Christmas tree and toddler......?

[tory79]

DH and I ALWAYS have real trees, we love them, despite spending the next 11 months hoovering up pine needles!

But this year we will have ds who will be 15 months and has a penchant for climbing/throwing/general destruction.

What are peoples experiences of having a real tree and a toddler? Are we better off investing in a fake one? I knid of think it will be the baubles he is after really anyway so I'm not sure it would make that much difference....

Thank you!

The important thing is to make sure all the decorations are unbreakable, so no glass baubles. Opt for fabric, knitted, wooden, and shatterproof plastic. Some people fence off the tree inside a playpen, or get a small one and put it out of reach high up. I don't think an artificial tree would be any less of a target.

I had a toddler and two cats and the real tree always survived, but then my toddler was quite gentle once he realised it was a bit prickly! It always stood in a tub full of gravel and water so was hard to overbalance. Standing in water also helped with needle retention, which is important if your toddler puts everything in his mouth and might try to eat the loose needles.

If you're going for real tree, get in only a couple of days before and take down early, ideally don't have it in your main living space, but in a room you can shut the door on.

Get only non-breakable baubles, nothing glass no matter how gorgeous!

We got round this by buying a tree so enormous that there was no way DS could pull it down on himself. Fake trees are much less stable. At that age he had a ball obsession so we didn't put anything round on the tree and put all the breakable stuff higher up.

For the last couple of years I've still had a real tree but have resigned myself to having to redress it every evening after the dcs have gone to bed!

As others have said, there's nothing breakable on it and it has a sturdy base.

This year I'm throwing 2 cats into the mix aswell. Should be fun...

Oh, and should your toddler insist on decorating the tree then expect every bauble to be hung next to where they are standing

Fireguard around it. Did it for years with dd2 who just wanted to climb it.

I love real trees, but they aren't great about having the baubles taken on and off multiple times.

We had a cheap, Woolworth's tree and loads of ASDA plastic baubles for a few years.

Then we had a real tree, posh baubles at the top and plastic at the bottom. The DDs learnt very quickly which baubles they could move about and which might cause mum to explode.

I love real old fashioned glass baubles, but I quickly worked out I had over £100 worth on my usual tree and DD1 climbed everything.

The glass bauble situation is twice as bad now as the DDs have also added to the collection ever year since they were about 5.

I don't THINK we have anything breakable, I'll have to review when we actually get the decorations down.

I think we have decided that we will stick with our normal decent sized real tree and attempt to fence it off somehow. I kind of figure that if ds stabs himself on tree needles a few times it might put him off getting too close to it

My 10 month old is terrified of any sort of puppet/ mask/ animatronic toy so we plan to make a line of them around the tree so he keeps well away. If that doesn't work we will put it on a table.

We've always had real trees, and when the boys were really small, the tree was a smaller one on a table. The year the cats were kittens was the worst though, (pre-children) and I had to resort to having the tree in our bedroom and shutting the door - pesky creatures! Only one surviving now, and she just ignores it, whilst the boys 'decorate' it by hanging 3 or 4 baubles all on the same branch!

I had 3 boys under 3 and still had a real tree with glass baubles and everything lol. I didn't hang stuff on the very lowest branches and I suppose it is slightly protected by furniture. But it was absolutely fine.

Best tip is knock a tack into the picture rail and tie the top of the tree to it using normal sewing thread, doubled up a couple of times (I used white as we have pale walls) - it is barely noticeable and surprisingly strong.

Now I buy them their own tree and give them free reign to decorate as they see fit... my tree is beautiful and serene in comparision but secretly I like theirs better

We stood our Christmas trees in an old wooden playpen when the DDs were small. Worked a treat keeping them from opening the presents underneath it too.