Christmas – Rhubarb & Burble

Amongst Brits, our family was a fairly early adopter of the American Elf on the Shelf phenomenon. I discovered it back in 2014. It was getting close to Christmas, so by the time our scout elf arrived, he didn’t get the chance to perform as many antics as he did in later years.

I’m not going to go into how the ‘system’ works on this post as you can visit the official website or millions of other pages on the Internet.

The one thing I will say, is that as I’ve noticed more and more families taking part, particularly with ‘unofficial’ elves, the ‘official rules’ are beginning to dilute. For example, I have seen photos and videos of children touching and cuddling their elves days before the ‘final goodbye’ of the season, clearly unaware of the ‘no touching’ rule. (Elves can only be touched and cuddled on 24th December, before they fly back to Santa at the North Pole). Now, the consequences of this should be quite severe – an elf should become ill and have to stay in bed for a few days, but I don’t always see this reflected in the next day’s antic. Of course, time-poor parents who are stuck for ideas may wish to use this ploy so that an elf is put out of action and therefore doesn’t need to be relocated, usually late at night when they have forgotten to plan something! (This oversight runs along the same lines as going upstairs to bed and realising you still need to make up the bed because you stripped the bedding that morning!) It is at this point that they feverishly trawl the Internet to find an antic which can be set up in minutes with scant resource! We had a few of those along the way!

My younger son Charlie, named his elf, Sam. He flew away for good on 24th December 2019 (his sixth Christmas with us) because he was being reallocated to a new, younger child in 2020. My son was aged ten at that point and by the next Christmas he would have already started secondary school – it probably isn’t too cool to have an elf when you’re eleven! If older children have younger siblings, they can probably start to come up with elf antic ideas themselves, but proceed with caution, eleven-year-olds can be quite macabre!

Photos and a few videos of the antics were posted contemporaneously on our Instagram feed, but I have added them here too, with their captions. I hope you enjoy them and if you have come here looking for ideas, I hope they help you out.

2014

Sam the scout elf finally arrived yesterday! Charlie was a little worried that he might mess up his toys and Bobby seemed pretty freaked out by the idea that Sam will come to life in the nighttime (so we’ve had to let him in on the secret!! But I still don’t think he’s convinced!) Sam has started his antics gently by just scribbling in a Christmas colouring book. Let’s see what tomorrow brings eh?

Sam thought he’d surprise Charlie as Spiderman today!

Sam was double-checking Charlie’s wish list!

Charlie caught Sam playing DC Superheroes Top Trumps with his festive friends!

After Charlie’s bout of bad behaviour yesterday, Sam thought he ought to give him a warning!

Sam is incredibly tired after all his antics so far this December. A little rest should refresh him for a few more!

Sam’s been found hanging out with Ken. Sam’s been given styling tips and a makeover!

Well it certainly looks like yesterday’s makeover has had the desired effect!

Sam has generously left a Christmas Eve box for Charlie AND Bobby!!!

2015

I’m back! Sam has returned to the York household.

Sam helped to hang the candy-cane mouse that Charlie made at Beavers yesterday.

What did Mrs. Clause say to Santa when she looked at the sky?

The ‘Magic North Pole Lollipop Seeds’ have grown!

Sam wanted to have fun in the ball pool!

Sam took a leaf out of the York family’s book and did his Christmas food shopping yesterday!!

2016

Sam’s arrived for his third year of fun!

Hot lips! Sam found some sweets Charlie bought at Bath Christmas Market and thought he might like to finish them!

Fairy and Sam sitting in a tree,
K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

Sam did a spot of Christmas tree decorating!

Constant antics makes for a thirsty elf!

Nice-O-Meter reward for being ‘Super Nice’.

2017

Sam has been caught stealing Charlie’s Advent Calendar chocolate!

Sam is as baffled by how to duel with Charlie’s Yu-Gi-Oh cards as you or me!

Sam and his friends after their work’s night out!

Sam found the mini copy of ‘the ELF on the SHELF: a Christmas Tradition’ that we made him!

Here’s our mini ELF on the SHELF book!

2018

Sam the Scout Elf is back and has brought his trusty St. Bernard, Chunky, with him this year!

Going canvassing for the Lib Dems in the rain today along with faithful friend Chunky!

Q: Why did the gingerbread man go to the doctors?
A: Because he felt crummy!

Our overnight child’s elf, Eric, came to have a snowball fight with Sam. Chunky just ate the snowballs!

Sam tested out my Glossybox makeup items to get in touch with his feminine side.

Elfterminate! Then Chunky saved the day!

Rainbow Magic!

My scout elf adventures.

Sam and Chunky brought Charlie a snowman from the North Pole… but he melted!

Let’s do a magic trick! Kinder SURPRISE!

2019

Sam thought he’d help with the fairy lights!

Eli the visiting scout elf, decided to challenge Sam and Chunky to a Tug of War!

Eli the visiting scout elf, Sam and Chunky found the ribbon drawer!

Christmas Eve boxes, Goodbye Sam. Thanks for the fun!

Well I’m sad to say “that’s it folks!”. I’ve had a great six years of creating these antics for the children, and I’m glad to have been able to share them with you.

If you managed to make it to this point, please comment “So much elfing fun!” in the comments below! Thanks for reading.

Louisa

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I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas Day. I hope those observing local lockdowns/restrictions managed to fill their day with festive cheer. I thought I would conclude this GLOSSYBOX ADVENT-URES series with my final thoughts, along with some stats, now that the daily excitement is over.

What did I receive?

Day 1: Brushworks HD Complexion and Contouring Kit
Day 2: Illamasqua Liquid Eyeliner in the shade ‘Black/Noir’
Day 3: Filorga NCEF-REVERSE Supreme Multi-Correction Cream
Day 4: Pixi Glow Mist
Day 5: Lime Crime Mini Velvetines Liquid Lipstick in the shade ‘Red Velvet’
Day 6: Lee Stafford Hair Apology 10-in-1 Leave-in Treatment Spray
Day 7: Glossybox Skincare 3-in-1 Moisturiser
Day 8: Bubble T Cosmetics Winter Berries Bath Bomb Fizzer
Day 9: MUA Makeup Academy Brow Define Eyebrow Pencil in the shade ‘Mid Brown’
Day 10: Zoeva Screen Queen Highlighting Powder Palette
Day 11: Frank Body Original Coffee Scrub
Day 12: Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask
Day 13: Sunday Riley Good Genes Glycolic Acid Treatment
Day 14: Ecooking Hand Cream / Håndcreme
Day 15: Fenty Beauty Match Stix Shimmer Skinstick in the shade ‘Trippin’
Day 16: bareMinerals Prime Time Original Foundation Primer
Day 17: The Body Shop Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Glow Mask
Day 18: Sleek MakeUP Loose Pigment in shade ‘Trance’
Day 19: The Vintage Cosmetic Company Polly Bow Makeup Headband
Day 20: Huda Beauty Power Bullet Matte Lipstick in the shade ‘Wedding Day’
Day 21: Avant Skincare 3-1 Hyaluron-Filler Collagen Eye Formula
Day 22: Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant
Day 23: KVD Vegan Beauty Go Big Or Go Home Mascara in the shasde ‘Trooper Black’
Day 24: NAILS.INC Nail Polish in the shade ‘Victoria’
Day 25: Iconic London Day To Slay Eyeshadow Palette

The complete contents of the Glossybox Advent Calendar 2020

My personal favourites were the Iconic London eyeshadow palette, the Huda Beauty Power Bullet Lipstick and the Fenty Beauty shimmer skinstick. However, I have also enjoyed receiving items from the smaller brands such as the Frank Body Coffee Scrub and the Glow Recipe sleeping mask.

It’s fair to say that the Glossybox Advent Calendar continues to be one of the best beauty Advent calendars on the market. This is my third, and it does not disappoint. This year I ended up paying the full subscriber price of £80. In previous years I cashed in the ‘Glossy Credits’ I accrued by reviewing the monthly subscription boxes. This year, I didn’t really get around to reviewing much. My bad! But, even at £80, the calendar is incredible value as the contents are worth around £390. The packaging this year is better thought out. The individual boxes arrive in a set of four drawers. Post Christmas, I will recycle the cardboard boxes and will use the calendar and drawers for makeup storage (I can’t seem to get enough!). If you have read my individual daily posts, you will know that I suspect that the price of at least one of the skincare products is inflated which increases the value of the calendar, but with that said, I can’t deny that it is still good value for money. When researching the products to link on my blog posts, there were one or two items which weren’t currently available. Indeed some were released over two years ago, so clearly weren’t new to the market. I like it when we receive newly launched items. If they have potentially appeared in TK Maxx for example, for me, that devalues them.
Below, I have added a table so you can see whether items were makeup, skincare or ‘other’; full sized or deluxe minis; and whether they are items I would keep for myself or pass on in a future giveaway.

	Skincare	Makeup	Other	Full Size	Deluxe Mini	Keep	Giveaway	Value
Day 1			✔	✔		✔		£11.99
Day 2		✔		✔		✔		£21.00
Day 3	✔				✔	✔		£10.78
Day 4	✔			✔		✔		£16.00
Day 5		✔			✔		✔	£10.00
Day 6			✔	✔		✔		£11.99
Day 7	✔			✔		✔		£18.00
Day 8			✔	✔			✔	£5.99
Day 9		✔		✔		✔		£1.50
Day 10		✔		✔			✔	£15.00
Day 11	✔				✔	✔		£1.40
Day 12	✔				✔	✔		£3.93
Day 13	✔				✔	✔		£11.84
Day 14	✔				✔	✔		£7.50
Day 15		✔		✔		✔		£21.00
Day 16	✔				✔	✔		£6.00
Day 17	✔				✔	✔		£6.00
Day 18		✔		✔			✔	£5.49
Day 19			✔	✔		✔		£6.99
Day 20		✔		✔		✔		£22.00
Day 21	✔			✔		✔		£99.00
Day 22	✔				✔	✔		£13.50
Day 23		✔			✔	✔		£5.00
Day 24		✔		✔			✔	£15.00
Day 25		✔		✔		✔		£45.00
Total								£391.90

Product Breakdown Table

Breakdown:

The average cost of each item was £3.20 per day but was worth £15.68 per day
11 skincare products
10 makeup products
4 ‘other’ products (beauty sponges, hair treatment spray, bath bomb and headband)
15 full size products
10 deluxe mini products
I will be keeping 20 products
I will be giving away 5 products

I will continue to subscribe to the monthly boxes and buy the Advent calendar. I may, or may not, try to buy limited edition boxes. I have experienced the stress and observed other subscribers’ rants on social media about the problems in grabbing one when they sell out in a couple of minutes after allowing bulk purchasing. I also see the frustrations people have in getting responses from customer services.

I can conclude that Glossybox appear to be victims of their own success. Subscription boxes really are a ‘thing’ now, and meeting everyone’s expectations at such volumes must be a constant headache.

So thank you Glossybox, for another industry-leading product. I look forward to sampling next year’s!