Homie Colleen, who showed us her renovated house in Minneapolis and her apple cider caramels, has brought us a great idea to kitty-proof your holiday decor…

We were concerned that our kitten would destroy a tree, so I used a garland instead to display a few of my favorite ornaments.

This idea works great for not just cat owners, but it would also be a great hack for people with small living spaces that won’t accomodate a full-on tree.

Comments on Use a garland to display your favorite ornaments

  1. Our tree was so full this year I have plans to do this next year to give us more space to display some of our most favorite ornaments. I plan to hang the garland over our dining room window.

  2. I did something very similar. I have a grouping of silver antique ornaments from my great grandmother that I would be heart broken if puppy tails or kitten climbing adventures destroyed them. So we wired them to a grape vine wreath and hung them up in a window.

  3. We couldn’t have a tree in our main living space this year (our destructive toddler would not allow it), so we put one in our foyer. We really missed being able to cuddle on the couch and look at the tree – so I put a lighted garland with a big bow on it around the doorway to the room. I love it!

  4. We did this too- lacking space and funds for a full-size tree, we bought a live pine garland ($5!) so it still smells like Christmas! We decorated it with lights and ornaments and even hung our stockings with it.

  5. I was thinking of doing this with a wreath (because the ones at Trader Joe’s smell SOOOOO good!), which might work even better if you can’t/don’t want to leave holes in the walls. We have an over the door hanger that wreaths can go on!

    • I used Command hooks–no holes! Those things are awesome.

      I should also mention that the cat can reach the ends of the garland, so when we’re not home to keep an eye on him, I just tuck the ends into the stockings. So far it’s working!

  6. My cat isn’t a climber, but gets occasionally curious… I load up the tree with the unbreakables and then display my vintage/glass/delicate ornaments around the house in glass bowls, hurricane vases, etc. That way I can still enjoy them up close, but not worry about them 24/7. It’s a fun way to bring out my pretty glassware, too.

    • That’s a great idea. I used some trays and bowls to hold little round ornaments (you can see photos in the OBH Flickr pool) but didn’t do that for any of my really sentimental/favorite ornaments. I might still do that before Christmas.

  7. in the 11 christmasses with 2 cats, we’ve never had a problem with them and the tree — except the first year when i quickly learned that we cannot have tinsel because the boy-cat likes to eat it… it was a festive litter box that week… i’ve since invested in some bead garlands — not the same, but still pretty. the biggest issue we have is finding the two of them curled up under the tree in the table cloth i use as a skirt.

  8. This is fantastic, thank you so much. One of my cats just loves to climb the Christmas tree, and they both like to bat at the ornaments within reach, so I have been despairing for the last couple of years about not being able to put out my very favorite (and fragile) ornaments. Plus there’s not a ton of floor space to spare for a tree anyway, nor closet space to store a fake one for the rest of the year. This solves SO many problems!!

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