I have a son that is eight months old. He is an extremely curious baby and pulls up on everything and get to everything. I haven't put up a tree yet but since it will be his first Christmas I really want to. Does anybody know or something that I could put the Christmas tree in so that he could still see and enjoy the lights but can't get close enough to pull the ornaments or tree over on himself? Thanks.
You have a couple of options.
We screwed a couple of hooks in the ceiling and used fishing line to tie the top of the tree up. If you hit studs or use ancors this will keep it from tipping over if he does decide to try to pull up.
For the ornaments, we replaced the bottow ornaments with ribbon bows and put the ornaments up higher and out or her reach. We aslo used floral wire to wrap the ornaments around the branches instead of just hooks.
He most likely will feel the tree a couple of times and stay away after that because it is not comfortable.
You can also stack wraped empty boxes all around to slow him down or you can get garden fencing, (that short decorative plastic or rot iron fencing) and make a little baby gate all the way around.
Put sand in ziplock bags on base of the tree stand and twist the orinmets on the branches and have a wonderfull christmas
You could put it in a room that can be blocked off with a baby gate (like a formal dining room.) That way he can look at it from the gate and go in WITH you for a closer peek. You can also get a baby gate that sets up in larger spaces (they are very very big) to bock off a whole area of the room and keep the tree safe.
Our house is very open concept and we don't have any kind of place for a tree without completely gating it off, so I know how you feel!
Try a smaller potted tree up on a small table. Then he would pull himself up on the table to look at the tree. As others have said, keep the lower branches covered with unbreakable or soft ornaments that he can't hurt and that won't hurt him.
Good luck!
We have our tree in between our fireplace and a chair. We bought a fireplace screen/gate and we put it around it. It is heavy metal and holds her when she pulls up. It works really well. Good luck.
Hi Kana,,,
This is very funny to me you see my mother had to put the tree in the playpen when i was little so there you go
Good Luck Lanette
This year we opted to buy two 4 ft. potted christmas trees instead of putting up the big one and having all sorts of accidents (I didn't want the tree to fall or my expensive ornaments broken). Each tree is on an end table and my daughter can walk up to the table and see the tree but because of the height of the pot cannot reach the actual branches and ornaments. This has worked out better than I could have imagined and they still look pretty too.
When our kids were at that stage, we set our tree up in a square play pen and left the lights off the bottom of the tree (so little fingers could not touch) and put only "touchable" ornaments at the bottom where they could touch but not break anything. It was cute and we got lots and lots of compliments about how it looked and what a good idea it was! The sides of the play pen helps prevent the child from reaching the tree and pulling it over, but you could tie the tree to the back side, just in case. Good luck!
The gates are pricey so we placed our tree in the corner of the living room and used the couch, love seat and wall to act as barriers. For the fourth opening, I used his Pack 'N Play. It has wheels so we can move it aside to get to the tree. I read that Christmas lights have lead so be careful!
My first year with my son we put an octagon gate around it and that was great. If you have a gate try that if not then decorate only half the tree. He won't be able to grab the ornaments or lights. If you are afraid he may pull down the tree you will need to get creative on placement. Corners usually work great and create some type of barrier. Good luck and he will love watching the tree especially when the lights are on.
i have an eight month old, similar to yours, she pulls everything over, and pulls up on everything, we decided to embrace it lol, we put the tree up and tied it around the middle and tied it to the curtain pole so she cant pull it over. at the bottom of the tree where she can reach we put only soft decorations, so she can take them off (and she does!) if she wants to, no lights at the bottom.
of course we have a fake tree - this would not be good with a real tree.
for the most part she leaves the tree alone now becasue its not off limits, she would try everywhich way to get to the tree if it was behind something
For some reason it was never an issue with my 3 kids- I told them DANGER/HOT! and they believed me! But my mother in law (5 kids-all 2 yrs apart) put her tree in the playpen.
It would be easier in the long run to just teach him not to touch it. It will take a long time sitting there with him, but it will be worth it in the end! For my kids, as soon as they could crawl, I would just follow them over to the thing they wanted to touch but weren't supposed to, then every time they touched it, I would lightly tap their hand and say a firm "NO" and move their hand away. It would take probably 30 times in a row at times, but eventually they got tired of trying to touch and got the message "I'm not supposed to touch that". He will probably go back several times, but if you are consistent, he will learn to not touch it, and then you can have a tree up or whatever else you want and he will leave it alone. It's a lot of work, but worth it when you have a toddler that you can tell "NO" and they will listen and not touch/break everything in sight
Sounds funny but it works. Put it in the playpen.
If you do not have a play pen small tree with silk flowers and plastic ornaments on floor. If you put it up high he will pull up and try to get it. If at floor level he will touch and look. This is a special time enjoy and take lots of pictures for him and your parents for later. Merry Christmas.
My son will be one in January. Our neighbors put up there tree and he didnt seem intreasted but they did have a train around the bottom that he derailed. They turned it off and that was that. He didnt seem to care about it. I was also a Jaunary baby and didnt play with the tree...so mom says. I was thinking about seting up our small tree. But I like the Idea of getting boxes and wraping them. You can find fruit boxes at HEB for free, the liquor store has case boxes. I would have to tape some bricks in them so he dosent toss them around. No bows either. I couldnt imagine our six foot tree fiting in a play pin! Best of luck. Let us know what you decide.
I have never known a family that had to put the tree away from the child. Just teach him to "look with his eyes". Pull him away from the tree if he gets close and do not leave him in that room unless an adult is there to watch him. Eight months, I am sure you do not leave him alone in a room on the floor. When you decorate the tree, place all of the "kid friendly" ornaments on the bottom portion of the tree.
Remember he needs to learn not to touch certain things. If you take him to a store, a business, or a Church with a tree, they are not going to block it or put it in a playpen. He might as well learn to enjoy without touching extremely fragile things.
Another thing we did in our neighborhood with so many kids the same age, we taught them all to walk with their hands behind their backs when we went into dept stores. We taught them to ask permission to touch things. We would then either hold the item in our hands or allow the child to hold the item as we guided them to be "gentle".
Have a wonderful holiday. Christmas is even more special with a child.
My son is almost 1 (in 9 days)! We put him in the exersaucer right by the tree. He enjoys almost getting to touch it and looking at all the lights, etc. We have all the kid ornaments on his eye level. It also helps that his big sister comes in and tells him about all the ornaments and how to care for our tree. She also gives him the safety speech as well. After that he seems to get his fill. Also, you might want to wait before you put gifts under the tree=- I found out the hard way! Our daughter got into all the presents her first Christmas (as we were loading up to go out of town!)Good luck!
Veronica
My baby's first Christmas i did not want to go without a tree so what I did was I bought a small tree about 3ft or so decorated it and placed it on top of an end table in front of the window, just make sure there are no cords hanging out where he can pull on it. It worked perfect.
Anchor the tree to the wall behind it to prevent toppling. As for keeping him out of the tree & ornaments themselves, GOOD LUCK! You'd be amazed at how inventive a determined little one can be once that mind is set. I've raised 4 kids and have 4 grandkids and there's nothing that will keep them out of the tree. (Even the grown ones!)
My suggestion is to use inexpensive unbreakable ornaments on the bottom 1/3 of the tree. I say inexpensive because you don't want to put a huge expense into something if the little one ends up chewing on it. (It'll probably happen no matter how careful you are!)
You can also put a small tree up on a table that's away from other furniture but I'd still anchor it from the back just in case. That will put the gifts out of reach for awhile also.