Toddler proof Christmas tree?

Hi -

I'm curious... our twins are two. Up through last year we had a "grown up tree" (ie with a lot of glass ornaments).

I'm debating between trying to teach them to not touch the tree and ornaments this year or trying to buy some bulk plastic ornaments that won't be dangerous to them.

What are other people doing/what have you done?

Thanks...-Jen

 

Hi -

I'm curious... our twins are two. Up through last year we had a "grown up tree" (ie with a lot of glass ornaments).

I'm debating between trying to teach them to not touch the tree and ornaments this year or trying to buy some bulk plastic ornaments that won't be dangerous to them.

What are other people doing/what have you done?

Thanks...-Jen

 

we are probably going to do the same thing as last year and we will not put ornaments within reach of the girls. They did actually break some last year on accident. So the last third of our tree does not have any breakable ornaments. Maybe I will buy some for them to take on and off since that is all they want to do.

 

I've known people who have gotten those round plastic pens and placed the tree in the center of that so the toddlers could not get to the tree.

We put our breakable/glass ornaments on the very top and we don't decorate the very bottom of the tree. Mainly because the cats run off with the ornaments lol.

 

We have just placed the non-breakable things towards the bottom. Last year the girls were not quite 2 but were really good about the tree. Once in a while would point or lightly touch the tree but we did not block it off or have anything broken. Not a lot of interest with it. Now this year I am sure we will get lot's of questions but I think we will still with the breakable items towards the top...

-Kristi

 

We are putting our tree in the dining room this year. The dining room used to be their main play room (all gated and secure) and then we moved them to the living/family room. I open the gate to let them in both rooms, but have left the gate up until after Christmas so I can enjoy the tree sometimes w/out the worry of it coming over on them . I will also be working w/them on the no touch thing w/the tree.

I am going to put the nicer/breakable ornaments on the top and get some things they can mess with or that I won't worry about for the bottom. Instead of tinsel and icicles, I'm making a paper chain for garland (like I used to do when I was a kid). I just ordered the Santa tree topper from Pottery Barn.

I just want to make a really fun, kids tree for the next few years. One that we think is cute but the boys can really enjoy.

HTH and good luck!

Mendy

 

We're doing our tree the way we always have with all the ornaments, but we're going to put the superyard around it so they can't get to it. I can just see them yanking on it and pulling all the ornaments off even if they were non-breakables it would still drive me nuts having to put things back together everyday. I know mine would not leave it alone.

 

Ours is mounted to a half of sheet of plywood. The lights are strung to the top part of the tree not the very bottom. Our breakables are up high and anything down low can be rearraneged by anyone. We have bells, pushcars, and lightup ornaments. The first two days are the worst but after that it is no big deal.

 

This year we are just doing our small tree (3 ft). I put it on a plant stand and put it behind the end table. I know that mine would not leave it alone so we are just doing the small one this year.

 

Great Idea: Some friends of ours decorated their tree with balloons...smaller water balloon size. The kids regularly pulled them out to play with them, but it was a quick fix too. It was colorful and beautiful!! They had a fake tree of course without the really prickly needles and this would only work if your kids didn't insist on "chewing" on the balloons.

This year with my 3 year olds, we are just doing a small tree that they are making most of the decorations....so they are fair game to play with too. That and I am due to have a baby over Christmas and don't want the bother to tear down a big tree after the holidays.

Last year we used only the wood and fabric ornaments where they could reach them. Trees traditionally were decorated with toys...so why not keep up the tradition?


My motto since becoming a parent has been "Choose your battles." Make sure that whatever you do, it is something reasonable to expect from you toddlers, and not beyond their ability to understand, or it will be a constant power struggle and a source of stress for everyone.

 

We put up our tree as usual. Last year we used the superyard to block it off. This year we have just told them not to touch it and look only. So far it's working. We have all our memorable ornaments at the top.

 

I'm going to put the Superyard around it this year.... not ready to only decorate the top I'm doing it today....we'll see how it goes!

 

When our boys were a year old we used the superyard to help block but we moved before the next Christmas and when they were two we didn't have the room for the superyard so I just decorated the tree as normal. They were really good about it and touched a few but nothing big and same when they were 3 years. I did let them help me put ornaments on the tree that weren't breakable so that they would not be so tempted to touch them. This year they are very into Christmas and doing good with the tree. They also helped decorate it again this year. My very important memorable ornaments are on the top put that is only like 6 things and the rest are all on the tree. It never hurts to try and then you can always toddler proof it with the superyard or put it in a room they don't have access to.

 

We've never childproofed our trees with any kind of barrier. We just put the fabric/unbreakable ornaments toward the bottom and the breakables toward the top, and teach them not to do more than gently touch any of them. That's worked fine for us.

 

We have a large entrance way that flows into the familyroom. We put up an 8ft tree there this weekend. There is a gate in the hallway right before you get to the tree, so the kids can't go to the front of the house, which has always been the case.(formal living and dining room is up there) The ceilings are two story so it feels like the tree is in the familyroom and is visible from there and the stairway. The stairway curves and has a landing looking down into the front entrance and the top of the tree. They love stopping on the first landing and looking down at the tree as we go up to bed.

Angela

 

We haven't decided what we are doing this year...
But I do want to remind everyone that most fake trees have dangerous amounts of lead in them, so letting your kidlets play with them is not the greatest idea. Lights also have some lead, but chances are most kids aren't playing with the light strings...

We have a fake tree and I'm testing our tree this year- if it's not dangerous in terms of lead I might just keep it out and try the no-touch thing.

 

The Christmases when the kids were 1 and 2, I had the tree blocked off with the playyard. Last year, I decorated the tree with all of my Boyds Bears stuffed ornaments, so nothing was breakable.

This year, everything is homemade. We made salt dough ornaments, put red and white beads on pipe cleaners to look like candy canes, and made fruit loop garland. They love to look at the tree and say "I made that one" when they look at the ornaments.

Being 4, they're really good about not messing with the tree, but I'd hate to put all of my old, glass, ornaments on it, and have something happen. I can handle a few years of kid friendly trees to make sure my ornaments are safe.

 

My girls are alomost three and I'm very much into the kid friendly tree- colored lights, homemade ornaments, etc. I KNOW my girls will be playing with the tree and taking ornaments on and off. I want them to enjoy the tree and I don't want to fell aggravated about it.

For my girls, I don't think it's realistic to teach them not to touch the tree. They will still touch it when I'm not right there. I also don't want them to get hurt if an ornament did break. I think next year they will be able to understand about breakable ornaments.

There are lots of good ideas here. Let us know what you decide to do.