To not be able to work out a 'safe' place for our Christnas tree

[Rushyswife]

Now, before I begin I should confess that IABU for the following...

1. our Christmas tree is artificial (dh trying to be thoughtful and suprise me our first Christmas together- feel I have to use it now or it's even worse for the environment!

)2. I am aware in some people's eyes 1st December is too early to put up the Christmas decorations !

But I am really worried about the safety aspect of my tree. My ds is 10 months and although he is not crawling he can kind of commando crawl and roll his way pretty much anywhere! Our Christmas tree is 5ft but has always seemed pretty light, I'm worried about ds pulling it onto him and there isn't a place I can put it where it will be out his way. I am also worried about baubles dropping on him etc.

Am I being really stupid? How do normal people combine babies and Christmas trees?

I haven't had a proper tree since DD was born, only a little one that I can put up out of her reach.

I used to put ours inside the playpen.

We usually put up our artifical tree near Dec 1st, so you're NBU on those counts

And we're also deliberating whether to put up ours tomorrow given that DD2 is coming up to 3 YO and is fascinated by them.

Last year we just put it up for a week around Christmas because there was no way she'd understand not to go near and there were breakable things on it, and it made it a bit better because of only being there for a while.

You could do that, or just buy a tiny little one just for this year and put it up somewhere high?

I've just bought new decorations, polystyrene balls wrapped in ribbon and stuffed fabric hearts, that are unbreakable (well, shatterproof) and wont hurt them or DS (1.8) if he knocks them onto his head. I've yet to figure out how to make our tree non-tippable... maybe I can tie it to the curtain rail... ? And it will be a fake tree for a few years now, even if real trees are so much nicer.

That's what we'll be doing.

My parents have had tree and presents inside a hired playpen since GC came along.

I am confident that there is no way your baby will be able to get near the tree if you just follow <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=img5.ranchoweb.com/images/jsjapan/xmasupsidedown.jpg&imgrefurl=www.pfadvice.com/2006/12/21/top-10-do-it-yourself-christmas-tree-photos/&h=667&w=500&sz=133&tbnid=MuasspBByTzGKM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=67&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dupside%2Bdown%2Bchristmas%2Btree%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=upside+down+christmas+tree&usg=__EdgNdS8Xi9G0n5Ic52faEuogFXg=&docid=3ziZA288NC8cKM&sa=X&ei=GDy5UJ6HMJGxhAfd-oHQAQ&ved=0CEEQ9QEwBQ&dur=780" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this easy suggestion

It's not DD we have to worry about in our house..... the cats always drag it over at least once a year. Generally by trying to climb up the centre and getting a foot caught on the bolt out.
Put bells around the bottom tonight but no, they have been patting them for the last 2 hours.

We have no baubles I went a bit crazy in John Lewis just felt/fabric and the odd bit of plastic.

we put ours up on a table when they were at this stage, as long as dc can't pull up yet that is a good place (table only needs to be low, we used the coffee table, that was high enough))
The other place we put it when they were more mobile was in a corner between the sofa and the armchair, so it is a bit wedged in, and if it got tugged, it wouldn't fall over because of the furniture.

As to baubles, we did place them carefully, put felt/wooden ones near the bottom and shiny ones which have sharp edges near the top.

I did find that by the time they were 2 they understood it was special and not for touching (not 100% reliable, just didn't launch themselves at it) We di put about 10 disctinct decorations round the bottom, and they were allowed to atke those off and move them, as that seemed to be what they really wanted to do!

at the inventiveness Celestial.

Like Rugbugs?

celestial, that link is hysterical!!

rugbugs, our cats did this as kittens, my mum had a houes with wooden beams and we ended up nailing the tree to the beam!

We also have nosey cats. We always secure the top of the tree to the curtain pole support with gardening wire. Nothing can pull it over.

We put ours up in a corner, then put a fireguard (one of the wide ones) around the tree. We could put all the gifts at the bottom of the tree and it looked nice, but it was safe from marauding kids.

Has worked twice for us.

And non - breakable decs on the tree too. Later we swapped to non breakable on the bottom branches when they were older. Now all the nice ones have come out again.

I am smiling now...remember my cats when kittens pulling the tree over....

I have ours up...but it's a real tree in a huge pot....

Last year I put our up on the sideboard and didn't put presents underneath until Xmas eve.

Oh god, good point. I hadn't even thought about that aspect up till now.

Mine can't climb into the bath yet by himself. In the bath?

My DS is 10 mths too but already a cruiser/climber/wobbler. We're going to buy a small real tree in a pot we can put up on a table out of reach (and away from climby things). You could argue that it's a safer 1 off than your usual and is reasonably Eco-friendly as it can be potted up and be an outdoor tree in the future.

Argh. Ds is 10m and already cruising and climbing. He has an infallible instinct for anything dangerous or breakable so the Christmas tree will be like catnip to him. I really really love Christmas and went to huge effort choosing our perfect artificial tree last year. I really can't bear the thought of putting it outside or getting a tiny one to use this year instead :-( plus ds is fascinated by Christmas trees so I really want to make a lovely showing with ours. The playpen suggestion is a good one but we don't have a playpen and also there is only just to say room for our tree in our open plan living/dining/kitchen space let alone any extra bits! I think I'm gonna go with putting it up and then distracting/moving him away from it (as I have to with plug sockets, lamps, sharp table legs etc anyway). I must be mad, right?!

Ps it's a small point, but I think many of you are BU/tree snobs! An artificial tree is far more Eco friendly if you use it every year, rather than recklessly hewing down a real tree just so you can chuck it out once it dies... Plus dead Christmas trees on 6 Jan are most depressing :-(

Have also been thinking about this as DD is nearly 16mo and walking/running and can climb I have a bay window so am going to have it in there with the coffee table wedged in front of it. I also bough a fake one for the first time last year and am hoping I can somehow make the stem taller so that it reaches above said coffee table. Then I just have to hope she doesn't unwrap all of the presents instead

I've used an small eye hook in the wall about half way up and put string round the middle post and tied it to the eye before now. Works a treat if you don't mind a little hole in the wall.

In case that was in response to my comment, I have nothing against artificial trees. We have both, including the small one i had from Uni and one that once belonged to my great aunt. My argument was that maybe a small, still growing tree might be a better option for the OP than a second, smaller artificial one, which you probably wouldn't want to put outside. No tree snobbery involved

We used to put ours and the presents in a playpen (only time it was ever used)

Right. Here's how:

1. Buy large, reasonably heavy dustbin. Up-end it.
2. Put v. small (i.e. no risk of toppling) tree on top.
3. Stand whole arrangement in centre of dining table.
4. Some sort of perimeter fence. Poss. double. Poss. electrified.
5. Close and lock door. Stand guard.

I usually always put mine up on 1st Dec. Haven't this year because of safety ishoos too. Ds is 11 months, crawling, cruising climbing and generally destroying everything in sight. I'm dreading it. But ds1 7 y/o really wants ours up but our house is a titchy old terrace, with not many options.