<P> On 26 November 2011, the book aired on CBS as a 30 - minute animated TV show, An Elf's Story: The Elf on the Shelf, directed by Chad Eikhoff . The Washington Post criticized the quality of the animation and dismissed it as "just a half - hour advertisement for a book and a toy", which it felt would not join "the canon of prime - time animated Christmas specials that actually move the spirit". Common Sense Media disagreed, calling the special "a great addition to families' holiday TV traditions"; however, they also warn parents about the consumer - driven nature of the story, and make note of its lack of educational value . </P> <P> In October 2013, The Elf on the Shelf: A Birthday Tradition was released . Written and illustrated by the same team that created the first book, it offers instructions for inviting a scout elf to visit for a child's birthday party and describes how the elf decorates a chair for the child . In April 2014, two supplemental birthday products were released: The Elf on the Shelf Birthday Countdown Game and The Elf on the Shelf Birthday Chair Decoration Kit . </P> <P> The Elf on the Shelf was parodied as "The Gnome in the Home" in "The Nightmare After Krustmas," a 2016 episode of The Simpsons . </P> <P> A Jewish counterpart to Elf On The Shelf was created: "Mensch on the Bench," a stuffed toy that looks a bit like a rabbi or a Hasidic Jew . Jewish father Neal Hoffman, a former Hasbro Toys toy marketing executive, raised more than $20,000, using the crowdfunding website Kickstarter to fund creation of the toy in the Spring of 2011 . "Mensch", in Yiddish, means a person of integrity or honor . </P>

When do elves on the shelves come back