I’ve been brainstorming a lot lately about our Christmas tree. With a toddler in the house, whom we affectionately call our “little monkey,” there are extra precautions to be taken to make sure that our Christmas tree is safe, both to and from our child. We don’t want our tree hurting our son, and we don’t want our son hurting the tree.
The easiest way is to create a physical barrier in the form of a play yard baby gate, which can be wrapped around the tree. The only problem with this, though, is it is not exactly visually appealing, so I have been thinking of ways to disguise it. One possibility is to place the tree on a platform within the gate so that the gate doesn’t hide the bottom half of the tree. Then the gate can be decorated with fabric and ribbon, almost like a standing Christmas tree skirt. Another possibility I thought of was to wrap each section of the gate like a present, so that the tree would look like it was surrounded by giant gifts. I’m going to make a trip to the “North Pole” in the mall for inspiration. If I remember correctly, they have created a similar barrier around the area where they take photos of Santa and the kids. Maybe I can mimic that setup in my own living room!
Another option is to raise the tree off the floor altogether by having a smaller table-top display. This might be a good option if you are living in a smaller space and you have a child who has not learned to climb onto tables yet.
If you have the option of setting up your Christmas tree in a separate room, such as an unused dining room, you could always close that whole room off until the big day.
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