Toddlers and Christmas Tree - am I mad to even contemplate this?

[glamourbadger]

My twins are 19 months and very busy, fiddly little people. I am wondering if it will be possible to have a tree at all this year - has anyone else done it and have any advice? They don't tend to touch things when I make a fuss (they point at the radiators, power sockets and oven and say "nooooo") but a sparkly tree is just crying out to be manhandled! Has anyone done this successfully or should I just not bother this year?

Do it - just ensure it's safe enough. It has to be done - Christmas with no tree? Nah.
For what it's worth, we bought a relatively small tree and put it on a jardiniere in the hall out of DD's reach when she was little. It's such a novelty, I'm sure the LOs will just be in awe.

Why not put child friendly (!!!) ornaments at their level. If you use a fake tree tape it to something so they can't pull it over. ALl nice glass ornaments get a branch and put in vase out of toddler level and then decorate that so you can appreciate it. My dd LOVES the lights on the tress and in the shops at the moment but she knows that it is a seriously don't touch area...I will be having a go as I know she will love it ! She is 21mths BTW

put away all your lovely breakable decs , invest in a sturdy tree stand and decorate with felt, wood and cardboard decorations.

My youngest is nearly 4, and i'm looking forward to getting everything out again this year.

I was going to put my tree up this w/end but I'm not going to bother. I have nine month old dd who is crawling, it is just not worth the hassle. I have some other bits and pieces I will put up.

I put (and will put up again) DSs playpen around it, it is a set of 6 or 8 big sections which fold out into a big line, or guard type thing.

I had my tree and presents inside a large wooden playpen the first few years. The baby would never stay in the playpen without crying anyway but it did come in handy at Christmas
Also make sure you use plastic baubles, not glass and be prepared to rearrange the tree a few times!

Good idea LoW, I was thinking about what I'm goping to do next year when I'm going to have a new crawler on my hands, I think you could probably make it more of a christmas scene with a fence round it too.

Another vote for the playpen - I put my tree on a small table in the playpen & filled the space between with balloons. The presents went in there too when they were wrapped to keep them safe from inquisitive fingers!

iv decided to have a small tree out of reach because of ds 1yo, dd i never had a problem with but ds is a nightmare, not worth the hassle!

My mum used to have a fake tree tied to the radiator so it couldn't fall over and decorate it with non-breakables to keep us (and the cats) safe and happy.

We just tend to put the tree in a corner "fenced off" with sofas -the DC could still get to it but it provided a bit of an obstacle and gave us a bit more time to play with before they got to it IYSWIM

we'e going for a small one this year to keep it out of DS3's clutches. We did it when DS was the same age at Christmas too. Hopefully next year we'll be back to our 6' one!

Can't decide whether to get a real or fake tree -- DS will be 10mo and is crawling, would ideally get a real one but will I be regretting it when I'm pulling needles out of his hands and mouth?? House not really big enough to fence it off...

I had a small tree on a table, which he could not reach when ds was that age.

I do understand the practicalities here, but I also think that not having a tree in case your children mess about with it would be the saddest thing in the world.

I had my big tree in the dining room so the door could be shut to unsupervised toddlers. And I had a smal tree in the front room with child friendly bits on (which I had to put back on every night....)

You can't not have a tree!

brocoli, i can understand it being sad to not have a tree, but whenyou're sure your little one will climb on it and have no where to block it off then either a small tree up high or no tree at all are the only options!

When dd was 11 months and crawling, standing, pulling everything in sight we put a one on top of a small table. It was fine.

When she was 1 yr 11 months we had a massive one (due to the fact DH and I have always had arguments debates about whether to get big (me) or small (him) and we'd just moved to a new house with really high ceilings so I got my wish at last) and although we would often walk in to find a lot of the baubles on the floor from the lower branches it was fine. As others say, put unbreakable ones on lower branches.

I think we may give a tree a miss with DS2 just starting to walk at an alarmingly early 8 months and DD 2.8, has fiddlyitis and can't leave anything alone. Instead I am going to get lots of fir tree branches and mistletoe and make garlands to hang and swag around the palce and decorate these with baubles etc

We have 2 yr old and a 18 month old dd's who are both into everything (not to mention a hyper 7 year old ds).

Dh ties our tree with cable attached to hooks in the window frame and skirting boards. It stops the kids from pulling it over and we put harmless big plastic baubles and handmade fabric ones lower down so if they pull them off they can't ingest anything.

I would be terribly sad if we couldn't have a tree but can understand why you would be worried about it.

I also go for the 'third way' - ours always goes in the playpen - it also helps visitng mothers to relax when they come too.