How to Create a Toddler-Friendly Christmas Tree {A How-To Fail Guide}

This is my toddler’s third Christmas. He was only one month old the first year, and we were too exhausted to think about doing a Christmas tree or decorating the house. Last year, we had a one-year-old who knew how to walk and put anything he found in his mouth. Naturally, we went with a smaller tree on the kitchen table that he couldn’t reach.

This year, we have an active two-year-old with opinions. He can run, jump, climb, talk back, and is purposeful with his actions. Even when he is doing something he KNOWS is wrong.

I asked my Mom Tribe for tips on having a toddler friendly Christmas Tree…

The advice from my parent friends on Instagram and Facebook was great. It ranged from straight up laughter, as well as and tears from other toddler-moms, to a few pieces of sound advice I want to share with you all:

Put a kid fence around your Christmas Tree to keep toddlers and pets two feet away. One mom even said she would put the fence away every night so she and her husband could enjoy the tree as it should be.

Buy this fence on Amazon for your Christmas Tree (and anything else you may want your toddler to stay away from. 

Get your child their own felt Christmas Tree with removable ornaments so he will (hopefully) stay focused that and ignore the main tree.

Buy this felt Christmas Tree from Etsy. 

Add all of your good ornaments to the top of the tree and leave the rest bare, or just add cheap shatterproof ornaments to the bottom. Your kid may take them off, but at least they won't break anything.

Shop Christmas Ornament Set on Target. 

Advice for toddler mamas who have strong kids: Look into getting furniture straps to hold the Christmas Tree in place so your kid cannot pull it or push it over.

Buy these furniture straps from Amazon (I am sure you will find year-round use for them also!)

Instead of taking off the ornaments, play a game and have your toddler "poke" each of them so they still get the satisfaction of playing. 

Let's try this out

We went with shatterproof ornaments held up with pipe cleaners instead of the small hooks that could be dangerous in the hands of a small child—or underfoot for mom and dad! We let him help put the ornaments on the tree while listening to Jingle Bells from his favorite YouTube show, Dave & Ava. While he has no sense of style—you cannot put two red balls on the same branch, that’s Tree Decorating 101—he did have a blast. 

Christmas Tree Advice for Toddler Households

Every kid is different, so what works for one family might not work for another. My advice is to have a BACKUP PLAN for your Christmas Tree this year, like putting it in the kitchen behind the baby gate, or even on the patio where it can be seen through a sliding glass door. And if your toddler is anything like mine… don’t even think about adding water to the Christmas Tree stand. You will find soggy goldfish crackers who “wanted to go swimming.”

After all is said and done….. I thought I had a toddler friendly christmas tree… But alas…

I found that my back up plan to my back up plan did NOT keep my two-year-old from wanting to do everything in his small but mighty power to touch the ornaments and take them off the tree.

So for every ornament, he took off to put in a row on the couch, we ended up adding it to a bowl on the bookshelf (above toddler reach) with a tree that is 75% empty.

Thankfully I still love it and am looking forward to waking up Christmas morning with my family. That is what really matters, not an Instagram-Worthy Christmas tree.

And let's be honest... The paint swatches that have been up for 6+ months are a good touch also. Someday my husband and I will get around to having some time to paint the house, right?!