Artificial Christmas trees - pros and cons

I agree jalima our backs aren’t what they used to be for lugging Christmas trees about.

henetha

I know that, watermeadow.
We do know someone who is a 'Christmas tree farmer' but we are just past being able to cope with a real tree, except that I will sneak in a little one in a pot

I've had my small artificial tree for many years. It's old and bent now, a bit like me, but I'm fond of it and don't intend to start lugging real trees around at my age. I decorate it nicely each year, try to vary it a bit. I think it looks nice.

I have an artificial, slim tree which fits nicely into a corner.

Christmas trees are grown as a crop, to be harvested like a field of wheat. You don’t need to feel sorry for them.
I equate artificial trees with plastic windows and polyester- practical but no thanks.

agnurse your story of your uncle reminded me of a farmer friend (sadly passed now) who went out one day with his son to get a tree. When he arrived back this tree was enormous and the top had to be cut off to get it in the room. His wife asked where he'd got it from - they cut it down from the side of the motorway near where they lived!!

Many years ago when we had an engineering business the local council approached us asking if we could make some wall brackets to put the town's trees up above the shops. We did and they're still in use today. My husband also made one for our front too which we used to put a real tree in.

I did used to go completely over the top with decorations at Christmas. One year I thought it would be good to put garlands all round the three walls where the extensions are - I asked husband if he could make me some tubular frames to hang them on never imagining how much work (and steel tubing) this would involve. They looked spectacular when done but then had to dismantle it all and get the frames back to the factory - it weighed a ton too! Suffice to say it was the last year that happened!

Agnurse, thank you. We try to be as responsible as we can with resources. I buy as much as possible from small businesses and crafters for our Yule gifts and shop locally for the food we eat. As a family we're huge recyclers, and make lots of things ourselves.

I don't have 'eco' objections to real trees.
I don't have eco objections to real trees, I meant that I have eco objections to artificial ones

I know I'll end up going out to buy a small real one in a pot for the hall table as well

Always a real one here. Dh always saws a bit off the bottom and we install it in a large bucket of wet gravel, topped up often, so it lasts very well.

I don't have 'eco' objections to real trees. They are grown as a crop, after all, and such fast-growing trees use up a lot of carbon dioxide.

Having said that, the first Christmas tree I ever bought was artificial and seriously naff by today's standards. It was only about 3 feet tall, came in a box with lights and a few decorations.

However we were living in Oman at the time, with virtually no western style shops, and even basics could be very hard to come by, so I was ecstatic to find any sort of tree at all - I absolutely loved it!

Always a real one; I rate imitation trees with imitation flowers: false.

Will be buying an artificial pre-lit one this year. There is a large artificial one out in the garage, but I simply cannot face or manage getting it out and putting the lights on it this year, since DH is no longer here to do it. Thought a pre-lit one would be easier. Thought about not bothering, but the DGDs would be disappointed.

I bought a new, glittery, artificial tree last year. It has taken the better part of a year to clear all the vestiges of glitter out of my car, and there are probably little bits in crevices even now. As I'm usually away for Christmas, there's no point in having a real tree, so an artificial tree is the answer - but not a glittery one - never again.

I bought an artificial one last year, with many misgivings on environmental grounds.
We had one in a pot which we used to lug in every year but it died last year, and we decided we getting too old to lug in a real tree and clear up the mess each year.

If it lasts for 500 years then I hope it will become a family heirloom and come out every year for the next 499 years.

We do have trees and a hedge which eat up CO2.

For many years we had a real tree from a local Christmas tree farm, they had a good choice of different varieties, plus you could go out into the forest and choose one to be cut.

In 2008, I decided to buy a "good" artificial one, 7ft, from JL It was a bit of a bugger to assemble, so we left it half way through. That night/early morning, my ex was knocking on the door to tell me about DS2.

Over the next couple of days, we carried on with the blasted tree, and we used it for a couple of years after, but I rather took against it.

Much as I love a real tree, it is only Mr P and I, and a decent tree is around £30, add on the bringing it in, putting it up, then the taking down (needles everywhere).

So, last year I went really radical , we had 3 of those illuminated twig trees (the ones that look like birch trees) in various sizes, grouped together, and decorated with white and silver decorations.

They looked gorgeous, (not just my opinion) took no time whatsoever to put up and decorate, and just as easy to take down and put away.

I've always had a real tree, only about 4' tall because my house is miniscule, but when the log burner is lit and the smell of the pine tree fills the room, it's unbeatable. We're lucky enough to have the local hospice call to collect Christmas trees, in the New Year, for a small donation. Alternatively, there is a local farmer who uses old Christmas trees for his capercaillie run. Either way, they go to good use afterwards.

We bought a new artificial tree last year. DH didn't thing it was big enough. It's a 5' tree and we only live in a three bedroom house. Granted out living room is 20' long, but the ceiling is the normal height. It's not as if we have a a huge space to fill. I think it's tall enough.

Once in my life we had an artificial tree. It was when I was working full time with 3 children and couldn't face hoovering the needles every day. It wasn't the same and since that year, we've always had a real tree. We buy one of the fir trees that don't drop. I love it, love decorating it with decorations we had on our tree in the 1950's, hand made decorations my children made and all the fluff and fancy I've been unable to resist. Fabulous.

Real trees are much better for the environment. We get one most years.

We have an old artificial tree that we've used the years when money has been tight.. but they are pretty bad for the planet, unrecyclable, take 500+ yrs to break down, and dont eat up CO2 & get replanted

One of each here. I have a 5ft white, pre-lit pop-up version that takes two minutes to put up.

I also get a real tree from a local Christmas tree farm. I know the jury is out about artificial v real trees but I feel it's helping a local business and my local economy to give them my custom rather than buy something that's probably travelled half way round the world.

The real tree takes more than two minutes to put up and has caused us to come closer to divorce than just about anything else in our marriage.

We have one of each. One for the bay window at the front and one in the living room.

We got an artificial tree because it was really awkward getting a fresh tree in and out of the room with the bay window. The artificial tree can be assembled in-site. Also buying two fresh trees every Christmas was expensive.

In the living room the fresh tree stands directly in front of the French doors, so getting it in and out is really easy and needle litter is minimal.

As an alternative to a Christmas tree bag, use a dust sheet. Lie it out on the floor, lift the tree and lie it on the sheet, wrap it round and carry it out.

Mabel2

WOW. That's fabulous!

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).

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.

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