This the season to be jolly! Alas, Christmas is also a season of twice the folly, as it leads to a 100% rise in accidents caused by heedlessness and people ignoring safety rules. Most commonly these incidents involve leaky Christmas trees and flammable candle decorations, but also traditional roasts forgotten about in ovens.

“Christmas sees people bring fir trees into their homes, adorn them with strings of fairy lights, spend days preparing their festive spread and then cover the table with candles and decorations,” says Line Manager of Seesam Property Insurance Kristel Kobi. “It’s all very charming and fills everyone with the Christmas spirit, but it can also be an accident – indeed a series of accidents – waiting to happen.”

Replacing your parquet can turn your life upside down

Where most accidents involving water are the fault of upstairs neighbours, overflowing baths or burst pipes, those which occur at this time of year are often down to Christmas trees holders that are somewhat less than watertight. The end result of such an incident is that once the festive season is over and the fir tree has been turfed out, some families find they need to replace their parquet.

“Not everything under the Christmas tree comes as a pleasant surprise,” warns Kristel. “If water from your tree holder ends up on the floor and you don’t dry it, or the holder has a hidden leak, it could easily ruin your floors to the tune of a couple of thousand euros.”

Anyone who has ever had to replace their flooring will know it’s a big job that causes a lot of unavoidable upheaval, since absolutely everything has to be removed from a room before the floor can be taken up.

“People often pop a rug under their tree or surround the holder with something to make it less obvious, but all too often this means that leaks go unnoticed and do more damage than they would otherwise have done,” Kristel explains.

To avoid having to throw your parquet out along with your Christmas tree in the new year, you should check underneath and around it on a daily basis. The risk of an accident will be much lower if you add water to the holder using a small watering can and make sure it doesn’t overflow.

On-trend decorations can turn into on-fire decorations

Kristel says that fires are as much of an unwelcome feature of Christmas as water damage from leaking tree holders.

Candles are frequently to blame: they may be perfect for creating a cosy atmosphere during the darker months, but decorating trends and inattentiveness can give rise to candle-related fires. There are regular instances of candles being allowed to burn too low while everyone enjoys the festivities, setting light to the decorative features placed around them. You can count yourself lucky if it’s just the table and floor that take a hit and you are ‘only’ left a few thousand euros out of pocket, since candle + eye-catching table decoration combos have caused much worse damage.

“Of course, open flames aren’t the only cause of fires during the festive season,” Kristel adds. “There are always those caused by faulty wiring in Christmas lights every year. If you want the holidays to be safe, invest in high-quality lights and regularly check the ones on your tree, because one spark can turn a dry fir into a Roman candle – and before you know it, half your living room has gone up in flames. Electric lights should always be unplugged whenever you leave the house.”

Lastly, once you are convinced that your candles and lights and tree holder aren’t going to burn the place down or destroy your floors, don’t forget about your festive roast after you have put it in the oven. That way you can kick back and enjoy a safe and happy Christmas!