Christmas Tree

jani7 · September 2012

So we are due with baby number 2 December 9th. Any recommendations on what to do about our Christmas tree - DS will be 16- 17 months with a new baby in the house although my husband will be at home with us through Christmas. I'm mostly worried about his safety, he puts everything in his mouth. We have a lot of glass and very sentimental ornaments on our tree as well. Hmmm, ugly gate around it? Use temporary ornaments with ribbon instead of hooks? Just do it as normal and hope he steers clear of it?

rabstbmom · September 2012

We only had the one child last year and he was less than a year old, but we ended up just buying a 3-foot tree from Target and putting it up on a portion of our dining table that we don't tend to use/sit at. I had to scale back and not use a lot of our ornaments, of course, but I figure for the first Christmas or two, it's probably easier than trying to chase him out of it.

If it were still just him, we might try a full-sized tree, but I expect that we might do the same this year since his little brother is scheduled to arrive 4 days before Christmas. Probably depends on whether we're in a new house by then and how that as-yet-hypothetical house is set up.

ang345 · September 2012

I think it depends on how active your toddler is. We put ours in the corner banked by the couch and love seat, but we didn't put anything on it that we didn't want broken and by Christmas all the ornaments and been placed at the top of the tree without any on the bottom, just out of reach of little hands. It wasn't the most ideal way to do things, but I just didn't think it would feel like Christmas without a tree.

jf198400 · September 2012

Personally I would probably skip the tree this year, more because when will you have time to put it up and decorate with a newborn to care for. My DD was about 16months last Christmas and she didn't bother the tree too much. We just put all of the breakable ornaments up high. My kids are 18months apart and I would not want to deal with decorating with a newborn. It's going to be enough work caring for 2 kids and managing the basic holiday stuff. Just get a small tree this year like pp suggested.

2u2wow · September 2012

i like the idea of putting the small tree up on a table...might be an idea - or else just don't put ornaments on the bottom half!

i'm making one of these for DS

https://www.solandrachel.com/2011/12/pinterest-christmas.html

hopefully that will keep his hands away...HA who am i kidding...

kcisthebombdotcom · September 2012

Last year at Christmas, we had an almost 2 year old and almost 1 year old. We had no problems with them pulling the tree down. We kept non-breakable ornaments with no hooks near the bottom where they could grab and our nicer stuff out of their reach (we get a 9 foot tree so this is fairly easy to do). On occasion they'd pull one of the ornaments off, but it was nothing that could hurt them/break.

memali26 · September 2012

DD1 was 10 months old her first Christmas, and we put the tree up on an end table behind the furniture where she couldn't get to it.

Last year, we were in a new house and had a 22 month old and a 3 month old and put the tree up as we usually would. No fence, not behind furniture. DD1 helped decorate it, had to be told once or twice not to touch after it was done, and didn't bother it after that.

This year, we will have an almost 3 year old and a 15 month old. We'll put the tree up as usual and go from there. I have a feeling we'll end up with a fence around it, but we'll see.

smerka · September 2012

Last year my kids were most interested in the lights so only the top three feet or so were decorated. It looked pretty ridiculous.

etude de la vie · September 2012

We did a fake pre lit tree and DS was pulling to stand on everything at the time

I did all cloth (yarn) or plastic from target $1. Stay away from glitter anything...my DS puts everything in his mouth and we quickly knew this wasn't an option. The tree looked good because I choose a color scheme but nothing fragile.

He actually never pulled to stand on the tree or knocked it over. We didn't gate it or anything and he learned. We watched him the best we could and it worked out.

Dont stress if you have a newborn about the tree,....your 16 month old wont notice either way. My DD at 16 months hardly even noticed her brother she was so excited about her new ride on toy at the time.

bellelamb · September 2012

We got a blue spruce since they are extra prickly and put our more important ornaments higher. BUT more than that we just kept telling N no, he was 14 months and only pulled down the one that looked like his toy tractor.
Christmas and the tree is VERY important to us and including my kids in it is very special to me. I can't imagine not having a tree.

kagl08 · September 2012

Last year we had a 16 month old and a 3 month old. My 16 month old was actually afraid of the tree so this worked in our favor. But she has always responded to "no!"

This year scares me. We will have a 2.5 yr old and a 15 month old. My DS is a beast and doesn't listen to no. He puts everything in his mouth. But Christmas is not Christmas without a tree so we will have one up. We had a large gate apparatus just in case it needs to be put around the tree. I plan to use nonbreakables on the bottom section.

Anne Mommy · September 2012

We put up the tree like normal. All the ornaments that we love were on top. All the ones on the bottom we didnt' care if DS grabbed. We wrapped old diaper boxes and put them around the tree. DS had more fun using them as drums and ignored the tree. It worked like a gate, but still looked like Christmas. We used a roll of paper from the dollar store and let DS rip up the paper on Christmas. I think that was the best present he got!

jiffy-pop · October 2012

I think we are going to put the Christmas tree in our bedroom so we can close the door. Do you have another room that you can just close the door? Or maybe you could put one of those baby fences around it if you have enough space (we don't). We have a tiny living room anyway and with company over during Christmas, we really can't spare the extra space in the living room.

Want a personalized experience?

Christmas Tree

Re: Christmas Tree

Choose Another Board

Search Boards