Little Hands at Christmas Time

Okay, I went through this last year. Put all the "baby safe" ornaments at the bottom and the breakables at the top. If you have very expensive ornaments or heirlooms you may not want to hang them this year. You could also consider buying and decorating your tree with bargain ornaments this year. Just remember any ornaments with your child's reach are fairgame for him to play with so keep your eyes peeled!

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I know what you're going through, I have a two year old son so we went through and are still going through the same thing. My advise is start new, you have a baby now time to store the nice glass ornamnets and invest in nice non breakables. There are so many nice wooden (air plans, rein deer etc..) and plastic ornamnets that look like the glass ones. Trust me you'll be using them for the next year or so. This year I was able to put some of my glass ones near the top but keep the kid friendly ones at the bottom, and remember less is more. I'm a designer be trade so be creative use ribbon, bows others items to decorate. And I agree loose the baby gate if possible. Good Luck

T.
Mother of Two yr old very active boys boy.

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When mine were little we changed to a smaller tree, and put it up on the diningroom table to keep it out of reach. Then as they got older we put it down lower, but not until they could understand the words "no" and "don't touch". Mine are 14 months apart, so it was almost like having twins. Got the potty training and weening done almost simultaneously because the younger one wanted to do what the older one did. Aper.
Anyway... that worked for us. Plus, constant attention, but at that age they are definitely in to everything. It's a curious world to them. Ornaments are really shiney. I have pictures of them with neat expressions as they looked at the lights and ornaments back when my oldest one was 2. It's so cute to look back. Take LOTS AND LOTS OF PICTURES! They grow up fast! Mine are 14 and 15 now and going through puberty. Wow how fun is that?

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What worked best for us was to have the bottom half all plastic bulbs, I tied a string loop on each one where the hanger would go & had the whole bottom half of the tree as the kids half. I placed some of the plastic ornaments on the top half too just to make it blend. The kids would remove the bulbs & then put them back & we never had an issue. When it was not a forbidden "no don't touch" object it made it less of an interest.
We tried the string wrapped bulbs one year, yah, that was a HUGE mess! Don't recommend that. =)
Good luck.

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Hi R.,
Our rule of thumb is to only have touchable ornaments on the reachable part of the tree (and secure the tree with fishing line- where is cannot be seen). Or you can spend your holiday season saying "no touch , no touch." I have an ornament tree for the very fragile ones and there are adorable stuffed animal style ornaments you can set on the lower branches which can be touched by little hands. This was what we followed with all of my kids(ages 2,4,6 & 8) and the all did great. We will modify this year since my little guy is getting old enough to understand. All my kids look forward to the tree and don't obsess on it- the presents are a different story. It's one year find what works for you and enjoy!
Good luck!

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Putting a tree up is something we've always done, I used basic rules like, if its small enough to choke on or has moving parts that could fall off and be swallowed it doesn't go up on the tree. Mind your light wires and make sure none are loose enough to get wrapped around tiny hands or necks. We've always used a standard strip power supply for our lights. I put covers on all the unused sockets and put the power strip under the tree skirt. As for keeping our son out of the tree, we would let him know this was something just to look at but not touch. It takes some time and a lot of patience, but its totally worth it and I always got great photos of him staring up at the tree. Also some people are die hard real tree fans and I was one myself, however the best thing about having a fake tree is that I didn't have to worry or wonder where all those loose needles were going.

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Get shatterproof ornaments. I got a whole bunch @ walmart, and our tree looks great!! They are shiny balls & shapes, just like the real thing, you can't even tell. They have boxes of solid colors, mixed, glitter etc.$5.44 for a box of 24. They have a huge box of balls/shapes for $16.88 Also K-mart has some fancier ones I think right now they are buy one get one free or 1/2 off they are Martha Stewart, glittery, etc. Anywway we did our tree all shatterproof balls & then I bought a pack of 21 fancy jingle balls to put on there too,looks super cute & no one gets hurt!! :0)

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I always had two trees, one for the kids and one for the grown-ups. They had their own smaller version with their own ornaments it was at their level so they could do learn to handle it with care. The only adaptations I made to mine was no tinsle too near the bottom and no ornaments that could be broken within reach. We always secured it to the wall (at first it was for the dog, then it made sense for the kids too!!)

Now having said that, our dog always got into more trouble than the kids!

Enjoy Christmas and all the beauty it brings. Many blessings of the season to you and your family.

B.
www.HeyYouGetReal.com

My son is 20 months and is also into EVERYTHING! He climbs on everything he can, etc. We also have a daughter who is 4 months. To keep my sanity this year, we have opted for a table top tree with battery-operated lights and no limbs that stick out that he can reach. I'm decorating it with just a few sentimental ornaments. Not my ideal tree as I always decorate quite a bit and nicely for Christmas but I know my son will tear it down in a split second!!!! My daughter is quite calm so next year I can probably go back to getting a big tree!

Two ideas...tree on table....and plastic oriments...remeber it is only a stage and he will move past this. Dont try to have a perfect tree it will drive you crazy....after three kids...my last one is one now....you will look back and laugh about how all your oriments end up on the top half of the tree...hahhaha.....Enjoy Christmas with your son and make memories....you will forget about that perfect tree....

I bought unbreakable decorations and had my 3 children help me decorate the tree. Of course I did have a collection of decor in one spot on the tree but the little wonderful who did it was proud of what he could do(decorate the Christmas tree). Also my tree was wide at the bottom and low to the ground to discourage them from climbing under the tree. Now, if your little wonderful picks an ornament off the tree to show you, help him put it back or say thank you while holding your hand out to receive the prize. I did have 2 close calls of tree tiping, but that was while I was in the room.
I also had three ,large breed, dogs.

Hi R.,
I would just get a smaller tree and put it higher up. That way you can enjoy the Holidays better without all the worrying! If you have to leave it on the floor, you could put items in there that don't break so fast on the bottom..
Happy Holidays!
-Y.

We have two kids and we went through this whole ordeal with both of them. What we ended up doing was buying "special" ornaments just for them that go on the bottom of the tree. That way they could take them off and play with them and leave the rest of the ornaments alone. That seemed to work until my son decided to yank on the Christmas lights. We worked with him on it and he stopped doing that after a day or two.

The other option is to get a train that goes around the tree. That way the little one will be more focused on the train than the tree. That has seemed to work with some of my friends kids.

Hi there i just bought some xmas ornaments at costplus world market. They are beautiful and made in india so bright jewel coloured fabrics and sequins and best of all unbreakable! Although you would have to watch they didnt get chewed... My daughter is a bit older but like you i didnt want her breaking all the glass ornaments.

last year we only put up plastic ornaments (clear, non pointed icicles) and farbric bows and attached them with floral wire, wrapping them tightly to the branches of our douglas fir. (You can floral wire at most crafty type shops) The best part was pull as he did nothing was comming off that tree! even though my son is now 2 and a half we'll prolly do it again this year too.

When our son was that little, we got a very small tree, and put it up on a table where he couldn't get to it. I love decorating and Christmas trees, and this way I got to have that and not have any worries about his bringing the tree down on top of himself.

Our daughter was 8 months old when she got to experience her first Christmas. We went to Target and since then whe have only bought plastic ornaments. I definately recommend it because you don't have to worry about any broken glass.

R.,

We just went through this for the past few years with our twin toddlers. I know that it definatly did not fit my picture but it REALLY worked. We set up the christmas tree inside of a playpen. THe tree was safe the presents were safe the ornaments were safe and most of all my babies where safe. Another twins mom simply has ALL plastic and wood ornaments on her tree. I hope that this helps.

C. B.

Hello R.,

My son was a year and a half last christmas so I know about the little hands.

This is what I did....

I took red and green card stock (construction paper would work as well).

I cut them into ornament shapes.

I then printed off Pictures of my son throughout the year, starting from the Christmas before.

Then I attached the pics onto the card stock. Punched holes at the top and tied a silver ribbon around it to hang it on the tree.

I also had the lights and red bows on the tree.

So, if the tree did fall there was no broken ornaments, just a mess and what mother isn't use to cleaning up!

To our surprise my son didn't even head to the tree without one of us with him.

But, of course everyone loved the Tree of Dean.

Have a wonderful Holiday Season,
M. and Dean (28mns.)

With our daughter, we got a smaller tree, more like 5 feet, and then put it up on a table. Then we put all the breakable ornaments up on the top of the tree while putting wooden ones, etc. on the lower branches. It worked pretty well.

Also, when you put the tree up you can show it to him and tell him some basic rules about it. "We keep our hands off the tree." "Be gentle to the ornaments" You'll probably have to reinforce them over and over but he'll get the hang of it.

S.

Get a smaller tree and stick it on the table (or get a card table to put the tree on). That way it is out of reach, but you still get the tree - only pint sized like baby! Oh, and forgo the fancy ornaments, just get plastic or "baby-proof" ornaments from the dollar tree. Or make them - cranberries and popcorn, paper strips cut into circles, little vegetable cookies (that way if he eats it, it's also nutrition).

I remembered when my girl was 21 months old, I put little plush toys on the Christmas tree - beanie babies, small inexpensive stuffed animals at Ikea, Target etc. and we had presents all around the tree so she could not get real close. If she is interested in any toy up on the tree, we carried her up to take it down so she could play with it.
Wonder if this will work for you? BTW, if you want a little more glamour and glistening, you may use glitter glue on cardboard products.

Remember that this is about your child, not you!
How about getting a small table top tree that your son can have in his room and another tree (Maybe 3-5 feet tall) that you only have ornaments on it that won't break. If you have the electric plugs childproofed, you won't need to worry about the lights...make it fun for your son....have him help you decorate and if something falls off, don't have it be a big deal....your child doesn't care about anything but your being happy, so don't have it be an issue for him by having it be about YOU...your job is to show him the beauty of the holidays and to invent traditions that you all love doing together...let him enjoy the magic and pure joy of the holidays...if you take your attention off of you and focus on your son, you will do the right thing....

when we were all little, our tree was always 2-3 feet above the floor. my dad was into trains and had built a little mountain town that the tree stood in the middle of.

We did the same and Tanya. I bought a lot of kid friendly, non breakable ones for the bottom half of the tree, and put some of the nicer ones up top. I even let the girls hang the bottom ones. Yes it looked rather odd with bare patches here and there, but between the girls and the cats, knocking ornaments off the bottom was common place and eventually the bare spots got covered. :)

When my son was that age he too was into everything. We just opted to get a small live tree that we put up on our table and decorated. It just didn't seem worth all the aggravation and danger of trying to keep him away for a full-sized tree but I too wanted to celebrate the holidays.

Hi R.,

I don't hang breakable ornaments. Those go in a pretty glass bowl in the center of my dining room table. (That's actually a tradition my mom started when we were little and we've all always continued.) Only non-breakable, toddler friendly ornaments go on our tree. Also, I let my 2 1/2 year old help me hang them. We talked about being careful to not pull on the tree while we did because we didn't want it to fall over. She's now very proud of "her" tree and tells everyone to be careful when they touch the ornaments. This seems to work.

Another idea would be to put an expandable baby gate in front of your tree.

Good luck!

Well, I ahve a son who is the same way he is now 3 and what we did last year was just get a samml table top tree so that he could not distroy it and just decorated the rest of the house festively.

Well, here's response #55 so who knows if you'll get to it! Last X-Mas our very agile, coordinated, climbing son was 18 months so we had the same problem. We decorated the bottom 2 ft in ornaments that weren't fragile or dear to our hearts. We hung ones that were soft or 'stuffed' & also any other sturdy one we had. We had no lights on the bottom 2 ft of the tree, either. But what made it bearable was I have 2 'decorations' made by Fisher-Price for the kids to play with: a nativity scene & Santa w/his sleigh & a couple of reindeer & Mrs. Claus w/a little village that. Go to the Fisher-Price web site & see what you can find or try Toys R Us. I got both of those 'decorations' after X-Mas so they were on sale. Or maybe try a store like Big Lots & buy a cheap nativity scene or decorations you won't be upset about if they break. Hope this helps & Merry Christmas!

I put all the breakable ornaments above toddler's reach. I also got non-breakable ornaments that the kids could put on the tree at their level and play with if they wanted to. It's a little messy but it also looks lovely, like a christmas tree in a house with children.

Hi there...just wanted to let you know that we have a tree (and a daughter who also loves to get into everything..she is just about to be 12 months old as well as another 11.5 mo. old baby who is currently staying with us). We decorated the tree with lots of lights and were careful to put only kid friendly ornaments towards the bottom...felt and wood. She loves the tree and we have worked hard at being "gentle" with it (a concept she understands because we have cats). I did have to move all the dangling ornaments from the bottom bough as they proved to be too much of a temptation....I was afraid the tree would look lopsided but it really isn't that noticeable. Both babies have learned that they can gently touch the tree but not pull on it. I will tell you there is nothing more heartwarming than their faces when we turn on that tree every morning. It is worth the extra work. Hope this helps.

R.,

Two different things that I have done.

With my now 5 yr old we did use a baby gate in front of the tree but it was one of those foldable ones and we had furniture that we could anchor it to. It was far enough from the tree not to obstruct the view.

I also have used this idea with all my kids.

Put only kid friendly ornaments on the bottom half of the tree. Go through your ornaments and you will be able to see which ones are unbreakable and large enough not to be swallowed. We put a few of their smaller stuffed animals and hung them from the tree also. I would also limit the ornaments on the top half of the tree to ones that aren't round shiny balls. I think that they look too much like fruit.(My little 2 yr old girl (now 18) once took a large red shiny round ornament in a dept. store and tried to take a bite out of it. It shattered and we are only lucky that she was not injured.) Look at everything with new eyes and try to think what your 18 month old will think of it. Look at all your decorations with a safety "eye". Somethings will be better left not used this year and possibly the next couple of years.

You might have to pick up a few new ornaments or decorations that are child friendly (be sure and check to see that they are USA made)but there is no reason to not decorate for Christmas.

Congratulations on your work status, you and your son will love it.

Good luck,

Evelyn

You can get plastic ornaments at your local dollar store. LED lights are more expensive, but not as hot or as easy to pull apart. Other than that, just keep an eye on your little one, and only put water in the tree, none of the special tree liquid (which can be poisonous).

R.,
I was worried about the same thing when my boys were that age, they are now 4 and 7. One idea is to just decorate top half of the tree. If that bothers you than the other idea is go to a fairly inexpensive store like Walmart, Target or World Market and get some unbreakable ornaments, like straw ornaments, the ones painted gold are really pretty. Or felt, cloth, crocheted, wood, tin or even the paper mache' balls are great because they look breakable but are pretty durable. When I switched from my breakable ornaments to my unbreakable ones, I liked them so much that I ended up keeping a lot of them. Also, let him help decorate the tree and after he goes to bed you can change them around, he'll never notice. Hope these ideas help.

C. R.

We put our tree on our coffee table. It's a little goofy looking but not too bad. This is our 3rd year doing it & it works great. The tree skirt covers the table & then we put the presents on the table & floor.

The solution depends on you. If you really want a tree where your child can reach it then you need to be aware that your going to be stressed out letting him/her know that she can't touch it constantly and that you shouldn't be out of the room and leaving them alone near the tree even if you think they are occupied by other things. They will go over to it. (Before decorating the tree let the tree sit where its going to be and let her/him look at it and feel it and smell it) then add lights let it sit there for a little bit couple days then add the orniments and follow the below advise. everyday you can add a few more ornaments but remind them not to touch the tree.

Solution for when you really want the tree up no lights and ornaments towards the bottom. up further you can add ornaments that is safe (NO GLASS) further up from those add some lights.

What we have done 1st christmas our baby was just born we had the traditional tree with everything he wasn't mobile. Second Christmas he was 12 months. we decorated a small tree and put it on the table. third christmas he was 2years we got a bigger tree and put it on the floor and did the above. He understood he wasn't to touch the tree or put the tree droppings in his mouth. (IF your child understands he/she isn't suppose to do this at age of 18 months then go for it) This year we will have the big tree with orniments because he is three and understands the is for looking and not for touching. (A train went under (when he was 2) the tree and helped with distracting him from toughing the tree)I just gave birth so I will def. start this faze again next Christmas. When our daughter will be 14 months.

I hope this helps.
F.

as sad as this is, you may want to forgo the 'nice tree and nice ornaments' this year. we had the issues last year and bought an ugly prelit tree from Walmart. We put only candycanes on it and place those a little higher up. we plan to do the same this year since Brigit is 18 months old and has no desire to not touch everything. yes, i am looking forward to the time when i can bring back the real tree and family ornaments.

HI there! I have never responded before to one of these posts, but this one hit me as so familiar as my son was also VERY busy and at 18 months got into everyhting as well (he is now 3 1/2). At Christmas time, I ended up decorating the tree a little differently that year. We put most of the breakable ornaments up higher and then left a few wooden ornaments, or those of a sturdier nature at the bottom where he could reach. He loved exploring those ornaments and playing with them, even pulling them off the tree. But because I did not have to say no or take them away it seemed to satisfy his curiosity enough that he had his own ornaments to play with and marvel at. So he never tried to get to anything else that was higher. I also decorated the house that year and left things that he could play with, like stuffed snowmen and santas, at a level that he could get to so he did not feel left out and I still got to decorate my house!
Hope this helps! Good luck! E. R. mom of very active 3 1/2 yr old boy.

Merry Christmas, R.! It's a magical time for little toddlers, for sure. I would suggest one of 2 things. The first is to start collecting unbreakable ornaments (wood, fabric, straw, ribbons, etc.), and the 2nd is to buy a smaller tree, place it on top of a small sturdy table, and then drape the table with a floor-length cloth. That way you'll have the illusion of a larger tree, but the ornaments will be out of the way of your son. When my girls were younger, there was the most wonderful Santa at Stanford Shopping Center (he has since retired or passed away, alas). Every Christmas, I'd get a photo taken with him and the girls, and I'd make a simple photo ornament for the tree. I just cut the photo into a smaller size, glue it onto a piece of pretty paper, laminate it in our home laminating machine, punch a hole in the top and hang it on our tree. Now, 17 years later, I have a great assortment of homemade memory ornaments on our tree. The girls love revisiting their Christmases past every time they hang these ornaments on the tree.
All the best,
S. A.

This sounds so familiar! My youngest is 17 months. We did not put any breakables on the tree and the ornaments on the low branches are hung with a small loop of string (no hooks for him to reach). We let him "help" our four year old hang the low ornaments and he really enjoyed this. He does like to take one ornament on and off (I am okay with this), but leaves the rest alone. Maybe give him one that he is allowed to touch and put the others off limits - or just hang them out of his reach.

If you're certain that he won't keep his "little hands off" the ornaments, a length of picket fence can look wonderful. If you decorate it well (faux snow on the ground, some wreaths and boughs hanging on it), it can be gorgeous and serve the purpose you have in mind.
Good luck.
K.

We also have an 18 month old son. We DID put the round gate around our Christmas tree. No, it wasn't the prettiest of Christmas scenarios, but, it was still Christmas. We put our nicer ornaments up higher than his reach and also lower than the gate. He did attempt to play with the branches at first that were in his reach, but, just told him, "no, no, that's for the pretty tree..." after a couple of days it was normal house stuff to him and it wasn't a big deal to him any more and was not really intersted in it any more. The more you make something a "no-no" about things, the more this age group wants to play with something. We just basically made it something pretty for him to look at and participate in without making a big fuss and before long, that was it. That seems to work with anything in our house. Even the buttons on the TV, we just put a piece of duct tape over the actual buttons, leaving the "eye" untaped. He can't see the shiny buttons anymore and has not bothered with it anymore. Hope this helps...

This may be equally depressing to you, but we do a table top tree and put it between the couch and the living room window. From the street, it looks like a full-sized tree, and from inside, you still get the full treatment of lights and ornaments.

Good luck & merry Christmas!

I put my tree in a corner so tipping would be a little less and the very bottom of my tree was bare of ornaments. You can also opt for a small fake tree that you can put on a table high up which is what a friend of mine is doing. She is using the tree skirt to "hide" the table. Hope some of this works for you. Have a happy holidays!!

Hi R.,
What we've done when out kids were that small was set up the Christmas tree up on a sturdy table or box draped with a nice Chritmas tablecloth or Christmas material. That way the the tree is out of reach and you can still decorate it as you always have. Hope this helps!!

They have those baby playpens, I would think that would work. We have one, we used it for our dog when we were training her. It is white. You can put it all around the tree and get creative with it. Maybe you can decorate it somehow with tree skirts or other material that would not be ugly. Just drape material over it. We had to train our puppy who was just 5 months old last Xmas not to touch the ornaments. I am pregnant and don't have kids yet, so I don't know how hard that would be. I am sure it could be frustrating though. My pup learned really quick though.

I suggest getting a tree small enough you can put on top of an end table.

Merry Christmas!

I have three children (9 girl, 6 girl, 4 boy) and when they were little we would have to get a smaller tree and put it on a table. Sure it's not quite the same as having a larger tree but you'll drive yourself nuts pulling him off the tree constantly. Plus it is also a safety issue with glass ornaments and those sharp ornament hooks.

Just a suggestion that has worked for us!

Happy Holidays and good luck.

put the ornaments high enough that your toddler can't reach them. that's working for my 15 month old!
L.

try getting a small tree and put it on a table instead of on the floor... if you prefer a full size tree then decorate the bottom part with child safe ornaments, and keep the glass or breakables towards the top out of his reach...

How about dressing up the baby gate with lights?

I have 3 children. We always put the non breakable ornaments on the bottom half and the breakables on the top half. We let our kids help us put on the lower ornaments, which helps to take away some of the lure of the touching the forbidden. Mainly we just made sure they were always supervised around the tree. We have not had a tree topple in 12 years --- though I remember pulling one down myself sa a child!

Hi - I read your request and remembered our first Christmas when my son was aroung that age. We did decorate, but all the glass balls, (breakables) were higher up where he couldn't reach them. They we bought like wooden nutcrackers, candy canes, unbreakable ornaments and put them lower on the tree.

We also told him the tree was pretty to look at and watch the lights, but not to touch, so we can enjoy it all season long. We would notice him touching the ornaments and we would say -- be careful. We shouldn't touch.

Now, I have 3 kids and we sill do the same, because my youngest is 2-1/2.

Plus, I run a small daycare and you'd be amazed. Just a little patience and telling the child "don't touch, be careful".... does a lot of good. The children I watch in my daycare don't touch the tree. The sit VERY close, but just look at it.

Hope that helps.

Hello R.,

This brings back very fond memories for me. Hopefully either you or your husband are handy with power tools. What we did was first, cut the tree in half vertically down the middle. Second, we created a little shelve and mounted it and the tree mid-way on the wall. It was great!! We did it a few years in a row. It's definitely a conversation piece and looks great in pictures. Good Luck!!

A little about me:

I am 45 and have been married for 11 years to a wonderful husband, father and chiropractor. I'm a business women from 9 to 1 managing our 10,000 sq. ft. healing center and a mommy to two fabulous children ages 7 and 9, 24-7. I love my family and am very proud of my husband and our healing center.

I would love to see a picture of your tree if you decide to try our zany idea.

Merry Christmas
D. Marcel
Body Doc Healing Center
###-###-####

Get a smaller tree and place it on a solid table so he can't reach it.

Try putting your more precious ornaments out of reach or not on this year. Keep the less sentimental ornaments @ the lower level, that he can take-off & put on. You will have to watch him more closely but he will learn not pull on the tree.

Enjoy this time, it passes very quickly & is joyful even when it is trying.

I loved those early years with my son, who is now almost 17.

Merry Christmas!

Here is what I did when my girls were that age. I had one that was gentle and easy and the other that was into everything!! I bought each of them their own very small tree (topiary size) to put in their rooms. We made paper ornaments and colored them with crayons, mini paper chains, and had some wooden ornaments so they could decorate and re-decorate their trees all they wanted. The could even carry them out and put them near the "big" tree. The family tree was off limits to touching for everyone. Instead I told them if they wanted to look at the pretty ornaments, they could gently blow on them, but no touching. It worked pretty well - I never had a broken ornament and they at least had something tactile to do while looking at the tree.
A little about me: I am 47, been married for 25+ years and have two daughters, one who will be 24 in January and the other who is 22 and got married this past summer. I love reading and responding in this forum and dearly miss the early years when my girls were home - but life goes on!!

Is your son at the age where he would climb over the child's gates? If not, you might try a Christmas Tree fence that looks like a miniture white picket fence. You can get them at most hobby and craft stores. It does not look ugly and we have used them to keep our dogs away from our trees.

We plan to do what my mother did with me, put a string of bells at the bottom of the tree, so that we know if our little one is near the tree, and put all particularly fragile ornaments higher up on the tree.

Most importantly, anchor the top of your tree with some sort of fishing line or something (so you don't have to look at it) to the wall. This way the tree can not fall on your son.

We had this problem last year as my 2 year old was around the age of your little one. We kept most decorations up high but tried to really reinforce the "just look" and "don't touch" with the tree. My main reason for this wasn't really for breaking ornaments but for the fact that we have a fake tree with strand lights, both of which carry the lead warning on them (Almost all strands of lights and most fake trees caution you to "wash hands after handling because of lead exposure when touching the product." Lovely. So... it went pretty well with a lot of reminding... we did put the unbreakable ornaments at the bottom just in case but she only touched them a couple times. We also have a few "kid-friendly" xmas decorations like a dancing Santa and a stuffed snowman that we kept in her reach so that she could play with the "special" xmas stuff. Good luck!!

When my kids were young I went through the same thing. I ended up putting my precious glass ornaments away for a few years. I went to Target and bought unbreakable bulbs, they looked like glass, but were plastic. And some other unbreakable ornaments--metal snowflakes, wooden soldiers and santas, etc. I found some of these items at Cost Plus.

I let the kids help decorate the tree so they would take ownership of it and want it to be beautiful, and not want to wreck it. (Unfortunately we also had a new kitten that had no problem batting ornaments off the tree). But overall it was successful. The plastic ornaments were cheap, they came in a box of about 20, so I bought a couple boxes, and then gave them away when the kids (and cat) were old enough to leave the tree alone.

Good luck and happy holidays!

I always thought this was the kookiest thing, until I had kids. My step father and his first wife hung their tree from a hook in the ceiling. It was for the cats at first, but worked so well they continued for the little kids too. To try and keep little people away from it constantly is extremely draining. Good luck!

The first year when we had our daughter we were lucky enough to find a table top tree maybe about 5 ft tall and put it on top of a smaller but sturdy table in a corner. It reduced the amount of space she had to get to it and luckily she didnt even try. We now have a one year old son so I am thinking we will have to try this again. Cuz he is sure into everything too! I guess thats just what havin boys is all about! :)
good luck and happy holidays!

My day care lady has Christmas stuff everywhere in her house right now. It literally looks like Santa's workshop exploded in there. She also has 7 kids (ages 1-3) runnign around thru it all. Nothing ever gets touched/broken because from the moment she put it out she has told the kids its a no-no. Just keep reinforcing to your child that he may not touch the christmas stuff and follow thru with restrictions if he does.

We put all the good nonbreakable ornaments at the top of the tree, and really, really bent those hooks, in fact taking it down was diffult as they were wound soooo tight. The ones made of fabric and yarn were left at the bottom and both babies could take them off and return them as they pleased. We were careful to place the tree in the corner in case of a topple and we supervised them around the tree. The tree wasn't the problem though....it was the gifts! Thnk God you wrote this morning as I have a very BUSY 2 yeqar-old this season!

Hi R.,

When my kids were little (they are now 12,14 and 18) We decorated the middle and top of the tree. It looked a little funny, but those with (or have had) little ones in their life will "get it". Good luck!
Oh, and SAVOR those little moments. I promise you, you will blink and all of a sudden your helping them fill out college apps, you'll realize you've done such a good job, you put yourself out of work!!
Best to you!