apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We decorate our fireplace mantle with garland, and hang our favorite ornaments from that, so we can enjoy. Then we put a fake tree up in our (master) bedroom, and let the boys decorate that, with shatterproof ornaments. We read in our bed every night before bedtime, so we can all enjoy the tree, without the worry or the 3 weeks of "please don't climb the tree". Works for us!

Last year my 8 yr old & I made satin covered styrofoam ball ornaments decorated with sequins & push pins. When we decorated, those went up high, out of reach of my toddler (or so we thought) This yr., my almost 2 yr old dismantle one & we found pins all over the floor. Needless to say, those got pack up quickly. We told her not to touch the tree and she has been pretty good about it, since that incident. It seems that she's lost interest in it.
Just in case, we have put the soft, child friendly ornaments at her level.

In previous years we anchored the tree to the wall and got unbreakable ornaments for the bottom branches so that our cat wouldn't be able to ruin the tree. She's not a climber and likes to lie on my velvet tree skirt and "hide." But now we have a fourteen month old, and I think we're going to do what we've done in the last couple of years, plus we're going to put the baby's safety fence around the tree in the daytime for some extra safety.

our first couple of years with tinies (a toddler, then a toddler & infant) we had a fake tree on a cedar chest and strapped it in place so it couldn't topple. we put fragile ornaments out of reach.

last year (ages 1.5 and 3), we put a smaller fake tree on a cabinet, where they could just reach the lowest branches, and taught them not to. they pushed chairs over to it and touched to their heart's delight while we were in the bathroom or ran down stairs to switch laundry. luckily, the tree never tipped over, but they did have a hey-day with rearranging the ornaments. glass ornaments were suspended from the six spokes of the three light fixtures in their bedroom (so 18 total). one of those broke when the 3yo threw something at it.

this year (ages 4 & 2.5) we again have the small tree on the cabinet, but we went ahead with the glass ornaments. they're old enough now to learn "no touching" (or "touch with one finger" rather than grabbing, pulling, etc). we also have a large potted branch in their bedroom with non-breakable ornaments.

no but i need to! we are finding ornaments all over the house lol
adrienne K
http://littleakorn.blogspot.com/

I have a crawling/cruising nine month old and he's *mostly* been leaving our large Douglas Fir tree alone. He's interested in the lowest strand of beads I have on it, but aside from that he'll leave it be if I ask him to. Redirection works for this, too. It's in the middle of our family room/play room, too... so far so good!

we abandoned glass and overly-delicate ornaments years ago. honestly, even adults break those if the tree is in a high-traffic part of the house (which it usually is).

aside from that, we never really had to address climbing the tree and such.

Last year, the boy was pre-crawling and the tree was safe. This year, he's 17 months old and too old not to touch but too young to really get that he can't touch, so we're putting our tree on top of a table.
I don't want him to associate the Christmas tree with all the "NO!"s that would be required to dissuade him from dismantling it. Next year will be different...

Last year around Christmas my son was 8 months, crawling like a pro, and ga-ga for the real Christmas tree we decided to get. We did buy/make unbreakable ornaments which were great, but the real challenge was trying to stop him from putting any of the tree or needles in his mouth. By the end of the first week though we solved that problem by putting things on the tree with in his reach that he could put in his mouth-simple plastic teething rings, toys on ribbon, things of that nature. It worked until we took the tree down and I only to say "no" a few times until he got the hang of what was okay to put in his mouth.

We put the breakable ornaments way up top. The bottom 1/4 of the tree has no ornaments, just lights. We taught her that she just doesn't touch the tree. And it works. You just have to be consistent and really vigilant the first few days.

We've put a playpen around our tree, I am very attached to it and as you say I am more excited this year than I have been in many.

So far my 11 month old has loved it, he's managed to pull a few decorations off the lower branches so they are now all unbreakable & choking hazard free, he seems to love the playpen for cruising around, he's at the stage that anything is used to practice walking and the tree would fall quickly without the rail for him to use instead.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2646/4147453739_8297d4c367.jpg

Last year with a 21 month old my main worry (as we don't use breakable ornaments) was that our previous trees were pretty unstable and I was worried she might pull the tree over, ripping fairy lights from sockets or pulling the tree on top of her. Before we used a Christmas tree stand similar to the one in the picture, but last year we got a potted tree and although slightly smaller than the trees we used to get, it was sooo much more stable as the roots and earth in the pot made the base much heavier and therefore really steady. We now have a baby too and I'll do the same this year (she will be 9 months).

We have a small fake tree that is decorated with pinecones, berries, and bird ornaments. None of them are precious or breakable. Theoretically we could put the tree on the ground since it's small and light and hard to tip over, but we find it easier to set it up on top of a table or our buffet. We put a pretty runner underneath. It would also be hard to find an appropriate space to put the tree on the floor - we live in an apartment and there isn't much open floor space to make into a proper Christmas corner. Our little ones are 4 and 2. They were interested in the tree last year, and we'd hold them up so they could touch it.

We also put up some wall hangings, a garland on the mantelpiece, a couple of nutcrackers, and a wooden house - all of them are kept out of reach of little fingers. I am feeling a little guilty now that there's nothing that the kids can actually have access to, but that works best for us. Maybe we can do some Christmas crafts and artwork that they can play with afterwards.

We never baby proofed our tree apart from not hanging breakable (glass) ornaments the year that he was about 18mths old.
We did, give him his own little tree, one of those desk top sized ones and some ornaments and every day he would take the ornaments off and put them on again, I also got a small set of battery operated LED lights which he loved adding to HIS tree.

Providing immediate and clear consequences for touching the tree can be effective in alleviating the fear associated with having toddlers around a Christmas tree. I gave my girls (18 months and 3.5) ornaments to decorate the bottom of our 7.5 foot tree, they were charged with "taking care of the ornaments" and not touching them unless they fell off. If they were observed toying otherwise with the tree (without adult supervision), they were not allowed to "help" with their other ornaments.

for the past several years our Christmas tree has been decorated only on the top half way down. first year due to our puppy that liked to eat the wooden hand painted ornaments...second year different pup same thing and crawler kid. i was thinking of alternative trees when i first read this post...feather trees, fabric, wooden. got my gears turning at least.

We just tell them not to touch it. My kids who are 4 can touch it and decorate it but not the younger ones.

We used jojoebi's strategy. Last year, with my then 2yr old and 9 month old, I picked up a little (3ft.) tree for the "kids" tree. This year, all the (non-fragile) ornaments they've received or made go on their tree with a popcorn or ribbon garland. They can redecorate it to their heart's content, and generally stay away from the big tree.

I think I'm skipping the ornaments this year. Its really the symbol of the lights and the tree in the house that make the season for me. My 17 month-er loves it too. So far he, nor any of his little friends have tried to climb it or rough housed with it. Next year, at 2.5 yrs, I think he'll be into the ornaments . . . love the idea of giving him "his" ornaments to take care of down low.

I also remember LOVING little a ornament doll set that my mom nestled on a low branch (a bunch of elves playing musical instruments). . . I would play with them forever amongst the fairy-like lower boughs.

My mother always tied our trees up with fishing wire and then used non-breakable ornaments. When our daughter was 7 months old she wasn't crawling yet so we just put the breakable ornaments up high. The next 3 years we were in Georgia right up until Christmas (my husband is Army) so we didn't put up a tree. I didn't see a point. This year she's 4 and a half and is old enough to know not to touch the downstairs tree. She has her own tree upstairs with non-breakable ornaments that she can touch all she wants. Works for us!

We have a 9 foot tree, only the top 5 feet are decorated! Looks a bit odd but works for us, as it stops our 1 year old from eating the ornaments.