Privacy Policy

Help With My Elf is a public website of unofficial Christmas visiting-elf ideas. It is written for busy parents and other caregivers — not for children. We do not run kid accounts, games, chat, or anything meant to attract children under 13.

Who this site is for

If you are here, we assume you are an adult planning a December night. Please do not have a child fill out forms, create an account, or send us personal information. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us something personal, write to us and we will delete it. This site is not directed at children under 13. Optional Google AdSense ads, when they are enabled, are shown to that adult parent and caregiver audience — not as a child-directed service.

What we collect

There are no user accounts and no comment forms. You can read every idea without giving a name, email, or payment. We do not ask you to sign up.

The service that hosts this site may keep ordinary server logs — for example an IP address, browser type, and which page was requested — so the site stays up and abuse can be blocked. We do not sell those logs.

Cookies, Amazon click-throughs, and Google AdSense

We do not use popups, sticky ads, autoplay, or full-page takeovers. Idea pages include Amazon search links only inside “What you need.”

This site may use cookies or similar storage in three ways: ordinary hosting, Amazon if you click a paid search link, and Google AdSense when display ads are enabled.

Optional Google AdSense display ads

We may serve optional display ads through Google AdSense — one in-page unit on idea pages after the setup steps, not a popup or sticky bar. Ads stay off until a Google AdSense publisher ID and ad-unit ID are set in our hosting environment. Until then, this site does not load the AdSense script, an ad pixel, or an empty ad frame.

When ads are on, we request non-personalized ads from Google. That matches how the idea-page ad slot is built: the request asks Google not to use the unit to build an advertising profile from visits here. Google may still set cookies or similar storage to serve the ad, measure views, and limit how often you see the same creative. Those technologies belong to Google, not to Help With My Elf. Google explains AdSense data use in its advertising and privacy documentation. You can also review Google’s ad settings on Google’s own sites.

AdSense, when enabled, is shown to parents and other caregivers using this site. It is not intended for children.

Amazon Associates click-throughs

If you click a “Search Amazon” link, you leave this site and go to Amazon.com. Amazon may then set cookies, pixels, or similar technologies on their pages so they can tell whether a later purchase came through this site, remember your Amazon session, and show you Amazon’s own content. Those technologies belong to Amazon, not to Help With My Elf. Amazon’s practices are described in Amazon’s privacy notice.

We do not receive your Amazon account details, cart, or payment information. If a qualifying purchase is later attributed to a link from this site, Amazon may report that as an affiliate referral so we can be paid a commission.

Hosting that keeps the site online may also use cookies or similar storage. We do not add extra marketing pixels of our own beyond AdSense when it is enabled and Amazon after you click through.

Affiliate commissions

Some links on idea pages are affiliate links. Help With My Elf is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That does not change the price you pay. Each Amazon search link is marked as a paid link on the page. See the affiliate and advertising disclosure for the short version.

We do not sell personal data

We do not sell personal information. We do not share it with data brokers. We do not rent an email list, because we do not keep one.

Contact

Questions about this policy, or a request to delete something a child sent by mistake, go to Jonathan Thompson, Help With My Elf.

Email: hello@helpwithmyelf.com

Website: helpwithmyelf.com

Updates

If this policy changes, we will post the new version here and update the date at the top. The unofficial, not-affiliated disclaimer for The Elf on the Shelf® stays in the footer of every page.