I confess I stress over the Christmas tree. Stupid I realize but given how much I cringe over cheesey and how enticing breakable ornaments are to both our pets and our children it is usually a dilemma each year this time.My goal this year is to toss anything no longer in decent shape and replace with natural decorations. The floral section of Walmart/Target/Michaels etc has a variety of ‘vase fillers’ that would make perfect ornaments with the addition of a eye screw as holder. They are much less expensive than the ornaments available. A bin of vase filler feather balls came out to less than a dollar each for instance.
In keeping with our goal of using our hands and hearts to fill the house, we are stringing popcorn and berry garland and picking up some burlap for the tree skirt. There is dough chilling for the faux gingerbread ornaments we hope to roll out tomorrow night. In the coming weeks we will pick up some oranges and cloves to make pomanders. Planning to dry some orange and apple slices to hang on the tree as well. Here are a couple resources:
Starry Sky Journal 
This is a lovely post – no bought decorations are that safe for my toddlers yet – unless the tree is behind a play pen and where is the fun in that? We are going to make paddle pop stick decorations – adn there are some great decoration ideas in the kids craft weekly xmas booklet!
Pictures, please!!
Your tree will be lovely and kid friendly! I remember my Mom’s best friend barracaded her tree from her kids with all the dining room chairs laid down on their sides so she could have glass ornaments. You couldn’t even see the tree! (If you were a short little kid like me!)
What about finger knitting or single crocheting a long strand in red or green for garland? We like the look and it keeps small hands busy for hours.
My aunt put her tree IN the playpen when her youngins were little! ~gg~ It looks pretty to actually tuck sprigs of baby’s breath or other dried flowers of more muted colors, directly into the tree. They stay put just fine without attachments of any kind and, enmasse, look very nice.