*Today’s post was made possible by SHareconn, and features gifted product for the purposes of a candid review. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely adore this time of year when I get to transform our sunroom living space into a Christmas wonderland. I have about four boxes of holiday decorations that I keep in our basement that I reuse every single year, and now I feel like I’ve finally found a groove with the seasonal décor I put up in this house since we’ve been here for three years.

I always follow the same method. I pull the boxes of Christmas accents up from the basement, empty them onto the floor of the sunroom, then carefully pack away our everyday décor into those same boxes before starting my holiday styling. Once I’m finished, I tuck away any leftover seasonal accents in the boxes to be considered for next year. This allows me to avoid having to find temporary places to hide our everyday décor, and I just swap everything back out in the new year!

Keep scrolling for even more holiday styling ideas, this time catered specifically to pet-friendly tips since this is Stanley’s first Christmas and he’s extra excited about our new Christmas tree.

Easy Cat-Friendly Christmas Décor Tips:

1. First, let’s discuss the “elephant in the room”: our Christmas tree. Since the needles and sap on real fir, pine, and spruce trees are mildly toxic, we use an artificial Christmas tree. Yes, our cats naw on the faux branches, but they quickly loose interest in the harder, less fragrant/tasty material. We upgraded to a larger tree from SHareconn this year, and I’m so glad we did because both Marlo and Stanley have been climbing into it daily. The larger stand that comes with these upsized trees can handle more weight and movement, so it’s perfect for your tree-climbing felines. The added volume of branches also supports them better than our old, more sparse tree. Thankfully, Marlo and Stanley aren’t too rambunctious once they’re in the tree (they generally just climb in and settle down for a nap amongst the ornaments and lights), but if they did get too playful and I worried about the tree tipping over, I would anchor it to the wall with a bit of clear string and a cup hook screwed into the wall.

2. Ornaments, I think, are one of the biggest concerns when it comes to pets and Christmas trees. I cringe to think of them chewing on metal ornament hooks, or breaking a glass ornament and getting into the razor sharp shards on the floor. To limit these fears, I used a set of plastic forest-themed ornaments that won’t break if they fall—even from way up high (trust me: Marlo and Stanley have tested them!). Each ornament in this set also comes with a looped and knotted length of string to hang it on the tree, so no need to fuss with sharp metal hooks.

3. As for the rest of the room, I try to only use lightweight holiday tabletop accents (like those made of wood or bottlebrush material) that won’t hurt our pets or break if they fall over during their play time, and I keep my garland way up high where there’s no chance of them getting tangled in the faux branches or lit lights.

Hop over to my Instagram to watch a video that I put together showing off our pet-friendly Christmas décor, and let me know in the comments if you have any safety tricks of your own to share. Oh, I just remembered a bonus tip! Since I don’t like to leave our pets unattended with the Christmas tree, I intentionally set it up in an area of the house that we can close off. That way I never have to worry about them somehow tipping it over or chewing on the lights when I’m not home to rescue them (and our décor). I hope that helps and that you’re enjoying a lovely holiday decorating season this year.

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