Baby Safe Christmas Decor
Thanksgiving has passed and it’s time to decorate for the holidays…but you have some mischievous hands that can bring chaos to your festive decor.
There are two obvious options:
- Don’t decorate and let little one go about crawling, walking, and tugging on everything (already baby proofed) in your home.
- Decorate away and pray your child doesn’t break any heirlooms or pull a 9 foot tree on top of themselves.
I’ll be walking you through magical option 3!
3. Make your house as festive as possible while keeping your little one and your expensive decor in one piece!
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Kitchen Upper Cabinet Ribbons & Bows
Fancy up your cabinets with some fun holiday ribbons and bows. Baby can’t reach it and it’s a lovely way to brighten up the place your family gathers so often.
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Garland Above Kitchen Cabinets or Mantel
Throw your fun garland on the top edge of your upper kitchen cabinets or along your mantel.
If you’re forgoing a tree all together this year, this is a great way to display some ornaments and still get the evergreen and lights showing.
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Re-locate Your Christmas Village
If you have been collecting these expensive and traditional villages over the years, the last thing you want is for a piece to break.
Our normal placement is too close for comfort, so we are opting to throw all of those curious cords, choking hazard mini people, and breakable buildings in another room where there will be no temptation, but we can still enjoy it!
Even if you’re able to get it up high, check that whatever it is on top of is sturdy. If you can wiggle it, pieces can break! Triple check!
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Raise Stockings with Boxes
Grab some small boxes and put some cans of food in them or wrap a stack of books. The last thing you need is for baby to just get their finger tips on the end of a stocking and have a jagged, heavy, metal stocking hangar fall on them.
Be sure that even with their biggest reach they can’t go for them. You don’t want heavy boxes falling on them either. Every store has decorative boxes, but you can wrap just about anything around your house as long as it’s stable enough. (Let’s be real, how many Amazon boxes do you have laying around?)
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Relocate Stockings
Though the poem may say, “the stockings were hung by the chimney with care”, you don’t have to put them there! Get out some 3M hooks and put each family member’s stocking on their bedroom door. Or fill up an empty wall with those colorful giant socks!
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Block off Christmas Tree
If you’re able to get the Christmas tree in an area protected by baby gate, job well done. For some home layouts, that’s just not ideal. Try placing the tree in a corner with a couch on both sides and an ottoman blocking any holes.
If you’d like to spring for a baby gate that can connect to itself to go around the tree.
Get some large cardboard boxes (Amazon subscribe and save diaper boxes work great!), fill them with very heavy items and surround the tree with them. The worst that can happen is baby unwrapping the boxes.
Grab an end table and throw your 5-6 foot tree right on top! Be sure the little ones can’t reach the tree skirt or any stems to pull it down!
If you’re hard core and need your tree and don’t want any distractions, you may want to get yourself some baby safety furniture straps to connect the tree at least half way up to the wall so that if baby gets a hold of the tree, it’s not going to come down on top of them.
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Shrink your Christmas Tree
If you’re used to 10 foot trees or artificial trees, perhaps wait until next year. Head out to your local tree lot. They will have a section of 2-3 foot trees or “tabletop trees”.
They’re a steal at a tree lot for usually about $10-$20. This way, you can get your tree, get the smell of fresh pine, decorate, and display it. It will be on a smaller scale, but your peace of mind will be worth it.
Spring for a few baby trees and put one in each room. Let your kids have a little tree on top of their dresser and let them make ornaments to decorate them.
OR grab some tomato cages and wrap in garland or decorative mesh and lights and decorate. Place on table tops so no little hands can get them.
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Hang Wreaths
Not only on your front door! Throw some 3M hooks up on the other doors in your home or in the center of empty wall space and throw a festive wreath up!
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String Garland up High
Grab some hooks and string your garland up over windows, or at your ceiling line. It will bring a bit of bright light to dark corners and will be far away from mischievous hands.
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Hang Mistletoe
You can’t go wrong with mistletoe! Hang it in doorways or above doorways with some 3M temporary hooks. It’s cute, sweet, and safe!
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Hang Christmas Cards
Show off how loved your family is! Grab some 3M hooks to hang some fun holiday ribbon by your front door. Or hang ribbons in horizontal lines on the wall to create the illusion of a Christmas tree shape.
Grab a tomato cage at your local hardware or gardening store. Stand on entry table or end table. Pull stakes together and tie with decorative ribbon. Use clothes pins to make a Christmas Card Tree.
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Hang Ornaments or Snowflakes in Windows
Have fun cutting out snowflakes as a family and hang them with fishing line or ribbon from the curtain rod of a window. Make some Borax snowflakes to display.
If you’re choosing to skip the tree this year, display your ornaments in the windows strung by festive ribbon or fishing line.
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Hang Christmas Lights in the Kids’ Rooms
Give your kids some holiday spirit. Take a string of lights and some 3M hooks and put them away from wandering hands but where they can be enjoyed. Read Christmas books by the light of them or use a small string of them as a night light.
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Display Ornaments in Glass
If you’re not doing a Christmas Tree or you’re only decorating from the top to the middle, go to your local dollar store or craft store. Pick up some large hurricane glasses or fishbowls and place your ornaments in them on the dining room table, a bookshelf, or counter top.
Now that your home is set for the holidays, start making memories! Check out:
76 Fun Winter Activities for your Family
How To Make Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments
Christmas Toy Guide for ages 1-3
The Ultimate Family Christmas Movie List
52 Comments
I love that you wrote about this! As a newer mom, it’s definitely top of mind. Great tips 🙂
Thank you! I am a Christmas fiend so when mine started crawling, walking, pulling up, and climbing, I knew I needed to safe guard my decor and help others do the same!
I love this & needed this! This is the last christmas season without a little one, so I know next year we will have to watch our decorations way more!
Thank you! It definitely is a big change but that doesn’t mean you can’t make your house a merry manor!
I wish I would have known all of this 19 years ago when my two very little. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for stopping by! You never know when you may have another little one coming around!
Really it takes a village and a lot of energy to raise a child. I’m so glad there are mothers now that pay attention to safety more then they did in our day. Great article and tips!
Thank you so much! It’s an adjustment that should have a bit more attention paid to it!
Those are really clever ideas and don’t compromise on style. Well done
Thank you so much! No one should have to refrain from Christmas decor because of a little one!
I’m so glad someone is posting articles like this that can increase safety in the home, even around the holiday season! I’ll have to send this to some of my mom friends!
Thank you! I think it’s so important to get baby proofed! I’ve seen too many stories on the news about babies having trees fall on top of them, ornaments being broken and little ones winding up with stitches. Please pass it along so everyone can be Christmassy and safe!
Great ideas! I always saved some silver colored plastic Christmas ornaments for the bottom of the tree – in that way we didn’t have so many glass ornaments in pieces all over the floor every day of December… My youngest is three now and “gets it” better, so this year I don’t really have to worry about it 🙂
Our tree in the kitchen doesn’t get decorated at all until about a third of the way up the tree, not because of the baby, but the dogs! Hope your tree stays pristine this year!
There are some brilliant ideas here but those cupboard ribbons are genius! They look so festive! #coolmumclub
Thank you! They’ve become a staple in my home over the last few years and I still continue to get compliments on them every year! (I’ve used the same ones for 3 years now!)
Good tips. We never worried about any of this with the kids – they just did as they were told (I think) but we have a new puppy and a few of these might come in handy for her – her english is no good! #Stayclassymama
Thank you! We had to do a few of these last year with the dogs!
These are great ideas! I’ll have to try some of these!
Thank you! I hope it turns out well! Happy Holidays!
I started using gift tags for ornaments when my children were little. Some of them are beautiful. They don’t break and are inexpensive. The tree looked great.
That’s brilliant! I never would have thought of that!
What fab and practical ideas. It just does to show that you can combine the visual and the practical particularly over the festive season. Thanks for linking this up to #coolmumclub I’m off to pin this one xx
Thank you! I think no one should have to compromise their Christmas spirit for their little ones and no one should EVER compromise baby’s safety for anything. I’m glad you think it’s a good mix!
I love the way you “blocked” the Christmas tree! I have had several broken ornaments this year!
Thank you! Getting her big girl car seat before she was born has paid off! Surprisingly, she has not ripped the wrapping paper off yet!
These are great tips for parents or grandparents with toddlers. Thanks for sharing on Sunday’s Best. I’m looking forward to hearing more from you.
Thank you so much!
These are really good ideas! I think height makes such a difference! haha!! My girls have so far been so good at not touching things. We will see. Thanks for sharing with #bloggersbest x
Thank you! Getting everything as far away from those little fingers as possible is key!
Great tips! We put up our tree yesterday and the baby is already trying to get at it! #blogstravaganza
Thank you! Hope the little one stays out of trouble!
These are great tips! Our two will not leave the tree alone! Thanks so much for sharing with #Blogstravaganza xx
Thank you! May the odds be in your favor this season!
Some really great tips! #Blogstravaganza
Thank you so much!
Hey, popping back from #ThursdayTeam. Thank you so much for joining us. I am still so impressed with some of these ideas and even showed my friends.
Thank you so much! I’m glad to help!
Thank you for linking up with #stayclassymama
We have a coffee table in front of our tree and a board underneath it to stop them crawling under!
Thank you! That’s perfect! Whatever it takes!
Popping back over from #fortheloveofBLOG – we could do with some baby-safe decorations as ours is obsessed by the tree
Mine just wants to touch, she hasn’t tried grabbing yet, but I know if we didn’t have our barricades up, there would be chaos!
Such beautiful ideas. I love love the cupboard ribbons. Thank you for linking yp with #StayClassymama
Thank you so much!
Very helpful ideas! We were able to stuff our (slimline!) Christmas tree in a corner blocked off by furniture when my daughter was at that age and everything else is usually up high anyway. I’ve seen ‘top only’ tree decorations too popping up this year. Thanks for linking up to #BlogCrush!
Thank you! Glad your little one stayed safe
these are absolutely fantastic ideas, I wish I had have thought of these when mine were smaller. I will be sharing this for sure! Thank you for joining us for #ablogginggoodtime
Thank you! I hope everyone’s little ones stay safe!
Thanks for sharing at Home Sweet Home! Merry Christmas!
Thank you! Happy Holidays!
Great suggestions. Putting things up high certainly helps. #BlogCrush
Thank you! Nothing is impossible for those little hands, but the more improbable we can make things, the better!