Parents' Guide to ElfYourself

Website http://www.elfyourself.com/
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Common Sense Media Review

Erin Brereton By Erin Brereton , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 14+

Create a dancing elf version of yourself.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 14+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

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age 9+

Based on 13 parent reviews

Parents say the website offers a fun and entertaining way for families to create personalized videos, with many users praising its ease of use and creative options. However, there are significant concerns regarding safety, hidden charges, and inappropriate advertisements, leading some users to feel misled and dissatisfied with the service.

  • fun experience
  • safety concerns
  • hidden charges
  • negative advertisements
  • creative options
Summarized with AI
 

 

See all 13 parent reviews
age 8+

Based on 20 kid reviews

 

 

See all 20 kid reviews

Privacy Rating Warning

  • Data are not sold or rented to third parties.
  • Data are not shared for third-party advertising and/or marketing.
  • Data are collected by third-party advertising or tracking services.
  • Data are used to track and target advertisements on other third-party websites or services.
Learn more about our privacy ratings

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say ( 13 ):
Kids say ( 20 ):

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 : October 9, 2025

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