Parents' Guide to

ElfYourself

By Erin Brereton, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Create a dancing elf version of yourself.

Website http://www.elfyourself.com/
ElfYourself Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this website.

Community Reviews

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age 9+

Based on 14 parent reviews

Dranreb
Dranreb Adult
December 22, 2021
age 5+

Questionable

Company which takes your money then................
vitavancouver
vitavancouver Adult
December 10, 2021
age 6+

Creepy because of ad

I was excited to make a video and loved how easy and funny it was to do (we even included our dog). When I finished the video and showed it to my husband, the ad that came up was for funeral services! So super creepy after watching a happy video with my family. I deleted the app .
See all 14 parent reviews

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (14):
Kids say (22):

ElfYourself by OfficeMax -- which is powered by the eCard-based site JibJab -- lets users create up to five elves using personal photos that will dance in a brief video to hip-hop, country, or other types of music. The site is simple to use: You just upload a JPEG or PNG photo from your computer or Facebook account, or use one taken with your webcam. You can zoom and rotate the photo to make it fit as the elf's face and choose how you'd like your elf to dance, surf, or sing.



If you'd like to send the video to someone or watch it at a later date, you'll need to enter your email address (which will garner you a few e-mails from the site, JibJab, and OfficeMax). If you'd like to download the video to your phone or computer, it'll cost you $4.99. A banner ad also encourages users to order mugs, a DVD with eight versions of your elf self dancing, and other items with your elf image on them. However, if you just want to visit the site and create and view an elf video, you're in for a bit of holiday cheer: You don't need to enter any personal information -- and you can watch it as many times as you'd like in one sitting for free.

Online interaction: Users can share their elf video via Twitter or post it to their Facebook wall or a friend's wall with a quick click. However, you can't friend or meet people on the site.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about why you might be concerned about uploading a photo of yourself to a website -- even if it won't be posted anywhere public?

  • What does it mean if a website says it owns the rights to all images used on its site? How might the site use your picture to promote itself?

  • What kinds of pictures are OK to upload to a website? Aside from the obvious stuff -- bad hand gestures, etc. -- what kinds of things shouldn't you upload to a site because it might be inappropriate or infringe on someone else's privacy? Parents, for more tips on keeping kids safe online, check out our article on online privacy.

Website Details

  • Genre: Creating
  • Pricing structure: Free
  • Last updated: November 4, 2020

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