I had never heard anything about this tradition until this year. My kids are 1.5, 3 and 5 and they love their elf Dexter. I highly recommend purchasing the Elf on the Shelf DVD or Blu ray with this because the DVD went into depth about how the elves get shipped to the house and why they are there. For younger kids, it helps them understand the whole thing way more so it is not creppy to them.  The elf doll is so cute and the box it comes in is awesome looking. The book has its own slot inside the box. It is absolutely the funnest tradition. My husband and I had a blast moving the elf to different places each night and having him do different activities. I do not however do the naughty elf things like other people do...I don't think it's a good message to send your kids. We did fun things like have the elf play Connect Four with our nut cracker man...eat a candy cane from the tree...have him decorating the tree. The look on there faces every morning when they went to look for Dexter was just priceless. I cannot wait until next year now.