Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday. I love the sights, the sounds, the smell, and just the feeling I get throughout the whole holiday season. It’s always been my favorite time of year, and I get downright giddy when Thanksgiving is over and it’s time for me to break out the Christmas decorations.

Mr. Garland and I love to make the house feel as festive as possible with Christmas decorations, and since we don’t typically decorate for any other season, we give ourselves permission to go a bit crazy for the month of December. But this year, things are a little different. This is the first year we’ve had a baby in the house for Christmas! And he’s mobile! And loves to get into everything!

Many of our friends with babies that are Jackson’s age have really scaled back on the decorating. Some are skipping the tree altogether, many are blocking off the tree or putting all of the decorations up where the babies cannot reach them. And it’s probably smart to take that route. But me? I’m a bit selfish…I didn’t want to let go of any of my typical Christmas decorations, so Mr. Garland and I decided to find ways to make our usual Christmas set-up work for Jackson, rather than taking anything away from it.

So, here are my tips for decking your halls and still keeping things safe for the baby or toddler in your life:

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1. Look for decorations that are baby friendly.

This one sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. There isn’t a lot of non-cheesy Christmas decor that’s safe to have around babies – most of the kid-friendly stuff is super childish looking, and the decor that fits in with my style is usually breakable. But, if you get creative you can find some things that work!

I found this felt tree at Target and it’s the perfect toy for Jackson. There are no restrictions on him playing with this like there are with the real tree, and he loves to go crazy and knock everything off of it. He’s still a little too young to play with this as it is intended – I imagine that preschool-aged children would have a blast decorating this tree over and over! I’ve seen some DIY versions floating around the internet as well, but we just decided to take the easy way out and purchase it ready to go.

We’ve also got a few stuffed or soft Christmas decorations that we added to our collection this year.

2. Get creative with placement.

This bookcase is in our living room and I typically leave the bottom two shelves filled with things that are safe for Jackson to play with – hard books, a basket of blocks, and other things that he’s welcome to pull down and throw around the room. I wanted to re-decorate the whole thing for Christmas but, as I’ve already said, we don’t have a ton of Christmas decor that is very safe for Jackson to actually play with. So, I grabbed all of our cookie tins that I normally keep in the kitchen and tossed them on the bottom shelf – they’re noisy and indestructible and a total blast for Jackson to play with. He loves to knock them off and toss them across the room, and I don’t have to worry about him hurting himself. The second shelf has some more soft decorations and other non-breakable things as well – he hasn’t played with that shelf too much yet, but it’s still early in the season!

3. Create a “zone” in each room that is baby-friendly.

We decorate in multiple rooms of our house, and Jackson is very interested in all of the new stuff that has popped up all over the place. He can’t play with everything, but luckily he’s learned pretty quickly that there are spaces in each room that are totally open to him to play in. In our living room it’s the bottom of the bookcase and most of the window seat behind the couch. In the dining room he has his little felt wall tree, and in the kitchen there are a few little things sprinkled throughout the room for him – like a cute little oven mitt hanging from his favorite cabinet (one of the very few he can get in to – it holds our tupperware and he loves to play in it!). We also have a small tree in here that is very baby-friendly – none of the ornaments are breakable and there’s a super soft, fuzzy tree skirt around it that he loves to stroke.

4. If you think your baby can handle it, give them some freedom!

This one might not work for everyone – but Jackson is a very cautious baby, so it’s worked well for us so far this year. We have no restrictions or barriers around any of our Christmas trees (we have three in the house!) and, so far, there haven’t been any issues. Jackson loves to look at the trees and sit next to them, but other than that, he’s left them alone for the most part. I think it is at least partially due to the fact that we haven’t made a big deal of making the trees “off limits” – they aren’t very enticing to him because we act like we don’t care if he plays with them.

Sometimes he will reach out and bat an an ornament or try to grab a branch, but we calmly tell him to “be gentle” and he quickly backs off. He learned within the first few days that he’s only allowed to really touch the tree if one of us is holding him and for now that’s really all we’ve done to keep him away from it.

I will say, though, that we are constantly watching him if he’s anywhere near any of the trees. He loves to spend time at the windows since most of ours go very low to the ground, so he spends a lot of time within a few feet of the Christmas tree. If we weren’t able to be right there with him at all times when he was exploring near the tree, we would definitely take more steps to keep him away!

5. When in doubt, put it up high!

This is another easy one, but it’s worth being said – anything that may be breakable or unsafe can still be used! Just make sure you put it out of reach of your baby or toddler, and you should be good to go. We’ve got plenty of more precious decorations up on the higher shelves of our bookcase or up on the mantle, and since Jackson can’t reach them yet we don’t have to worry.

Here are a few more quick tips that may be helpful –

  • If you don’t trust your baby or toddler around the tree, fill some diaper boxes with books and wrap them like gifts. Put them around the tree and, voila! Instant baby gate that fits right in with your decor!
  • If you’re like me you’ve got a ton of Christmas magazines laying around. I like to leave them out on the coffee table as decor, and Jackson loves to flip through them/rip pages out. He usually doesn’t mess with the cover so I can continue leaving it out for a while before it starts to look silly.
  • Think outside the box for what you use as decor. We have a cute Christmas-y ice bucket that we got a few years back that doubles as a bucket to hold firewood. We have left it empty and sitting next to our fireplace this season for Jackson to play with. It looks cute, and he loves to push it around the living room and put things in it.
  • Embrace this season as a chance to teach your baby the concept of “gentle.” We’ve talked a lot about using soft hands with the decorations, and while he’s still a little young to really get the idea, I can tell the idea is starting to sink in at least a little.

What have you done this year to keep your home safe for the Christmas season?