Real or Fake XMAS TREE with tiny toddlers in the house?

[dowthorpe]

I have a 3.5 year old and a 16 month old.
In your experience, do tiny toddlers tend to trash the real tree over xmas or do they have a few goes then lose interest quickly? All that sparkle and dangly stuff is going to be catnip for him I just know!

I had fake trees with the first child, but now the second one's walking I'm wondering should I keep holding off on the real tree for another year, as I'm envisaging constant stress watching youngest pull the tree over at worst or at least giving it a good old shake and spilling needles to oblivion every time he passes!

I know there's the option of a small real tree up on a sideboard, but there's nowhere he can't reach in my sitting room.

So, real or fake with tiny toddlers?

we always have a fake one - kids now 4 and 7.

We always have a real tree-love choosing and decorating it all together. First year ds was 7mnths so just made sure most decorations were out of reach. By the time he was 1yr 7mnths we could tell him not to touch. We stick to mainly wooden and fabric type decorations and avoid glass...also the fairies hang chocolates on the tree the night before Xmas eve,so we don't have many days of those!

We've always had a real tree. THey are quite stable if you get those stands you can water them in. They never, ever fell down, even when the DC pulled at the chocolate decorations

DD was 15-months last Christmas and we had a real tree. It was lovely seeing her help decorate it and so on, and it didn't cause any problems.

we're doing fake this year, less mess!!

My toddler's never had a problem with real trees so we've never had to protect it as such (she simply looks at it). But friends of ours have to protect their tree behind a fire guard or even put it in a playpen. If in doubt, get a small tree and put it on a sideboard.