We celebrate Christmas and have just put up our traditional Christmas tree. Ours is artificial and is prelit, which is a lifesaver, especially since the girls helped set it up. There are three pieces of this particular tree and while I put it together, the girls helped spread the branches out.

Seeing the girls eyes light up the moment we plugged it in for the first time was glorious! They love the tree and, especially with it being new, I knew that they would be drawn to it. To make it a yes-area, I made sure to put ornaments that are breakable, special, or unsafe on the top half of the tree, out of their reach. The bottom half is for them. I supplied them with toddler safe ornaments that they are free to decorate with however they wish. While I grew-up with a separate mini tree (my sister and I each had out own), we really don’t have the space for E and V to have their own. So sharing the tree is the best option, and it’s working really well.

I saw a mini tree that Nicole Kavanaugh had set up for her toddlers, using large pom poms. The pom poms “stick” enough to allow the child to decorate and yet they can be pulled off easily enough that the process can be repeated over and over again.

I don’t have anything like those pom poms at the moment and we are starting to see the delivery people a little too frequently, thanks to the last few days of sales, haha. So I started to look around the house to see if I could come up with something similar. That’s when I realized that we had something in the bathroom that would allow me to offer a similar activity, most of us do–cotton balls! 

The cotton balls are working perfectly. The girls really enjoy placing the cotton balls and having them stay, then removing them to do it again. Our tree is looking a little less bare on the bottom half and I also love the “snow” look the cotton balls offer.

If you have the space, offering your child their own mini tree is something so special (this pre-lit one is my personal favourite). I know I truly enjoyed mine, year after year. There are so many different ornaments for mini trees that they can become so personal and such a treat. I’ve also seen some amazing felt Christmas trees, on the wall and self-standing 3D ones that would offer your child the opportunity to decorate their own and practice some skills.

Is your Christmas tree a yes-area or does your child have their own?

This post contains affiliate links at no extra cost to you.

.

.

.