Christmas tree tips?

[LilaQ]

We will put up our tree in the next week or so and I'm nervous about what my 14 mo will do. I'm afraid he will find it irresistible and will mess with the ornaments constantly. Any tips for dealing with this?

[bella99]

My daughter was 14.5  months last Christmas.

We decorated our tree as we normally would, but we put the ornaments up higher, so that, yes, there was a section near the bottom that was empty of anything, but she also couldn't pull things off and break things/hurt herself/eat them.

[lifeguard]

I was worried about it last year (ds was 14 months at Christmas) so we opted for a small tabletop tree. We have a very large diningroom table so we set it on there. This year we'll put up a big tree but I'm expecting it to be a definite distraction for him. 

[philomom]

Gate the room off. Or gate the tree off. Or use tabletop tree for a couple of years. If you do get a big tree.... make sure it is tethered to the wall, so it won't fall on the child when they pull on it.

[SpuglyRoo]

We only have non-breakable ornaments on the tree (metal, cloth, yarn, wood) he still isn't supposed to touch it but it is less of a big deal if he does.

[4Marmalade]

I'm not sure if you'll get a real tree or artificial but last year we ended up getting a real white pine tree and that was the best tree for toddlers.  It was so picky that I wore gardening gloves to decorate it.  My two youngest (they were 1-1/2 years old at the time) touched it once and then were happy to just look at the tree .  Other than that I agree with tethering it to the wall and putting breakable ornaments up top.

[Marissamom]

when I was growing up we always had a toddler in the house, so we put the tree in a corner and my mom used the sides of the crib (that was never ever used as a crib) to make a fence around it. I haven't decided what we're doing this year, I'm going to wait to see how DD reacts to the tree at my mom's this weekend before making the decision. 

[Chalex]

We forget about real ornaments and just put the kids small stuff toys on the tree....and lights...LOL

[darcytrue]

I was afraid of this very thing. But ever since I put up our tree 5 days ago our 14 month old has not touched it. While we were putting the decorations on the tree she was around it and curious, but now she acts like it isn't even there. Putting the tree up while the baby is there with you seems to be the key thing to do!! or so it was in my case. By the time we got it up and decorated it was old news to my 14 month old, lol!

[baglady]

Last year I put one of these around the tree.  It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but the tree would have been on the ground without it.  As an added bonus it made the presents unreachable and kept the cats out of the tree.

[MrsBone]

well, my LO didn't mess with them last year, he was just 12 months, but this year he's much more curious. We placed all the expensive/breakable (aka swarovski) ornaments at the top of the tree, and a few glass ones in the back of the tree(there's a table on either side, so he would have to try really hard to get back there) but he's still managed to reach and break a few already. I have just told him "no" to the glass ones, and told him which ones he can touch, cloth, plastic, etc..we're still working on it, but he still is trying to take the ornaments off the tree. For the non-breakable ones it's not a big deal, but I'm not sure how to tell him that some are okay and some aren't. Maybe I'm going about this wrong! :)

[OkiMom]

My grandma in law sent us a great set of stuffed ordaments. Those go on the bottom and the breakable ones (or the ones I just dont' want touched) go on top.Also we set up the tree a week or so before we decorated it so that the girls got use to it being up before getting use to the ordaments. They really didn't play much last year so we will see how they do it this year.. Its funny though, the bottom 2-3 feet isn't decorated much other than the stuffed ordaments and the top is nicely decorated, I posted a picture of it on Facebook and an old friend I hadn't talked to in years commented that I must have children now because my tree showed it.. So true, most people I know with toddlers end up not having the bottom of their tree decorated.

[gracemamma]

thanks for the thread! I've been concerned about this!

We have an artificial tree and I'm concerned because it says it contains lead!!! Not sure what to do about curious 16 month old.  DH already put it up while we've been away so no chance for the-get bored while putting it up trick-darn!

Baglady- can you share that link again? I can't seem to open it and want to get something to protect the tree- thanks!

[baglady]

Okay-  Here it is again.  I hope I'm not linking incorrectly.  It's opening for me.  Basically its a plastic play yard.  It seems like every baby gate company makes a version.  You should be able to find them in the same sections that baby gates are sold. 

[Peony]

I always put all the nice ornaments, glass ones or ones that I actually care about on the top half of the tree. The bottom half is reserved for soft ornaments that I don't care if  toddler destroys. The first X-Mas we had a toddler, 7 years ago now, my mom a ton of cheap, foam ornaments for us since we originally had nothing on that half of the tree! Over the years we have gotten more and now while it isn't always even still, it doesn't look as odd. 

[gracemamma]

got the link this time-thanks baglady! Did your toddler knock the barrier over into the tree or did you have to attach this at all or did you just have this loosely closing off the tree/present area? We have a strong 16 mo and have her two very active cousins 2 and 4 now flying in for Xmas. I'm wondering how to keep everyone safe and Xmas tree upright and intact.

[sunnygir1]

My 14 mo is in to everything, and climbing to boot!  I've decided to decorate a garland with dd (3y 9m) this year so that there are no battles or worries about the tree.  Another of ds' favorite activities is unplugging things.    I'm just not up for it.

[just_lily]

We have the same gate that baglady linked to.  It works great... for kids who aren't tall enough to reach over it.  :S

Last year I put the tree up at the beginning of December and had just about had it by the time it came down right after Christmas.  My DD couldn't reach over the gate, but one of my taller daycare kids could and having to monitor the tree all the time nearly drove me over the edge. 

This year I am going to save myself some headaches and just put it up a few days before Christmas.  It really wasn't worth the stress for an entire month.

[baglady]

Originally Posted by gracemamma 

got the link this time-thanks baglady! Did your toddler knock the barrier over into the tree or did you have to attach this at all or did you just have this loosely closing off the tree/present area? We have a strong 16 mo and have her two very active cousins 2 and 4 now flying in for Xmas. I'm wondering how to keep everyone safe and Xmas tree upright and intact.

We had it attached to itself to form a circle and put the tree against the wall with the bulk of the gate ballooning out in front of the tree.  We have a artificial tree that's slim.  It's a lot more sturdy if the sections are at angles rather than straight.  The way the gate works, once you click the individual sections into place it's rigid.  It is actually kind of hard to set up because of how rigidly the sections fit.  My LO was almost 12 months at x-mas last year, then I used the gate to block off part of the kitchen until just a few months ago.  He was never able to manipulate the individual pieces of the gate to move.  However, he did eventually figure out that he could slide the whole gate around and push it into a position where he could reach the tree.  We ended up putting some weights on the inside of the gate to keep it from sliding.  We have laminate floors.  It would probably be harder to slide on carpet.  My main concern was pulling the tree down on himself.  I still put all of the glass ornaments high up on the tree. This year he's almost 2 and a lot taller so we'll see how it goes. For me it's still a better alternative than nothing.  I know if there were nothing blocking the tree, it would be on the floor within 30 minutes of set-up. :)  

[ElliesMomma]

Originally Posted by darcytrue 

I was afraid of this very thing. But ever since I put up our tree 5 days ago our 14 month old has not touched it. While we were putting the decorations on the tree she was around it and curious, but now she acts like it isn't even there. Putting the tree up while the baby is there with you seems to be the key thing to do!! or so it was in my case. By the time we got it up and decorated it was old news to my 14 month old, lol!

nm

Edited by ElliesMomma - 5/28/11 at 11:57pm