HOW will I keep kids out of my Christmas tree?

[HillbillyMama]

So, I am hedging on even putting up a tree this year. I have a 3 year old, 18 month old, and I babysit a 7 and 11 month old...and they ALL get into everything all the time! I can just see the tree being drug all over the living room, ornaments broke, etc. Anyone have any fool proof ideas on how to childproof my Christmas tree? LOL!!!

[s@hmommy]

We just don't decorate the lower half. Looks silly but dd loves it and I couldn't imagine Christmas at our house without it.

[Terra]

When my boys were little like that, I just used all plastic ornaments with ribbon to hang them instead of hooks. That way if they moved them around then it wasn't a big deal.

[venia]

Originally Posted by Terra When my boys were little like that, I just used all plastic ornaments with ribbon to hang them instead of hooks. That way if they moved them around then it wasn't a big deal.

This. We have all plastic or acrylic ornaments hung by twine. The kids move the ornaments around all day long. Right now all the ornaments are on two or three branches The only rule is that ornaments need to stay on the tree and not end up in the far depths of the toy box or outside.

[Terra]

Originally Posted by venia This. We have all plastic or acrylic ornaments hung by twine. The kids move the ornaments around all day long. Right now all the ornaments are on two or three branches The only rule is that ornaments need to stay on the tree and not end up in the far depths of the toy box or outside.

Yes!! And they sag down because of the weight of like 10 ornaments on a branch!

[Rhianna'sMommy]

I make no effort to keep kids out of the tree. Everything is hung with a string so the kids can hang them themselves. The few breakable ones we have go high out of their reach. Otherwise, I don't care if they take an ornament off and look at it as long as they put it back on the tree. I find after the first couple of days the curiousity wears off and they leave it alone.

[MsGiggles]

I've heard of people gating off their trees.

[Nerissa]

We have always decorated the tree as normal. In the last 5 years maybe a couple orniments have gotten broken. I seam to break at least one a year. We teach them to be gentle and not to touch the orniments.

[mama2jack]

The bottom half of the tree has all cloth/plastic/durable ornaments. The top half has the glass or special ones. When I had young toddlers I left off anything that would have made me sad if the tree toppled and it broke. They are allowed to hold and move ornaments as long as they go back on the tree.

[Computermama]

I had two huge gates. When DD1 was little the room was sectioned off into her space, and where the tree was (for other reasons than just the tree). Once we removed that gate for the other reasons, I put the tree up without anything and saw how she was. She didn't play much with the ornaments, but couldn't be trusted with the gifts, so it went up just around the tree. Once she was 4 I could trust her to leave the tree alone. This year I probably won't gate the tree - DD1 is trustworthy, and DD2's not terribly mobile yet, but next year I'll have to again.