Artificial Christmas trees - pros and cons

I bought an artificial tree when my children were small/. It wasn't cheap, it was moulded on a real tree . That was about 1980.
It has been used every year since then, till the last couple of years when I haven't been at home over Christmas. It is stored safely in case I want it again.
Incidentally, we bought lights to go with it, all but one of spare bulbs have been used, and they still work too.

I've got artificial. Lasts years if stored carefully.

If you use a plastic Christmas tree multiple times it eventually becomes a more sustainable option than cutting down a live tree every year. For over 20 years I have been using the same plastic tree that folds up into a box. Another option is a small tree in a pot if you have space to keep it outside for the rest of the year. I had small pine trees in pots for many years before I succumbed to the plastic option. You can also use a nicely shaped branch placed in a pot, perhaps sprayed with gold or silver paint and decorated each year. It all depends on your living and storage space and personal taste but there are plenty of alternatives to a live tree. They don't smell as nice as a pine tree though.

I bought an artificial tree from The White Company a few years ago. It is very lifelike and easy to dress. It fits in the corner of our dining room perfectly.

Unfortunately for my husband we still have a real tree in the lounge, so he does the collecting, sawing off the bottom and has the task of trying to get it straight!!!

Haven't had a real tree for years - I've got several artificial ones in various sizes but my favourite is a big 7 ft one which always looks wonderful. I bought an all singing, all dancing pre lit one last year which is very nice but secretly I missed the other one so it will be going up in the conservatory this year.

The last time my family had a real tree was in the early 60s. We have an artificial one, bought in the mid eighties in Woolies in Ryde. Bits have dropped off over the years but I cannot face getting rid of it. Heartfelt apologies if it is bad for the environment.

We went over to a lightweight artificial tree many years ago,
Have a white one which looks magical dressed with silver and pink, but am going to buy a realistic green one this year.
Dunelm seems to have some good ones.

We bought one of those white frosted ones last year. Looked absolutely magical standing in the garden centre. Got it home and it had suddenly become massive, and had a most peculiar pong. Took it back, got a refund, and bought a more manageable size real one. Will not be tempted again.

Sorry lemon grove. Did not see your post before I posted. I seem to have repeated some of your phrasing!

Real tree We not only had a full height real tree as a child but real candles
Love the smell and enjoy telling the DGC how their great granny and grandpa (my parents) “liberated” their first tree in 1947.
Mum being German naturally wanted a tree but Scotland in those days didn’t even make Christmas Day a holiday and their wee town certainly didn’t “do “ trees.
So they went out into the woods outside their town with a little axe and “poached” their first tree!
In years to come they were given a tree by the same estate as a gift every year!

Oh yes! The candles of years long gone.

And so right for "Father Christmas" to catch his beard on fire.

No worries Gonegirl I cannot claim the word magical as my own.

I never buy any tree over 6 ft, it has to look right in it’s space at home ( I know, those 8 footers look great all dressed up don’t they?)

We bought an 8' one and have used it for about 8 years but the folding and unfolding all the flipping, ever smaller branches gormt us down. We are aiming for a discreet one in a pot this year but what will we do with all the decorations.

And, how do you all get away with doing colour coordinated trees. I did a red and gold one once and got complaints from all the children because the icicles aren't there nor are the big purple and gold ones, etc.

Put them in odd places round the room until the room looks like the Xmas department of John Lewis? Or, be strong and put them firmly back in the box.

Real or nothing for me. I try to find a very small real one, preferably in its own pot. I don’t like artificial trees and would not have one. Somehow it takes away the point of having a tree.

Decided to go for a real tree last year. It started to drop after a few days and I complained. They gave me a replacement, cut tree which did the job. However in June the original one started to sprout! It is very nice, but obviously does not like the heat so I will leave it be in its pot in the garden. But I can't decide whether to try a real tree again or go for a fake. They are all a bit of a trial but not sure what is the least hassle for the most 'magic'. A local charity collects them for a small donation after Xmas so that's one less thing to worry about. But getting it to stand straight.......
Sorry, that'd does not help at all!

We've had the same artificial one for about 20 years. I suppose it needs replacing but it's nostalgic now.

Artificial for us too with everything thrown on it. Decorations all round the room with Christmas cushions and throws. OTT - moi ?

I like it that the adult DDs still expect to see their wonky old hand-made cardboard angels and battered miniature tin drums on the tree every year. So we stagger on with a real one, but I also have a smaller fibre-optic sparkling tree for the hall to which I'm most attached, tho now very old as well.

We have an artificial one but that's because we have tiny cars that don't have room for a real one. My parents always buy a real one. When I was a child, there was a garden center where we always bought our tree. They did an AMAZING Christmas display - several miniature villages, several decorated Christmas trees, and lifesize statues of Father Christmas (not Santa; Father Christmas in white fur) and angels. They were located in a neat shopping center called Homestead Village that also boasted an artisan co-op and some unique stores. We made an evening out of it.

Today I live in a different community and Homestead Village closed down years ago, but I like to take my husband and kid to our nearby garden center. They do a fantastic display as well.

We do have a family legend about Christmas trees. Years ago my great-uncle went over to the neighbouring farm to get a Christmas tree. (It was really more of an excuse to go over for a drink and a visit.) He was gone all day and came back with a scrawny little thing that made Charlie Brown's tree resemble the one at Rockefeller Center. My great-aunt said "We're not putting THAT tree up in THIS house." She took the axe and went out back and came in about 30 minutes later with twice the tree

We get a real tree from Ikea, we get a voucher when we buy it for money off in the sales in January so it costs us about a fiver. I make my own pine oil from it afterwards and the main trunk is stored until the next year when a section is used for our Yule log, the remainder made into decorations and given to family and friends. Smaller pieces are made into sets of runes, other slices into coasters or whatever else I can think of.
We've made fairy houses, photo frames all sorts. None goes to waste as the last bits get burnt.

Forgot to add: I do not know what's available in your area but in mine they have some really good options for real tree disposal:

1. Christmas tree bags. You can buy these when you buy your tree. You put the bag on the floor under the tree. At the end of the season, you have someone hold the tree while you get it out of the stand, remove the stand, and just pull the bag up around the tree. This way you can get it out easily and there are a lot fewer needles to clean up.

2. Your area may have Christmas tree pickup. The Scouts used to do it in our area. You just leave the tree out in the alley. (It can't be in a bag but you could still use the bag to get it outside and then take it off once you get it out there.) Someone will come along and get the tree. They are sent to a plant to be ground into mulch and used for fertilizer.

I do think artificial trees are great for people who don't have the ability to get a real tree home very easily (for example, older people with limited mobility, people with limited transportation).

Mabel2

WOW. That's fabulous!