I’m curious how you all introduced your little ones to the Christmas tree? My daughter is about 1.5, and I’m so scared she’s going to rip the whole thing down. Any tips or tricks to prevent that would be wonderful! (a gate around the tree isn’t an option, unfortunately) Thank you in advance
8 Likes
We have twin boys of the same age and the husband and I were just talking about this…no good ideas yet lol
1 Like
Only put ornaments on the top half . Best of luck to you lmao
3 Likes
My daughter is the same age. I went on Amazon and ordered a felt one just for her that im putting up early. Hoping it helps
Get her a small one. Mommy has one, she has one
2 Likes
Let her help u set it up and show her how pretty and delicate it is and to be easyyy. Then if she wnats to play with it, say no. If she refuses to leave it alone let her know its going up. They can understand what you’re saying way before they can speak. Just make it exciting and let her know to be cautious and maybe she will listen. Worth a try! Good luck!
2 Likes
Air horn???
jk, my daughters 10 now- never had an issue lol
1 Like
Redirect. We had a gate uo when he was one(dec bday) it went around the tree so he couldnt touch honetsly we havent had a gate now for 3 years and he doesnt even bother it. He LOVES decorating it too. There is also the floam wall ones that is made for the kids to play with so you can redirect to their “own” tree.
Honestly my son’s about 16months and mines up he hasn’t messed with it much…whenever he gets near it I tell him no and he backs off (usually) I say wing it devise plans as problems arise
My son is the same age and we just don’t let him touch the tree at all. When he gets close we tell him “no” or “leave it alone” …he knows the meaning of both. He has gotten in trouble a few times for messing with it but he is learning.
I bought unbreakable plastic ornaments they could put on the tree. I handled the fragile ornaments near the top of the tree.
I put one of those kid gates/fences around ours. As they got older I would only put “kid friendly” (aka plushie and unbreakable) ornaments within their reach. Also, try not to leave the kiddo unsupervised in the room with the tree.
I put a playpen around my tree the first year. He had just turned one at the time.
I tied my tree to the corner so it couldn’t be pulled down and only put non breakable ornaments on the bottom and just kept working on no touch . Wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be .
1 Like
I had to hang things on the bottom part of the tree, with a bucket next to it, and he was allowed to pull those off, and put them back on, I made sure they were easy to get off and on, so they didn’t pull on the tree! This year im putting his train track around the bottom, so that’ll distract him.
Put up a baby gate because she’s a toddler and very likely to mess with the tree. Better safe than sorry.
Put it inside of one of those portable crib things and wrap it with Christmas paper like a christmas present
We always just got a smaller tree and didn’t put much on it but small candies they could take and eat and nothing heavy so if they were to tip over it would scare them more than hurt them… ive got 3 kids and only my youngest was the one who kept messing with it after a tumble
When my daughter was little, I bought those foam alphabet letters for the tub, poked holes in them, and made them into our ornaments. If and when she pulled them off, we’d practice our letters and simple words. It was safe, fun, and educational! She never pulled on the tree itself - I think because it was prickly. 
Good luck, momma!
Only use unbreakable ornaments. Cuz ni matter what you do she will play with them.
Either sit it on the floor and put ornadments that a suitable at the bottom as you’ll find they will just play with what they can reach or sit it on a coffee table or table so they can stand near it and look at it.
We put the Christmas tree in the living room we don’t use since we have two.
My oldest son is almost 17, youngest is 10. We made our first stay away, not allowed to touch. Second kid we were not as strict and found that she didn’t mess with it much. The third kid we never said a word to, he put his toys on it as ornaments. But for the most part he left it alone. I think the more you draw attention and refuse to let them figure out what it is, the more their curiosity gets to them.
2 Likes
My mom got my daughter a small tree of her own. Fiber optic tree and she got her ornaments to put on it herself so she has her own tree to play with she never bothered the big tree
We put the tree in her huge play pen…she couldnt reach it and kept presents out of reach
1 Like
I’ve never made a big deal out of it and have never had an issue. Sure, an ornament may come down here or there. Honestly, it’s our tree. I don’t mind if my kids mess with it. It doesn’t have to be perfect. I mainly do it for them anyway.
2 Likes
I put all shatterproof ornaments when my son was that age but I also added a few at the bottom that were specifically his that he was allowed to touch and just taught him he could touch those but nothing else. I didn’t really have any issues doing it that way. If he got tempted he would just play with those lol
I kept ornaments off the bottom, besides a few he could touch. and kept it nicer ones that where not breakable uptop.
No gate or anything.
I got a shorter, table top tree for when my kiddos were babies.
I would do a tabletop one this year
I think put the breakables on top lol. I don’t really celebrate Christmas cause we’re not religious we don’t care but we like the festive feeling and gift giving for the kids. Table top as mentioned above is a splendid idea. A personal kids tree with soft/ plastic ornaments. A felt tree with felt ornaments would be cool. There’s a lot you could work with these days thankfully
is it yours don’t touch
you have 3 ornaments you are allowed to touch
Get them a small tree with plastic decorations. Tell them here is your tree, don’t touch big one. Worked with 15 grandkids
I went with “no, you can look but don’t touch” and followed through … they got it quick and also didn’t try and touch trees at others houses, just say “no”. No special stuff, no tricks… just “no”
I’m getting this one! It hangs on the wall out of reach!
1 Like
Just teach them no…my son is 20 months and ive taught him not to touch the ornaments in my living room x
This is what we did up until last year to keep our 3 year old and our animals off the tree and presents , the pack and play was $60 online (Walmart) and after we used the pack and play as a ball pit
I tied some string around my tree and anchored it to the wall. With small nails.
Make a felt tree and ornaments for her.
Anchor the tree to the wall with rope or fishing wire and buy a felt tree for her to play with she can decorate it over and over again
I’m painting mine in the wall this year
Seriously, people actually tie their Christmas tree to the wall?! Never had that growing up or with my kids or any nieces and nephews and not one kid has pulled a Christmas tree down on themselves. And if one had, it would have been funny as hell! Js…parents are way too overprotective these days or just not watching the kids at all
8 Likes
I let them “help” decorate then any time they went near it I told them no. They eventually got it, oldest is 11, never had a problem.
If you only have the one kid and can’t handle telling them no just don’t out it up🤷 … this year my kids told me not to out up ours because we have three cats (four months) and they don’t want to deal with them messing with it!
Get them to help you decorate if it’s not too late. They can do the lower part, and then you tell them that once it’s on, you cant touch it. Tell them Santa will see and he wont be happy? Or show them the grinch movie and when he (grinch) tries to steal the tree tell them how mean that is!
Also tie your tree, just incase
1 Like
I just tell my kids not to touch it persistently. Never had an issue of it being pulled down. My kids are now 16yrs, 12yrs, 11yrs & 11 months old. My 11 month old will be trained to leave it just as the older 3 were. No gates, fences, ropes or whatever…just old fashioned parenting 
6 Likes
I’ve never heard of such a thing. But im old and my kids are grown but we never introduced the tree to the kids. We put it up and spent the next 3- 4 weeks telling them not to touch it. I guess they just got to know each other throughout the years so to speak.
42 Likes
His first year he was moving we had a small live table tree (he was 15 months). After that we had a regular tree and told him no.
My sister put her trees into a playpen. She had 5 kids in 6yrs so was easier than anything else.
When u find out I wanna know too. My LO 20mths debating even having a tree
1 Like
Mine was 1.5 last Christmas she help put the tree up and then I told her we don’t touch it. If is touched it and I had told her no not to I popped her hand.
We tied our tree when the kids were little.
We put ours in the playpen.
2 Likes
You could buy a tree cut out made of felt & hang on wall & but strand lights on wall. That way u don’t got worry about tree falling over
I put my tree in a playpen
We had our tree on top of our t.v. but that won’t work today
Put the tree in the playpen
We put one of the big baby gates around ours. But I took the gate down when we were all in the living room
Put hooks in the wall and get some string to wrap around the middle of the tree and tie to hooks so she can’t pull it down on herself. When I lived with my parents thats what we had to do so our cats wouldn’t knock it down haha It really worked.
I put the breakable ones on top, or the ones that had meaningful on top as well. I’d just get some cheap ornaments for the bottom half of the tree, so that it’s not a big deal if they get broken. Oh, I’d definitely recommend going into Walmart after Christmas and get some that are 50% off ones. Your going to be going through a crap load of them for the next 7 to 8 years.
Yup they do tear them all apart we put a baby gate around ours to try to keep prying hands away
Place in a corner. Wrap rope or twine around trunk toward the upper middle of the tree and wrap around small nail in each side of wa to right and left of tree. Worked for our son his first Christmas. Unlike someone who let the child pull the tree over on himself and screamed everything he saw a tree after that!!!
Hang it from the ceiling it’s what I’m planning on doing
My daughter, now 3, was terrified of the tree for the past 2 years. Would not go near it. Interested in seeing how this year goes! 
For many years we used fishing line at 2 different levels tied to small hooks in the wall on either side of the tree - this allowed our playful kittens to climb the tree or whatever- it really worked and was virtually not noticeable to folks admiring our tree- not difficult or expensive!
just have to remember that every child is different as is every parent. I never had a problem, My eldest was 11 months for his first Christmas and I had him “help” and he never touched the tree afterwards and neither did his brothers when they came along. But with every child being different, there are those that insist on playing with the tree/ decorations. I would consider “tying” the tree to the walls if I had multiple pets.
Kids are curious and fascinated with a Christmas Tree. I would try to guide them to be gentle and touch with one finger. That seemed to work.
1 Like
I followed my daughter around for months as she skirted and toddled rooms saying no touch when she reached out for things on tables, etc. It was worth the effort. She was easy to take to stores and friends homes…most of the time, lol, kids are kids.
Have them help put non breakable on bottom while you put breakable on top that is what I did when kids were young and now they still don’t want to touch or help with the tree
I decorate with stuff animals around the bottom of the tree. My glass is at the top where they won’t reach. Then I have holiday books and puzzles under the tree. I let them touch the tree and play. I hated not being to touch the tree as a kid. So I switched it up.
1 Like
When I was a teenager we had 2 toddlers in the house- we put the Christmas tree in the baby play pen - presents were relatively safe from babies! Lol Good times & I’ll never forget all the laughter involved!
I remember a few years there where we had a really small one set up on a table where toddlers couldn’t reach it. We have the rest of our lives to have a big, pretty tree. Baby comes first.
Santa brought the tree the first couple of years and it was maybe 2 feet tall, small enough to sit on a high table where little fingers couldn’t reach it.
when y’all figure out the trick to keeping kids out of the trees let me kno as well because mine is like a magnet to my kids and other kids as well every year 
so I’m stuck on repeat from the time it is up until it is down “do not touch the tree” “leave the tree alone”. last year my tree ended up getting taken out by a Hoover board but thank God it lasted until after Christmas 
One year my mom put the tree (artificial) in the playpen to keep her toddlers off it,she said it worked.
1 Like
best suggestions I can make is get throw away plastic ornaments just in case if it falls oh well. but they are intrigued but after a few days they will stop
I put gate around it his 1st year since real tree he was 9 months crawling
Only fake ones since never had issue
Just put the tree up and teach her NOT TO TOUCH IT…everyone tries to make everything so complicated