apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I struggled with this exact problem years ago with my first, and I'm wondering what to do this time. I used to just buy a small table top tree- something that could go on my coffee table and moved into the corner where the tree would normally stand- the table was deep enough he couldn't reach the bottom branches, but I have since lost that table... This year I might do something I found on another blog, Little Willow - A Christmas Tree Basket. Looks great and I can always find use for the basket afterwards (probably to store all those toys!)
http://littlewillow.com/2008/11/17/christmas-tree-basket/

GREAT question! my boys will be one two days before your little one, and last christmas was likewise spent with three preemies. at least we were able to have a small tree last year (put up by friends) but now that we have three crawling and curious little boys, i don't know what to do either. maybe we'll put a tree on the porch instead?

My twins are turning 1 on the 14th and I've been wondering the same thing. Even worse, we're going to spend Christmas at a brother-in-law's house and he insists on having a tree. So I imagine we're going to have to spend the entire time chasing two one-year olds away from the tree, taking needles out of their mouths, etc.

We always seem to have a short person around at christmas and so we push our coffee table to the side of the room and pop the tree on top of it - smaller tree, but worth the safety! That way they can pull up and admire the tree but they can't do a whole lot of damage and if you put a couple of child friendly (Christmas beanies, fabric juggling balls or something) round the base their attention will focus there!

Man, preemies really do put a cramp on one's holiday decorating! We brought ours home in early December two years ago and haven't gotten a tree up since!

How about a garland? You could put it anywhere, and you can hang your favorite ornaments from it, well out of the reach of small hands. If you use a little real greenery, you can even get the holiday smell.

There's a great tutorial here for making a really thick, lovely garland.

When I was little and my siblings were babies, my parents bought a little (real) tree and put it on a small table in the living room. The presents went on top of the table, but under the tree. It worked as a temporary fix until they got older. My son is too small this year to pull stuff off our tree, but I think if I was in that situation, I would buy one of those little herb christmas trees (I think they're in a pot) and split the presents between that and a stocking.

I wonder if you could put a play yard gate around a big tree? One example from amazon is http://www.amazon.com/North-States-Superyard-Gate-Play/dp/B00020L78M/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1227126696&sr=8-3 It's not attractive, but you might be able to fold it up when company came over. I would love to hear if anyone has done something similar.

LaneC - my idea was to use the superyard for that, but it just takes up so much room! And it's ugly. I guess we'll just have to go the tiny-tree-on-top-of-a-table route.

Stef, I heart your photo collage so very much! As the mama of a wee one who'll be 14 months at Christmas, I have no advice, only commiseration. I'm tempted to fence the tree within our metal "pet yard," but there's just no way to make that look right. Stockings & mantle decor should be out of little one's reach though!

is it really so bad if the kids eat a couple of needles? they're not posionous are they? i say just do it. you might be surprised. decorate it with non-breakables - origami cranes? tissue paper flowers? ribbons tied into bows on the end of each branch? martha stewart even used cotton balls once.

I was wondering the exact same thing. My thought was to decorate the tree with yarn pom pom balls (because I have oodles of time to make these things, of course). I hate to sound so naive, but is the tree itself inherently dangerous? I guess I was only concerned about the ornaments until I read this post.

I have a sixteen-month-old little boy, so I understand. I have a big tree and just put all the expensive/sentimental ornaments on the top three quarters, and cheaper ones on the bottom. I also made a ton of popcorn/cranberry garland, which he loves to touch. I also have a tree on my island in my kitchen. I have a beautiful Christmas-y wreath that I got from the Magnolia Company online. It is pricey, but gorgeous and will last for many, many years. I actually kept mine up all year because it was so pretty. I also made a strand of garland that was meant for my baby's room, which is in red, lime green, brown, and creamy white. I took a strand of paper mache star lights from Cost Plus and cut up a whole bunch of ribbon and tied it on to the wire between the stars. My friends comment on my very child-like, but really Christmas-y house. There are also these really great Flensted mobiles that are pretty inexpensive on Amazon or the Hanging Mobile Gallery. There are a few angel and Christmas tree mobiles that I am going to definitely put up as soon as it is delivered.

Just go wild. I tend to decorate with lots of pretty, sparkly, lit-up eye candy types of things. For this Christmas we are buying him a 7.5 foot teepee and I am going to string some lights inside so that we have our own private oasis to have snacks and read books in.

I missed the part of the post where you said you didn't want a gate (although I would love to hear if anyone made something like that work).

If you did a fake tree (no concern w/needle eating - maybe even spray with something bitter tasting) with kid-friendly ornaments (I bought plastic ones that look just like glass, in the name of cat-proofing), would that work? If space is tight, you could get a half-tree (i.e. http://www.bronners.com/1130523.html ) that you mount on the wall.

I agree with molly h...just go for it. My daughter was close to a year our first Christmas with her and having her around has never stopped us from getting the real deal. I think the first day or two with having the tree up is always spent redirecting her away from the tree but after that she gets it that the tree is not to play with. And to be on the safe side just don't put any fragile ornaments on the lower limbs.

Having a child hasn't stopped us from having a "proper" tree every Christmas. Perhaps we've been lucky but so far she hasn't been interested in climbing on it or eating the needles. One change we have made - no more breakable ornaments! Luckily like LaneC says there are tons of great alternatives available. As well as glass-look plastic ornaments, there are "soft" options like stuffed figures, etc.

We have had a "proper" tree every year also. We have never had any problems as usually after the first day or two the kids barely seem to notice it. We don't have many breakable ornaments, mostly felt and wood and such. When we go visit my mother-in-law's house she has every inch of her home decorated for Christmas. She has 17 trees! This is obviously an extreme scenario, but the kids never bothered any of her trees either. Without a giant tree it just doesn't feel like a nice homey holiday to me. Go for it!

We had a 14-month-old at Christmas last year, and we just taught him not to go near the tree. (And of course, we put the delicate ornaments far, far out of his reach.) It worked. This year, as a two-year-old, he is a little more active, so we'll see -- but he understands "no-no zones" very well, and I think we'll be fine. (We have a fake tree. I don't know squat about the needles issue with real trees.)

Having a Christmas tree is so important to me, it's worth all the "no, don't touch that" repetition that goes on the first couple days. Besides, if you wait until your kids are five or six to put up the tree, they'll wonder what the heck you're doing, sticking a tree in the living room!

For my baby's first "mobile" Christmas, we got a beautiful wreath and hung that in the living room, complete with our favorite ornaments. That was really nice, but not nearly as much trouble as a tree.

When I was a kid, we had an insane cat that would try to climb the tree. After she knocked it over one year, my dad installed a screw eye in the ceiling, and used a piece of wire to secure the tree to the screw eye. It wasn't noticable at all, and the tree couldn't be knocked over by any stampeding cats.

Pyjammy-you had triplets! WOW! Congrats! Bringing home our son on the 20th of December after being in the NICU was quite the experience. I can only imagine how you felt!

From what I've read online the needles are relatively safe (as in not poisonous-but pointsettas and amaryllis are! I didn't know!)...but my little guy is quite enamored with eating things off the floor and they are pretty sharp! I would be concerned they would get stuck or scrape his insides...I certainly wouldn't want to swallow a pine needle!

The gate is really not an option for us as space is at a premium, but I am digging the real evergreen garland or wreath idea. I could hang it on the wall and still smell that Christmassy goodness. I'm definitely hanging a bunch of lights up high, i.e. around our patio door, and above the kitchen cupboards.

He has just started walking and I know he would lean into a tree or try to pull up on it and carry it with him. He's a boy. It's just in his nature.

P.S. I just checked out the Christmas Tree basket thing...ok, maybe I will have a real tree afterall! Cool!

We did a small tree on the table. And we decorated it with Origami creatures etc. It was a fun project do with DH between all the stress of the first year of the baby.

Haven't had either of my kids eat any pine needles yet...! We've been at this since 2005, since my daughter was one, and have found that as long as the tree is solid in its stand and can't be tipped by a toddler, we're okay. (One year, just to be safe, we rigged an inconspicuous system of tying it into the corner, so it couldn't budge).

Then we just put the fragile ornaments out of their reach, and all the safe ornaments on the bottom.

just put a smaller tree on a high table or do multiple small trees. use wreaths and garland to add to the look and smell. or use a gate. or continually watch the kid. i had no idea this was such an issue...

Wow, I think mamaspank has a much bigger house than you and I do! ;) 7 foot teepee? Cool.

My daughter is 17 months old and I've been wondering the same. I am also allergic to pine, so when we do have a real tree, I have to wear gloves to touch it, so it would be a pain to have to upright a tree 17 times and clean up the needles and water and sap that would be everywhere when she pulls it down on top of herself, which she will do, if I know my daughter. As for eating needles, they are a bit pokey--I'd be worried they'd perforate something!

I am also considering the on the table thing. We have a scrubby little Alpine fake tree that I usually decorate with Scandinavian straw ornaments, pinecones, and red bead garlands. I may just use that, or even look for a second. I don't like the idea of one more PVC tree in a landfill someday, but hopefully it will be in my house for 50 years first at least. (And I can touch it without breaking out, which is a very good thing.)

What about a mini tree? Real or plastic, it can always be put on a table or bookshelf if the tree proves to be too tempting.

The year that our oldest daughter was mobile, we put our 6 1/2 foot live tree in a 3 foot concrete urn in our living room. That got it up off the floor and with all the packages and such around it, I never had a problem with her eating the needles. I loved having it in the urn, it looked great. We now have a huge artificial tree, and both of my kids love it but don't bother it. They are pretty good about leaving stuff alone. After a few days the novelty of it wears off, especially if you make sure they know that it's not ok to mess with. Christmas is a wonderful time and I would decorate like you normal do (or wish to,) set the boundaries for your kids, but let them enjoy it too. It will be a good Christmas. :)

my boy is now almost 14 mths, and he loves to get into anything he isn't supposed to! so i'm wondering how to go about having a toddler proof tree, my family just says go for it with the tree and try to block it off in some way, and keep telling him to stay away from the tree.

having a tree this year is so important though because its my first christmas with my hubby, last year he was in iraq and my son was a newborn so i didnt do any decorating, and the year before we had to celebrate christmas separately.

so were planning on putting the tree in a corner, a side table will block of part of it and we will probably put a gate around the rest (not the prettiest thing, but better than not having a tree in my opinion). i've also started buying non-breakable ornaments for the bottom section of the tree. i guess we'll see how it goes!

has anyone tried decorating the baby gates to make them a little more festive? ( i know it sounds goofy)

Perhaps this is an issue because of space more than anything...Some people don't seem to think so, but with a small condo it's not like I can have a tree in the corner of the living room that my son will only occasionally go into. He has no where else to play! The tree will be right there in his face, so I'm not sure the novelty will wear off!

There's an alternative tree post over on the apartmenttherapy side:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/green-ideas/4-modern-alternative-christmas-trees-069875

Three kids of different temperaments and a small space here (9, 6, and 1 this year). We've always been able to have our regular tree (fake because I'm allergic) and it's not been a problem, even with the tree right in our only living area.

We do use ornaments that do not break, and we use yarn loops instead of wire hooks to hang them on the branches. Sometimes I have to re-hang the lowest ornaments by the end of the day after a toddler has carried them around the apartment, but my lazy way is to just make it completely safe for little hands and let the little hands have a go at it!

I don't have kids, but I can say that when I had a pair of kittens, I expected the Christmas tree would be knocked over, eaten, etc. Nothing happened. I decorated with those little feather birds from the craft shop and tiny grapevine nests, which looked cute, and nothing ended up broken on the floor.