A 'real' Xmas tree + an 18month old who is typically into everythign = chaos?

[Tobermory]

I love real trees The smell and even the droping of needles, whilst a PITA, is just so Christmassy.
DH thinks we shluld buy a fake one this year.
DD is 18 months and into everything. DH is sure that DD will eat all the needles or pull over the tree (we normall get a 6ft one) making all the needles drop even earlier and that a fake one will be easier all round.

Ihst at really sensible of him? Should i sigh inwardly but agree nonetheless cos it is the right move or should i stnad my ground and prepare for even more needle pickign up this year?

If you think DH is right, please would you link me to some lovely fake trees...does such a thing exist?

Well, I hate fake trees!

I'd rather do without than have a fake one. I'd just do swags and sparkly twigs with lights on instead.

Well, we've always had a fake tree, and haven't killed any of our children or totally trashed our house yet. In fact, we have real candles on the tree instead of fairy lights ... try suggesting that to your dh if you want to really freak him out

gaah, we've always had a REAL tree

you could do a small tree on a high table

but we always went for the MASSIVE TREE and big lectures on Not Touching The Tree

Oh I've got exactly the same dilemma. 18 month old "lively" DS + pragmatic DP + my stubborn refusal to countenance anything but a 6ft real tree = someone ending up unhappy.

DP suggested getting a small real tree to put out of DS's reach on the mantlepiece as a compromise. Like that's gonna cut the mustard.

I think I have to reconcile myself to a fake one too. Will keep watching this thread, hopefully someone will be along to tell us where to get nice ones!

morningpaper, im with you on the MASSIVE tree....we normally pick from the massive tree pile too but this year somehow not convinced lectures will work

elsie, swags and sparkly twigs maybe be tasteful but dont think theyll cut it!

Funnypeculiar - real tree+candles = DH super stressed!

I have a cast-iron small outside table, which, when turned upside, down, makes the most amazing and un-movable christmas-tree stand

have had succcess with this when children tiny

so it's worth thinking about ways of securing the bastard

fattipuff...you're going to give in?

I think we're going for a real tree, inside the playpen.

I guess ds2 will still be able to eat some of the needles.

Maybe a tree on a table, inside the playpen?

[hmm, do Christmas tree needles count as one of your 5-a-day?]

"securing the bastard"...we're still talking tree here as opposed to DH?!!

fake plastic trees - they'll wear you out

lol pointydog

aha! not too cryptic then

dd was 18mths I think last Christmas, maybe 20mths. Think we showed her how to be gentle and touch the tree needles and baubles appropriately, and let her have a few safe baubles to play with. It's fun! She's more likely to be a PITA this year I think.

Morningpaper, that's genius, with the cast iron table!

DS2 is 18 months and generally described as a very energetic vandal.
Needless to say no Xmas tree for us this year.
May do the small tree/twigs and lights on a table thing though.
Bah Humbug!!

Umlella: 'dd was 18mths I think last Christmas, maybe 20mths. Think we showed her how to be gentle and touch the tree needles and baubles appropriately, and let her have a few safe baubles to play with.'

Would you like to swap children until the new year? 'Gentle' and 'appropriate' are not words commonly used in the fattipuffs household!

Tobermory, I just don't know yet... If anything, would go for the swags & twigs approach over the fake tree. Wouldn't be the same though

I hadn't even thought about this aspect of Christmas. Just had this lovely vision of us all decorating the tree together.

Instead, I'm clearly going to have to only decorate the top half of the tree, out of reach of small hands. That boy can climb...have visions of the whole thing crashing down on his head.

LOLOLOL at "touch the needles and baubles appropriately". Am still trying to teach him how to touch people appropriately, don't think we'd get very far with trees.

Well, it worked

Think kids natural curiosity is too strong for them to just accept no, you can't touch it, so you will spend the whole time saying NO. Hence our philosophy of finding something you can say YES to - eg 'yes, you can play with these baubles, or 'yes, you can stroke the needles'. We have done it since dd was little (and I use similar philosophy with my naughty secondary kids). It does work! Though we will wait and see with ds...

Don't give in!!!!!!!! I've got two very "spirited" boys and have always had a real tree - what i've done is taken them to choose a decoration each - from about a year they can choose a snowman or something (usually as tasteless as tis possible to get!!) let them help decorate with unbreakable, unprecious things on the bottom - and i've generally found that after a couple of days of them trying to climb etc the novelty has worn off and they leave it alone for the rest of the month. Generally Ds2 (was 16 months last christmas) liked to take the bottom decorations off and squirrel them away but didn't do any harm and suprisingly the needles didn't drop any more than usual either. It just became part of our bedtime routine to play hunt the decs and rehang them and then have a christmas story by fairy lights before going upstairs! Ah can't wait to get my tree this year now!

I find that once they've pulled it over on themselves once they leave it alone after that!

put tree in playpen

We moved a sofa round so that it cut a corner of the room off and put the tree behind it. DS could still get to it, but it was harder and not in direct range. Unbreakable stuff on the bottom is a must.

Ha ! to the thought of telling him not to touch and it working..

oh yes, the sofa blockade

also works v well if you have a bay window

SOfa blockade is a good idea, might try that.
Am finding the idea of showing DS2 how to be gentle and appropriate etc rather hysterical!