Toddlers & Christmas Trees...

[LittleBirdy]

We're still a few weeks away from putting up a tree, but I'm beginning to form a game plan for having a tree with a 16/17 month old in the house.

Our general babyproofing style is more relaxed.  We of course have safety latches on cupboards with cleaning supplies and things that could hurt him, but he has free range as far as the rest of the kitchen/bathroom is concerned - which means there are perpetually measuring cups and tupperware bowls all over our kitchen floor but this is an annoyance, not a safety issue.

My plan as of now is to get a medium sized tree (probably around 5.5' or so) and decorate it with ribbons and a few non-breakable ornaments.  We'll work on having him understand that the tree is "no touch".  He's recently gotten a lot better about understanding what he can touch and not touch - I can sit on the couch with a (not too full) cup of coffee now and if he tries to touch it I'll say, "Mama's coffee" and he repeats "mama" and stops.  Hopefully this will work out!

What are your plans?  What challenges are you facing with Christmas decorations this year?

[Amanda_Reyasmom]

Plastic ornaments on bottom lol.  That's all I've got! 

[tooraloora]

I'm gating it off. DS is a fearless monkey. He's gotten better about listening when I tell him not to touch/climb things, but some things are just irresistible to him, and I can totally see the Christmas tree ending up in that category. 

[Mal85]

I think we just got lucky as far as age. DD1's first Christmas, she was 9 months old, just starting to take steps and honestly not at all interested in the tree other than "oooo pretty lights!" when the lights were on. Last year, she was close enough to age 2 that she understood what we meant when we told her not to touch the tree. She loved turning the lights on though, so that was her "job" and I think it helped her leave the decorations alone. This year, she's a couple months from being 3 and I fully expect her to know better. I'll probably let her help put non-breakable ornaments on this year and give her the lights job again. 

[creddy]

We chose to pass on a tree when our son was that age (since he probably wouldn't remember it that young).  But this year, when we put it up we'll be doing all the same things you are, but also putting it in a corner or against a wall so we can put 2 small eye hooks in the wall and a cord wrapped around the tree to keep it from tipping. Even though our son's a "good listener," he's also very curious and very FAST ;-)

[ASusan]

Our son was 14 mos old, and we used a 6-foot fake tree. Less breakable ornaments on the bottom; breakables higher up. I put ribbons on a lot of the ornaments (instead of hooks), but not all of them.

I don't recall any issues with him trying to climb the tree or tackle it. I think he had a few favorite ornaments he liked to carry around.

We're pretty relaxed about baby-proofing, too, but, then again, DS wasn't really an explorer and was super-easy to redirect. We didn't have locks on any cupboards or gates. Put cleaning supplies out of reach was about all that we did.

[lovepickles]

I made a 4 foot pyramid tree out of stuffed green felt. Each section is a foot high and it is like one giant stacker. Velcro keeps them stuck together and is a blast for my toddler to run at and take apart. This year I'm going to make felt ornaments with a rough backing so they will just stick on everywhere ... kind of like those sticky ball fake dartboards.

I got the idea from the miniature version I saw here: http://naturalsuburbia.blogspot.com/2010/11/felt-christmas-tree-tutorial.html

And then I just made it bigger and added more levels that started with the width of the bottom of each piece. It is pretty awesome. I used a darker green felt with a gold colored stitch. It took me a few weeks but that was because it was all done by hand.

[devasma]

My parents used to have an old wooden playpen that they would put the tree in. We are going to put ours in the gated dining room. It just seems easier.

[Faither]

We are going to get a smaller tree and put it up in what I call our "garden window" (it's a box window in our living room that we use for our plants mostly). It'll just fit and that way DD won't even be tempted. Last year she was just 1 and we did a teeny tiny table top tree because we lived in a small apartment and that's what fit. She was born a week before Christmas and that first year between sleep deprivation and tiny apartment, we didn't really do much.

[pianojazzgirl]

Both my kids were around 14-15 months when the tree went up.  We definitely put non-breakable ornaments on the bottom, and left off a bunch of the more special breakable ornaments all together.

I was surprised that there weren't any problems with the tree.  The only problem we ever had was one year when our *dog* knocked the whole tree over in the middle of the night!

[justKate]

For her first two Christmases, we put the tree in a gated off room that was still visible from the living room.  Now we're in a different house and she'll be almost 3, so we're doing a medium tree in a corner--the expectation is that she doesn't touch.  We'll see how that goes.  If its too much for her to resist I will have DH move it to another space I guess.

[Ruby2]

We do a shorter tree on a big square coffee table in the corner. It worked well last year, but dd was only 1. We'll see about this year!

[Imakcerka]

We didn't place decorations at level with the toddlers.  Our tree was 8 ft and so I decorated from 4 ft up.  Then the following year we got them their own tree.  Ornaments were what they wanted on the tree.  Lots of small stuffed animals and things that were ok for them to touch.