Having a Christmas Tree with Little Ones

To keep the tree in place, tie it to a ceiling hook or something on the wall with fish line. Nobody will ever know! You can also use fish line to put plastic bulbs on the tree, so if one of the kids gets ahold of an ornament, there isn't a hook AND the bulb is plastic! =)

Go to home depot and buy the 2 foot high plastic Lattice. It bends easy and you can bend it around the tree.
Buy 2 of them if you are going around the whole tree and tie them together. Cost should be under 20$ for 2. They come in white and can also be decorated.

My grandmother always talked about their putting the tree inside my old wooden playpen to keep me away from it. That was during WWII and I don't think you can buy those anymore unfortunately!

There is a playyard gate that makes a circle (or corner or big straight line, which ever you prefer) You can get it at Babies R Us. We have one and love it. It is under $100 and you could even use it in the yard in the summer for your smaller day care kids.

You might also consider getting a small tree that could be put on a table.

Our daughter was very good about not touching the tree when she was little, but I know this year my 21 month old son will be a major challenge with the tree (our gate is around the elliptical trainer right now)!

Good luck

We use a Superyard as well -- this will be our second Christmas with mobile little ones. We moved our tree to a corner so we were able to anchor the ends of the gate behind a chair on one side and the couch on the other. It worked great and didn't take a lot of extra room. It also protected our gifts because we put them under the tree and behind the gate as soon as they were wrapped. As an extra precaution, we only put unbreakable (plastic and cloth) ornaments on the lower half of the tree. Our most treasured ornaments were placed up high.
As a side note, a friend of ours used a different approach. She put some heavy things (mainly books) in large wrapped boxes and made a barrier around the tree with the boxes. We considered this but since we have twins we thought they'd just work together to push the boxes out of the way. Just another option for you.

LOL~ I also use the play-yard gate! We used it for our son, but still use it for my annoying cat~ as she just has to eat the fake needles on the tree. (This is also the same cat that ate about 2.5 fake plants in a week, too. And apparently, loves my chives over my sink.)

I put our tree in the corner, so it shows in our front window. During the day while we are home, I do have it down - or open so it isn't taking up too much room. At bedtime or if we leave, we close it and then make sure there isn't anything for the cat to launch herself in there to feast on.

I've also used the gate for keeping my old dwarf rabbit contained when outside when I had her - I had to give her away when my son was born as he was wheezy around her, and I had no extra time for her.

Lots of uses!

you can put the tree up!! Don't use your big tree use like a 3 to 4 foot tree don't put anything near the bottom so they touch it also let them know if they touch the tree it will go come down and than you would be disappointed because you would like it up. Also you can put a gate around it some do if your using a big tree. Good luck

I think that a play yard that went around the tree would be great. We didn't have one so I just bought the pokiest tree I could find (blue spruce) and that helped somewhat. My kids were more interested in touching than pulling, so I also put kid friendly ornaments on the bottom, more breakable ones to the top, and ones I was really concerned about I didn't even put on the tree.

B.

we live in a small bungalow... a gate would block 1/2 the room... I use a table top 24" on the top of our entertainment center... I then put the presents under the tree (on the coffee table)... that way no one has to worry about shaking things up. I have also found a tree that is flat on the back that I hang on the wall and put the stockings around it... it's a little unconventional, but the tree isn't really the "spirit" of Christmas... it's the together time that we spend. If I was worried about the tree constantly and telling my little guys No No No... then Christmas wouldn't be fun for them.

I am unemployed this year as well as going to school, so we are only going to get 2-3 presents for each child this year as well. Probably one new item and 2 used items... I have explained this to them daily that we can't buy things and we will spend time together... I plan on engaging them in making some of their own decorations for the windows of the kitchen and we are making the preschool and daycare instructors a Christmas ornament from scratch this year instead of buying... This will be the BEST Christmas ever.

we didnt hang any breakable ornaments on the lower portion of the tree. I also set up a table of "touchables" -of soft christmas snowmen, angles,etc that they WERE allowed to touch. Have them be in charge of telling everyone what is touchable and what is not.

good luck!

Hi there! My solution to having babies & toddlers with a Christmas tree....was to put the TREE in a good solid big old fashioned playpen! Of course the tree had to fit in the playpen but it kep EVERY one safe including the tree and gifts and yet was easy to get too and still could be seen well. I have pictures of it! People thot it was fun & funny...but it worked!

I have ran a daycare in my home for many years and the tree has never been an issue. I also have three boys. I just put the breakables up high and teach all children the tree is for looking at not touching. If they touch they go to time out it does not take long for them to figure it out.

If you are concerned about it my husband use to tie are tree to the wall when we had cats in case the cats decided to climb it.

hook in the ceiling and safety wire tied from the tree to the hook....less than $3

For the little little ones, I always removed the bottom branches (fake tree) and kept it hight off the ground, for infants this worked great because I would lay them under the tree and they could look at the lights but not ready the branches.

For the toddlers,I always just taught mine to not touch just like I did with other things in the house. I also put the delicate ornaments way out of reach at the top of the tree.

You could also set up a small artificial tree (2 ft tall) you can buy them at dollar general for 10 bucks or find them at goodwill or someplace, even jsut cut a branch off a pine tree in the woods and set it up, get a junk used fake christmas tree and use jsut the top pinacle branch and put it in a piece of wood drilled out for the base. Then have the daycare kids make ornaments and decorate the "tree" with them. Keep it in their play area, and let them touch it when ever they want, it's their tree. You could do an ornament a week, or day, etc. They could take them home the week before Christmas and wrap them up for their parents.

Just a thought. Actually, I might do this with my kids.

When my son was little, we put the tree inside his play yard. It worked well. We plan to do the same thing this year with our daughter. I think we purchased the play yard at Babies R Us. It is basically a playpen without a bottom, and you can determine the shape. We'll use a circular shape around the tree.

Do you have other items in your home that are forbidden for the children to touch? If so, how did you teach them the rule? Tree is no exception, you don't touch. Sit the kids down to look at the decorations on the tree. Look but don't touch. Depending on how old they are you could play who can find the ?? ornament. Other thought is the tree isn't too pleasant to touch anyway especially if it is real. It is prickly, so that would probably help in not making them want to touch it. Lastly, secure your tree with a rope and tie it to the wall. Will probably leave a little damage, so do it as carefully as possible. Good Luck!