18 month olds and Christmas trees

We are trying to figure out what to do regarding a Christmas tree this year. The boys will be 18 months old and even though they know what NO means it doesn't keep them from touching things they aren't supposed to. If anything telling them NO in a firm voice just makes them do it more. So for those that celebrate Christmas and put up trees here are some questions I have:

* did you even bother putting up a Christmas tree when your twins were young toddlers?
* or did you put it in another room gated off from main living area (I kinda feel like its not worth the hassle if we can't enjoy its view)
* did you get a short tree and put it up on a table out of reach?
* or did put up a tree on the floor in main living area and put a super yard plastic gate around it?

We are wrestling with what to do. We recently took down our large 8 panel Summer Infant super playard and dismantled it into 2 smaller 4-sided gates. So if we find a skinny tree we could put that gate around it. But having a skinny tree encircled by plastic hardly seems festive, LOL. Not to mention I wonder if the boys will push and pull on the gate and end up knocking ornaments off. We also have a 4-ft round oak pedestal dining table that we could potentially put a very short tree on (normally baby snacks and wipes occupy that table). But that will probably look stupid too, LOL.

I'd be curious to know what others did when their twinkies were young toddlers, and what other SY parents are planning to do this year now that our babies are mobile and into EVERY thing. Thanks for any and all ideas! Even if its just to say "Save your sanity and skip putting up a tree one year" :lol:

 

I'm not sane, but I wanted a tree! So I invested in some of those really cute shatter proof plastic ornaments. I got 100 for $39 at Sam's Club. Ornaments Like these! It's a nine foot tree I think, and it's really full with ornaments - although I don't decorate the back side!

We put it up yesterday, and it melted my heart when they woke up from their nap and we brought them downstairs to see it. They were soo thrilled! Saying, Light, ball, tree, etc... :smilie_xmas_116:

So yes, I do put the superyard gate around it sometimes. For the first 2 hours they were up this morning even though they were all three (kids and tree) in the same room, the kids left it alone. Then they started undecorating it... I tried to get them to leave it alone, then jsut put the gate back around it, when the game of pick up got too much. My hope is they'll eventually get it and just get tired of it, but either way, I feel it's safe enough.

Here's a picture of them enjoying Picture 1 Picture 2

 

Superyard We put ours up yesterday

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1137.snc4/149981_480322649904_500029904_5324485_1762822_n.jpg

 

We did put up a tree and boy do I wish I had a super yard at that time. They climbed the tree and I had one eat (yes, eat) an ornament. But I wouldn't trade those memories for the world!! It was crazy and we had to watch them like hawks, but oh the stories we have to tell. I think you should put up a tree, even if you have to have a super yard around it. Kids are so enamored by the lights and the ornaments that I just think it's the greatest thing!!

 

I never heard of those shatter-proof christmas ornaments. Great idea! Though I would worry about them taking them off and swalling one of those little hooks. Or do they come with a loop of string already attached to the ornament?

And Staton I love your tree! I too was thinking about setting up the tree in a corner and wrapping the play yard gate around it (without totally encircling it). That is how you did it, right? If so are the ends of the gate secured to the wall in any way? If not do you have problems with your LOs pulling the play yard away from the tree?

Sorry for all the questions

 

The hooks, actually I hadn't really worried about those until you mentioned it. I actually got a pack from wal-mart of the super long ones, they are probably 3 inches stretched out. I don't think that they could swallow them. But I also had a pack of fancy hangers which are huge... like these from clearance last year... The hanger part ---- Hangers

Ours is in the corner too, and they do try to move the gate, and they can slip behind it if they are really trying, but it works out okay.

 

We have a gate between our living room and dining room. They aren't really allowed in the dining room unless they are eating/in their chairs, so we are putting the tree in the dining room. That way we can see it, and enjoy it, but no one can get to it. The plan is to move it into the living room after they go to bed on Christmas Eve, and hope for the best on Christmas morning. Oh, and I bought a ton of shatterproof ornaments the day after Christmas last year to replace everything breakable.

Forgot to add, ours tried to climb and tear down the plastic superyard we had around the tree last year, when they were 10 months, so that just wasn't an option for us this year.

 

We've had a tree every year and would never give that up.

When they were little we just put the very expensive ornaments on top of the tree and put the super yard all around the tree so they could get close up and look a the lights etc but not touch it.

 

We put up our tree a few days before christmas (two or three day) and tie it to the wall at the top. We have a rail up high on the wall. Put most of the decorations towards the top and a few ones at the bottom that I don't mind losing. I also take the tree down fairly early. I love christmas but I can guarantee the tree gets pulled over at least once :headbang: To be honest this is the first year with 5 kids and the twins are currently pulling themselves up. Might just start drinking now and not worry :wine:

 

Last year we invested in a really nice fake tree. Normally we go get a real one, but I didn't want to mess with pine needles with two 10 month olds! :lol: Plus we were flying to canada right after new years and i didn't want to have to take the tree down before we left.

Anyways, we had a ton of shatterproof ornaments we bought when my oldest ds was little (he was also born in feb so he was 10 months old his first christmas too), so we used those to decorate the tree. We have the LED lights that don't get hot also. And we put just a few of our nicer ornaments at the top of the tree. We skipped the tinsel last year but did use garland.

It was eclectic, it was big, and it was LOVELY! I adore christmas time, and I can't imagine not having a tree up!

While I fully anticipate this year being stressful as well, we will most definitely be putting the tree up again! We're going to stick with the fake one for another year, because of the mess factor of a new one, and this year we're going to let the twins help us decorate it as well. We're getting the tree out this weekend, I can't WAIT!

 

My boys just turned 3. We have put one up every year and I always worried. This year I'm not worried because they have never touched the tree. I've just told them it's not for touching and they haven't

We also, just to be safe, tie a rope from the top to the ceiling IN CASE it was to fall on them

Gotta have a tREE!

 

We've put a tree up every year and what we did last year was put the tree in a corner (between our couch and loveseat-where it goes every year) and place the ornaments on the top 3/4 of the tree and out of the kids reach. We put a plastic container in front of it and the kids pretty much left the tree alone.

 

I am planning on putting our tree in a spare pack n play. It will fit fine, and they can't mess with anything but can still look at it all they want

 

We have the tree up (my husband was cleaning out the storage closet and brought it up) but not decorated right now. They played with it for 10 mins and now ignore it as if it is another piece of furniture. Our plan is to decorate the top 1/2, unless I can get to the store to buy the shatterproof ornaments (iffy).

 

The only year we didn't put up a tree was the first year the girls' were born b/c they were 2 months old and we were very sleep deprived. We have taken all glass ornaments off the bottom of the tree but that's the only adjustment we've made and we have not had a problem.

 

We have a lot of shatter proof ornaments as well. The girls never messed with the tree. They were about to be one last year and were crawling everywhere, but never bothered the tree. It might have helped that we didn't put ornaments on the tree within their reach. Now that they are close to two, all we have to say is no and they stop. Good luck.

 

Staton, I have the same question- we currently use 3 panels of the superyard to gate off the living room- so we have 3 left. Did you secure yours to the wall or is it freestanding? :gah: We have no room in this tiny apartment! Maybe I'll put it up in our bedroom.

 

yep its in the corner with only 3 panels to the yard up - no secured, just free standing. they have NOT figured out thats its not secured. they walk up to it and hang on to it but it doesnt come down thats how we have our tv stand as well. It just got to the point we were constantly up moving them and saying no and they werent caring and we were too tired to keep every 5 min remove them from the tv. we were going to tie the tree and secure it with fishing line but for now we are going to see how the gates does. They pay some attention to it, but honestly they dont care about it LOL

 

freestanding....for now. I will wait to see what happens. SO far they havent figured it out that if they REALLY REALLY want to, they could get it. I also have the glider by the wall and where one end meets since the corner was the glider corner anyways

 

My boys were about 16 months old last Christmas, and we did have a tree. We decorated it like normal, put it in our bay window, and put a Superyard in front of it. HERE is a picture of them "helping" decorate it. Sometimes they would push against the play yard, or throw things at the tree, but with some redirection they mostly left it alone. I was pleasantly surprised!

However, if you do want to put a small tree on a table, I can tell you that it actually can look really nice. I did that one year (we were traveling so I didn't want to fuss with a huge tree) and I was pleased with how it looked. :good:

 

We had a tree last year, but the boys were so tiny that it didn't pose a problem.

This year, I keep telling my hubby I'm putting the tree outside of our sliding glass doors and stringing lights on the deck. We'll probably do that and then put up a small tree closer to Christmas that can be kept on a table.

 

I can't speak from personal experience yet. Our boys came home from the NICU on Dec. 23 last year, so the tree was a non-issue. This year we are getting a real one. DH will have it no other way. I think we'll get a superyard.

But, what I wanted to add is that we're skipping ornaments this year. I'm much too paranoid about the hooks (we have a cat who will bat the ornaments around, even if the boys don't get at them themselves), so we're doing lights and bows only. When I was young and single I used to do a lights/bows tree and it always looked very pretty (and no risk).

 

Thanks everybody for some great ideas! I went to Lowe's yesterday and bought a box of 90+ shatter proof ornaments for $28 (I thought that was a pretty good price). I think I'll only hang them with hooks on the top half of the tree. For the lower half I will probably use some thread or fishing ling to create a small loop and hang them that way (that's too much of a pain to do for the whole tree though). Also, my plan is to buy a real tree and set it up in the corner for at least 2 days and leave it undecorated. Hoping that the novelty of it will wear off some, and then we will decorate it and put a super playyard around it. If they mess with the play yard gate too much I will use some 3M packaging tape to try and tape it to the walls. You would be surprised what I tape to the walls, such as our telephone table (that they love to play under), small night stands in the bedroom, and floor vent covers :lol:

 

We only have our mini tree on a table... I really, really want my big tree up though. I wonder if I can convince the hubs that it's not too dangerous... You've given me some good tips and ammo. It's not Christmas without the big tree!

 

What a GREAT topic! Thanks for posting about this! I've been wondering how the heck we were going to accomplish a tree this year without someone going to the hospital. Looks like fencing it in with the Superyard seems to be the go-to solution.

And, about shatterproof ornaments, we have a bunch of soft toys (like beany baby type things) in Christmas theme that my MIL bought for us when our son was little, and we use those on the bottom of the tree. Just another thought for unbreakable ornaments!

I truly cannot WAIT until we have the tree up - they were too little to "get" it last year, but this year is going to be MAGICAL! :wub:

 

I am not going to bother gating the tree off as I think in my mind it will "ruin" the look of it.

What I did, I bought a couple of mini trees that you can place on the counter and decorated them with mini ornaments. Alos added more centerpieces and other decor. Looks very festive.