So I was wrong. We've already lost a snow globe - due to excessive shaking and a brand new wood floor (I'm suddenly missing our horrible old wall-to-wall carpet!). If CSI came dusting for fingerprints, I'm sure every single ornament on the tree would be covered in child-size examples! So, as much as I love our vintage Christmas ornaments and fancy glass doodads, I'm thankful to see some cool, less breakable options out again this year. What are your favorite kid-friendly ways to decorate?
TOP ROW:
1. Alphabranch Monogram ornaments
2. Confetti System Garland
3. Winter Wonderland Wall Art
4. Santa Lucia Wooden Snowflake Set
5. Felt Ball Wreath
BOTTOM ROW:
6. Felt Polar Bear Ornament
7. Supernova Ornament
8. Felt Snowflake
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I don't have kids, so I can't really comment on this. But thinking back to my own childhood, I can't remember my parents hiding any of our more special Christmas ornaments. We were simply taught not to touch certain things. It seemed to have work well, as I've got some of my great grandmothers' ornaments hanging in my tree! But also some of the 'ornaments' I made as a kid. Red paper stars with glitter on them. Why buy ornaments for kids when you can easily make them together?
At first I assumed "child-friendly" meant safe for children (non-toxic, no sharp edges). Who knew it was the ornaments who would have to fear for their safety?
Lots of holiday stuffed animals and throw pillows! Put the special ornaments up high on the tree :)
Before the kids, we had a dog (he's still with us). For our first Christmas in our house 7 years ago, we collected all the old non breakable ornaments from our parents and relatives houses. we have plastic balls covered in silk (or polyester!), handmade felt angels, small wooden toys, and a few small stuffed animals. We make sure to always use multi-colored C7 lights and some silver garland and the vintage 1970s look is complete! And very practical, as nothing gets broken.
Our son is two this year (almost three) and since his first Christmas we've put a small 4 foot tree in his room with soft plush ornaments on it. We found that we already had quite a few soft ornaments in our collection but you can find them anywhere - Crate & Barrel, World Market, Target... He knows that that is HIS tree and he can touch it and decorate it and play with those ornaments, and that the fancy tree with fragile ornaments in the living room is for looking only.
My kids and I love DIY ornaments. Get cheap wooden letters from a craft store and let them paint with non-toxic paints. We just finished making the classic chain garland made of strips of red and green paper looped then stapled together. They'll remember this stuff forever, and so will we! :)
There's a line in Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory" in which the narrator's older, slightly "off" aunt works with her young nephew to make Christmas tree ornaments, and she states that the tree should be a certain amount taller than a boy, "so the boy can't steal the star off the tree." I always thought that was a good way to assess what size Christmas tree to get.
Pine cones, small stuffed bears, and homemade felt woodland critters.