsill at Christmas time and was said to keep an eye on the children and report to Santa whether they were good or naughty kids and whether they deserved a stuffed stocking.
He’d appear a few weeks before 25 December and move around the house.
At the time, nobody else had heard of Elfie
Fast forward thirty years. Mom Carol Aebersold and daughter Chanda Bell took the idea that shaped their childhood and put pen to paper.
They wrote a book that explained who the elf was and why he visited homes and spent time with families.
Their plan was to publish it and share the idea with the world, but after many tries, publishers kept saying no thanks.
So the pair self-published and printed 5 000 copies of the book and wrapped it with an Elfie figurine. This was in 1995.
It was a slow start for the endeavour, but stores started stocking it and by 2007 actress Jennifer Gardner gave the Aebersolds their big break.
A picture of the actress holding an Elfie and the book was published, and suddenly, the world went crazy for the idea.
Four years later, the book hit the best seller lists, and social media started blowing up with posts about where Elfie was hiding every day, what he was doing, and the wonderment of kids.
Since 2020 and the pandemic, the Elfie or Fisbee’s popularity accelerated. There’s not a festive display anywhere in the world that does not feature a myriad of little characters over the festive season.
Elfie rules on social media
Parents have really taken to the tradition. It’s social media content gold, too. Some parents wake early and place Elfie in a teacup or peeking from a pot plant.
Others go all out with flour footprints and cotton wool snow and kitchen adventures with cereal and biscuits scattered across the counter.
Children do not care about scale. It’s about the thrill of the hunt and the feeling that something mysterious visited their home while everyone slept.
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Elfie has since been joined by outfits and pet companions and spin-off books that stretch the story and the commercial appeal wider.
There is even a larger story world now known as the Santaverse, which ties all the characters together. Families still buy the original set in large numbers each year.
Here’s how to play Fisbee with your family. It’s basically unchanged since 1974. Fisbee arrives during the festive season, usually at the end of November or the first day of December.
You must name him together, as a family. He then moves around the house (courtesy of mom and dad), watches during the day, and travels back to the North Pole to report every night.
In the morning, he is never where he was left.
He doesn’t speak, and the kids must find him every day. On Christmas Eve, Elfie disappears until the next festive season. Job done.
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