27 Surprising Things You Don't Know About the Elf on the Shelf, Straight From the Creator

It turns out that not every elf is just an elf. Although there are some elves that do other things, like make toys, Scout Elves are the ones that your family can adopt and have been chosen by Santa to attend and complete official Scout Elf training school. They then receive an assignment from Santa and these Scout Elves are the only elves who can be adopted by a family. It's the job of the Scout Elves to watch over their families each day and report back to Santa at night and they all love interacting with the human world.