Who else is putting their christmas tree in the playpen?

[MamaHobgoblin]

DS will be almost 10 months. He's been crawling since 6, pulling himself up since 7 and is currently cruising along the sofa at 9. PFB pride His dad was walking by 10 months so we're preparing for the worst.

We've got the hexagonal Babydan, hardly ever deployed. I'd like to get some use out of it, so do I put the best toy DS has ever seen behind bars for the duration? And how miserable will it make the poor christmas tree look? DH thinks I'm mad (suspect DH of thinking we shouldn't bother with a tree this year, but sod that). Please let me tell him that this is not mad, it is perfectly sensible and everyone does it!

Well, I won't be doing it this year as DS & DD are 20 & 18! but DD was just gthe same age as your DS her first Christmas (DS was almost 3)& I put the tree in the playpen. It was a biggish square wooden one & I put the tree on a small table in the middle & filled the space with balloons, which were replaced with presents as I wrapped/recieved them.
It worked very well

I have a cruising 9 mo also...

but I could NOT do that to a tree!

How about putting the tree on the table?

Is your ds really off on his own that much though? I've always found that I never really need stuff like stairgates etc, mainly because they are quite seldom out of my sight at this age.

No really don't do that my son started crawling a week before Christmas a few years ago but after pulling at the tree twice and being told no twice he stopped.
The year after he was fully mobile and after being told off a couple of times left it alone.
And he's very mobile and into everyting all the time - but still no is no and he got it.
There's no need to do that.

timette not all dc are so compliant I've had 2 that are & 2 that aren't!!!!

Yes we put our tree in the playpen for 5 years running but partly because there was no where else for said tree!

Sorry - didn't mean to generalise. Just felt sorry for the tree .
You know your ds best do what you feel is right. Just wanted to share my experience.

Message withdrawn

We put ours in the playpen when dd1 was 10 months, it stoped her from pulling it over or getting the presents

it's not the tree that was really the issue, it was them trying to unwrap the presents!

You mean some people don't put their tree in the Babydan?

Ours is going in for the 5th year in a row. It's the only reason we haven't yet put the Babydan on Freeycle as our youngest is 3.3.

Now then, next question: how much should the Babydan people be reading this thread and paying us something for this marketing of another use for their product?

exactly lingle, when I sold mine I did think - what am I going to do about the christmas tree!!!!

Ours in on a table and DH insisted on tying it down. DD2 is 13m. Its the angel I feel sorry for, our ceilings are quite low.

We did abandon the tree one year when DS was 2 and DD1 was 12m, it just wasn't worth the hassle.

Ours is on the dining room table

Ours is going on a table inside the playpen. Guarded by wolves.
We have a 17 month old climber.

Mine are all much older now, but the tree certainly went in the playpen when they were little (ours was a wooden one like yours rusty!).

Ours will definitely be in the playpen

I don't have a playpen 'cos I'm skint but if I did the tree would be going in it, no question. DD is 10.5 months and a holy terror. The tree doesn't stand a chance

We found the best way was to give DD her own small tree with childsafe decorations (mostly printed out from the cbeebies site and then laminated). I regularly go in in the morning and find it bare and her sleeping on a pile of plastic upsy Daisy's but hey, I can live with that!

This way she leaves the big tree downstairs alone.

I wondered about that. I suggested to DH that I buy her some unbreakable baubles and her own string of tinsel but he just looked at me like . It probably won't work but I don't want a little tree on a table

You can buy very big bells - they are pretty non-dangerous (although fiercely annoying). Cbeebies has some printable baubel templates. Or just print out large copies of their fave characters and let the kids glitter the crap out of them. You can keep them quiet for HOURS with a pot of PVA and glitter.

Naturally the entire house gets coated but saves you decking the halls!

Am grinning at all the imprisoned trees!PMSL at lingle! It does seem a shame to do that to a christmas tree, but sadly, No does not mean No to DS: rather, it's a hilarious joke and the cue to do it (molesting the dvd player/cat, paddling in the cat's water/eating the Radio Times) again. And again.

He's lovely really. And very single-minded. I'm mostly worried about him pulling a tree down on himself. I don't leave him alone for more than a minute these days, if that, and only if he's settled when I leave the room (it doesn't help that he has some separation anxiety now), and wouldn't leave him EVER if there were a tree in the room!

I think he's a bit young still to be given his own tree to play with, but I'll bear it in mind for the future. I'm going to try and put a smaller tree than usual on a chest and wrap the babydan round that, or perhaps on a small table if I can think of one to use.

Thanks for your responses and DH will get the gist of this poll and hopefully be reassured that I'm not off my rocker!

We've lashed our tree to the wall with some green wool so you can't see it. So it can't be pulled onto a small child. The cats are quite chuffed too because they can now climb it with impunity

Would I be nuts to put it in a mothercare travel cot seeing as I dont have a playpen or does someone know of somewhere I can get a cheap playpen?

Travel cot bases aren't strong enough for christmas trees, they will just cave in and your tree will fall.

lol at this thread, we had ours on a plinth

hmmm - between DD (11 months) 3 adult cats and a kitten this tree is not gonna survive.