🎄 How to decorate a Christmas tree with kids (stress-free)

For a lot of families, putting up the tree is the real start of Christmas. It is also the moment where the dream (carols on, everyone smiling) can meet reality (tangled lights, a toddler licking a bauble, one branch carrying forty decorations). A little planning helps it stay fun.

Here is how to make tree decorating a happy family tradition rather than a stressful afternoon.

When to put the tree up

There is no right answer. Many UK families put their tree up on the first weekend of December, some wait until mid-December, and some cannot resist the end of November. Real trees stay fresher for longer if you buy them in December and keep them watered every day.

Toddler- and pet-friendly tips

• Shatterproof baubles on the bottom third of the tree. Keep anything glass, small or sharp up high.
• Avoid small hooks low down. Use ribbon loops instead, as metal hooks are easy to pull off and swallow.
• Secure the tree. If you have a climber or a curious cat, tie the top of the tree to a hook in the wall or the curtain pole with fishing line.
• Lights: use LED lights, which stay cool, and keep the plug and cable out of reach.
• Tinsel and pets do not mix. Cats love to chew it. Paper chains are a safer alternative.

Homemade decorations

The most loved decorations are often the homemade ones: salt dough handprints, paper snowflakes, pine cones dipped in white paint, felt stars. Making a new decoration every year, with your child's name and the year on the back, builds a box full of memories.

New traditions to try

• A bauble a year: each child chooses or makes one new decoration every year. When they grow up, they take their collection with them.
• Tree-decorating snack: hot chocolate and mince pies, but only once the lights are on.
• A story on the tree: hang a decoration that tells a story, such as a little bird for the year your child learned to whistle, and tell the story each December when it comes out of the box.