Some parents across the country and winding up on the naughty list after taking their ideas for Elf on the Shelf pranks too far.
Originally designed to encourage good behaviour amongst little ones in the run up to Christmas, the relatively new festive tradition suddenly seems to be bringing out the bad in some adults.
Indeed, the seasonal sprite - which is supposed to move around the home each day in order to keep children in check - has instead been used to frighten the life out of them.
In one Swansea household mum-of-three Amanda Johns secretly enlisted the help of her teenage son Iestyn to help trick her youngest daughter Tegan.
Having asked him to skip his weekly barbers' appointment in order to pull off the prank, she waited until Tegan was in bed before shaving the word 'ELF' into the back of Iestyn's head.
Then, while he pretended to be asleep, Amanda left the family's Elf doll, along with a pair of electric clippers, on the pillow next to him in order for Tegan to find when she woke up the next morning.
"She thought I had actually shaved his hair in his sleep, but I am not that cruel," said the beauty salon owner.
"Iestyn is the best big brother and will do anything to make his little sister smile - she looks forward to the Elf's antics every morning."
Elsewhere on Facebook, reports The Mirror, someone confessed to arranging leftover chicken bones on their dinner plate to look like the Elf itself had been eaten.
It was topped off with a mini Santa hat, while the menacing presence of the knife and fork suggested that Santa's little helper has come to a very unfortunate end.
The post went viral, with many people were left in stitches.
But others weren't on board, with one person commenting: "Poor Elf! Don't let the kids see that."
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Another mum accidentally 'killed' an elf by throwing it in the oven.
Mother-of-two Brittany Mease ended up burning the festive helper to a crisp after "forgetting" it was in there.
The US Army veteran said she chucked the cuddly assistant in the stove after her children kept complaining he hadn't moved in a while.
It then slipped her mind completely.
"I preheated the oven and started cleaning the kitchen," she posted on Facebook.
"About four minutes later I started to smell something REALLY funky and that’s when all hell broke loose.
"I broke my son's heart."
But not every parent is playing cruel tricks on their kids this month. In fact, there are plenty of brilliant ideas to brighten up the days until Christmas and you can get some inspiration here.
