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We put a few ornaments at the bottom of the tree that were okay for touching. I have a collection of about twelve Disney ornaments that are made of plastic. Since she was interested in Mickey and they aren't breakable those were okay for touching. We corrected her when she touched anything else.

We did a tree last year when she was about 16 months old. We only put plastic stuff down low and tried to teach her not to pull it off. A good rule that we are teaching is "One Finger". It lets them touch and explore wtihout causing too much damage.

My LO was a year and a half last christmas and didn't bother much with the tree! We had a few soft ornaments down below just in case but it wasn't a problem AT ALL!

DD was 6 months old last Xmas and we ended up buying a fake tree and put up felt, plastic, and wood ornaments. But she was never interested in the tree. I don't know what we're going to do this year. I kind of want a real tree in the family room (the room we spend the most time in) but I know I'm asking for a headache. It would be nice to teach her to not touch plants though (she loves messing with them).

@T.H.O.U.: We will also be doing "one finger" and that's what MIL did for our nephew last year who was almost 2.

We plan on hanging a felt tree on the other wall in the living room so that she can play with and decorate that one to her hearts content.

C was 9 months last Christmas and she did really well! She was crawling at the time. We put the tree on a riser to put it higher off the floor and then hung all the fabric and baby-friendly ornaments at the bottom.

We definitely wanted to teach her not to touch rather than just not put up a tree. We're going to do a tree this year too, she'll be almost 20 months.

@locavore_mama: This is the type of tree I am making for P. Felt is pretty cheap, and even me who is SO not crafty can get some scissors and a glue gun and make the ornaments! (ETA: Just realized how much the LO in the link looks like P from behind! lol)

http://www.johnnyinadress.com/2011/12/play-felt-tree-ornaments.html

@bpcmarj: I LOVE that! I am making a felt advent calendar for M to use year after year, too. Maybe I'll put together one of these, too!

@locavore_mama: We have a tiny living room. Real tree with go in the corner on he right of the TV, felt tree will go on the wall to the left of the tree, or maybe on the other wall on the right of the tree. I haven't totally decided yet.

One way or another, I may be looking for fabric ornaments this year for our real tree. Nothing we have is glass anyway, but I still worry about them breaking.