Christmas Trees around Twin 1.5 Year Olds?

For those twin parents on here who celebrate Christmas....what are you planning on doing about a tree for this year? We have the twin boys, 17 months old and very active walking, climbing, etc, and a baby girl on the way any day now (due November 29th).

We have always gotten a real tree and I grew up in New England and have never had a fake tree in my life. Not even sure a fake tree would make much of a difference....just curious what you all were thinking of doing!
:smilie_xmas_116:

 

I am from Massachusetts-and still live here. I agree with the whole real tree thing. Even going out to the farms and cutting it down-not getting a pre-cut one. It was just part of the tradition. And I was *adamant* about not getting a fake tree.



And then...I had kids. Twins. LOL!

We compromised. We ended up getting a Christmas tree at Target for 75% off one year(prob the year the boys were only two months old). I said we could get the fake tree on one condition-we get a real tree every now and then. So that's what we did.

And well...we haven't gotten a real tree yet. I have to admit-I like the fact there are no needles on the ground everywhere, or that I have to water it 3956 times a day. It's pretty nice really.

As for keeping the kids away, my boys were weird. They didn't really go near it. They were 14 months old at their second Christmas, and it wasn't too much of an issue. We did have it in the corner and a gate around it. It is something they are definitely interested in!

 

We have a fake one, too. I keep thinking one of these days we'll go to the tree farm and get one, but hasn't happened yet. :laughing: I enjoy how low-maintenance it is while everything else in my life feels high-maintenance!

My boys (all 3) have never bothered the tree and we've always had one up at Christmas, no matter their ages - and sometimes two trees. Don't know if we were just lucky that they did't mess with it or what, but they would sit by it and look at it and occasionally touch an ornament gently, but that's it.

I have heard of people putting a Superyard around their tree to keep their toddlers away from it. :smilie_xmas_116:

 

We're definately putting our play yard up around our tree...I don't even want to think about what our 17 month old boys would do to the tree and gifts lol

 

My kids were 12 months old their first Christmas and they did not really bother the tree. We had the tree set up in a corner of the house, put their plastic toy box in front of it and did not put ornaments on the bottom of the tree. The following Christmas when they turned two, we did not have anything blocking the tree, just kept ornaments off of the bottom. They've been pretty good with the tree (knock on wood)...it's our cats we have to stay on top of :laughing:

 

More suggestions can be found on this recent thread. I'm too lazy to re-type my reply

http://www.twinstuff.com/forum/index.php?/topic/174538-christmas-trees/

 

My twins and son have never bothered our live christmas tree. Keep the breakable ornaments high.

 

I learned a great trick and it's worked wonderfully for my 18 month old boys. Teach them that they can only touch the tree with one finger. So they can touch the ornaments which they like, but prevents the grabbing, pulling etc. By boys learned it in a day and now go up to the tree with one finger and say "gentle"...it's quite cute!

 

Cute idea, Travelbug! I put all the breakable ornaments up high, and they've been fine so far.

 

We've always had a real tree... can't imagine Christmas without one! When my kids were little, we put the tree in the living room (rather than the family room where they spent most of their time). No gate or anything, but we supervised when they were near the tree. They learned pretty quick that the tree was delicate, and to only touch it with one finger. Small aside: my kids still touch things with one finger if I say it's delicate. I'm so glad they learned this early on.

Anyway, we still don't put breakable ornaments on the bottom of the tree and they're 4.5 years old.

 

My girls are 20 months and are usually pretty good. They occasionally touch but are not too bad. Lol dh told them the fairy lights we have on the tree were 'very hot' ( not really - they're indoor/outdoor lights) so now they touch even less!

 

We did a real tree (as PP said, can't imagine it without one), but I was really nervous about the ornaments as I have a lot of nice, glass ornaments and we have tile steps near where we put the tree. We put the tree up last week with TONS of lights and no ornaments to see what the girls (20 months) did. They loved it. They did, however, want to touch the blinking lights.

One night, when we were goofing around near the tree, the problem solved itself. We were playing with those foam floor mat letters and one got tossed onto the tree. The next thing we knew, we were throwing the letters at the tree just to watch them stick. I now have an alphabet tree. The tree is covered in foam letters top to bottom and has a ribbon at the top. The girls love their tree, and take great pride in calling out the letters they see. I have a great conversation piece and the girls have a tree they can touch without their mother freaking out. Sure, 10 years from now they will call me a dork when we look back at the pictures, but we will be laughing while hanging the cherished glass ornaments that lived beyond the second year!

 

We have a prelit tree that we got at big lots for like $60 5 years ago. I have always had real tree's and really didn't want to switch to a fake one but with each passing year the cost of a real tree grew until the size tree I wanted was well over 100$ here. So I gave up. Rather spend $60 1 time than 100 each year when I could spend that money on special food for parties or gifts or christmas activites. We put the tree up and this year we left off the super special ornaments that if broken couldn't be replaced and put the breakable ones at the top out of reach and put the "kid friendly" ones at the bottom. Their favorite one this year is the Abby Cadabby one my mom got them. They LOVE to find abby and touch her. We just say things like "easy" "dont't pull" "gentle" for the most part it works. then there are times where I have to pry their grubby little hands off the tree LOL.

 

I skipped the tree that year (my DDs were 13 months at Christmas). We had also skipped it the year before, because our twins were 5 weeks old and we barely registered that it was Christmas. :ibiggrin: I was sad about it (I am also a die-hard "real tree" person), but just couldn't imagine how it would work.

I did it the next year when they were 2 and put a Superyard around it, and they were surprisingly good about not touching it. But my DDs were not climbers and generally not much into exploring and wreaking havoc. The tree is in more danger from them now at age 6 than it was when they were 2! (They were sooo good about touching with one finger, until they were around 4-5 years old. Then it was like they decided that baby rule just didn't apply to them anymore. )

 

I'm allergic to evergreens, so ours is fake. Last year, they weren't very mobile so no trouble. This year, I was worried. I decided to let them help decorate, and it's all been OK. They sometimes touch the ornaments and try to hug & kiss the tree at night ("Night tree!"), but no disasters at all. I really do think putting in the decorations helped a lot.