to rip down my scrawny, crappy fake tree and go and get an expensive real one?

[Mammanat222]

We're skint and the tree isnt that bad. But I hate it.

AIBU to bin this one and go spend money we dont really have on a real one?

We've always gone real but last year for some reason we bought a fake one?

[TimelyNameChangey]

YANBU. We get ours from a local plantation...25 pounds delivered and it's gorgeous...6 feet tall and non dropping. Don't go to the supermarket. Google growers in your area.

[Poolomoomon]

Yanbu at all. I think I'd rather have no tree than an artificial one

[mythical]

do you have an ikea nearby? they have decent trees for £25 and you get a £20 voucher to spend in january if you buy one.

[Mammanat222]

We normally go to the market for ours. Def not a supermarket. I always end up falling in love with the most grand and expensive ones..... £60 is what we normally end up paying. Just not got that cash at the mo

ive been told ikea do good trees although id happily pay £60 to not go to ikea lol

[wasitsomethingisaid]

Do it! The joy you get from a big beautiful tree is priceless!

[Mammanat222]

Cross post re ikea

[RJnomore]

Idea, you barely need to go in.

The trees are outside, you pick your tree, get a slip, go to the till, pay, take your reciept back and collect tree.

I'll be doing it next Saturday.

[mythical]

here is the offer.

technically you could get it for a fiver. Sounds like you've decided you want a real one anyway! Maybe sell your fake one on a local page to cushion the blow a bit?

[maddening]

We paid £35 last year for one in a pot, not huge (have tiny cottage) but we repotted it to a bigger nicer pot that we had already (in ericacious (sp?) soil) and have just brought it in for it's second Christmas - it has gained a little height :) as long as we keep it watered and feed it it'll go back out in January and be ok for next Christmas too and many more to come and eventually we'll put it in the ground and shove outdoor lights on each year.

[wheretoyougonow]

Waitrose have got a lovely potted one for £20.

[Trills]

There are nice non-scrawny fake trees available.

But if it's money that you don't have then changing your tree at all is probably not worth it.

[Fairenuff]

I'm going to say no. It's a lot of money to spend if you don't have it, or could buy something more useful with.

It's just a tree. In four weeks time you will be disposing of it. Enjoy what you have and maybe try to start putting away a pound a week so that you can have a real one next year.

[Cornettoninja]

I'm with faire and say no.

Taking your post at face value you don't have the spare cash and be honest with yourself - is there really nothing else that money could be used for? A scrawny tree or a scrawny Xmas dinner? I know which I'd pick.

Get your self to pound land or similar and pick up some extra sparkly stuff to fill it out a bit if you think it needs a bit more oomph.

[BeyondRepair]

I agree with fairenough.

I am positive you can save this tree...you can also add in real branches and foliage from woods etc.

Look on it like a skeleton for you to dress... also check out pin interest for ideas.

Homebase had lovely fake ones, and often have extra 15 % and 20% off in the run up, so I would do as Fair said and start to put money aside but for a lovely fake one next year.

[5ChildrenAndIt]

Drown it in tinsel

[simbacatlivesagain]

YANBU an artificial 'tree' is NOT a Christmas tree- end of.

[BeyondRepair]

www.google.co.uk/search?q=alternative+christmas+trees&client=firefox-a&hs=qRH&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=fflb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Mz2EVL_pKcb3Uo6FBA&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=673

[BeyondRepair]

can you strip it right back and literally use its parts as your base

[Aeroflotgirl]

Yabvvu nothing wrong with an artificial tree! We have had our lovely fibre optic one for 15 years, cost £70 at Homebase, very environmentally friendly if I might say, and looks great.

[simbacatlivesagain]

They dont need to cost £50. We used to do get ours until Christmas eve-£8 from local pig farm (bit smelly at first). Then we moved to a town and found none left by that time. Last 3 years I have got one on 22nd or 23rd. 1. Free from home base 2, half price from B&Q 3. £5 to clear from local supplier. So maybe stick with what you have got for now but look nearer Christmas. These have all been 8ft trees (1 year it was probably 12 foot)

[Methe]

I've got one of the £15 Tesco tree that is on its second year and looks far nicer than is should for that money. The Ikea real ones did look lovely too but we've had real ones before and they always seem to go crispy before the big day.

If you haven't got £60 then you haven't got it :)

[Cornettoninja]

Lol @ simba - of course it's a Christmas tree - it's not a tractor is it?

Vaguely pine tree shaped, glittery shit and lights - it's a Christmas tree. Doesn't matter if it was grown in Santas back garden or made in a factory in Taiwan.

It is not however the be all and end all of Christmas.

it's not like this is the last Christmas ever, I'm pretty sure there'll be one next year so not really worth spunking money you don't have on basically a really expensive plant that'll be dead this time next year.

[BalloonSlayer]

We always had real trees but got an artificial one when we had crawling DCs. We kept it until a couple of years ago when we had family visiting from abroad for Christmas and thought we had better get a real one to make it a "proper Christmas."

I was SO excited. Once again our house would be filled with that beautiful Christmas tree smell, it would be FANTASTIC.

We went out on a cold morning to get the tree. We spent ages choosing one. Then paid for it £25 QUID When did they get so expensive! Then we bought a stand as we remembered that our old stand was a Vindictive Bastard. The stand was £16. At this point I may or may not have remembered that we had a tree we could put up for free sitting neglected and possibly bewildered in our loft.

We wrestled it into the car, where it covered the interior in needles and dirt. We manhandled it into the house, during which process it covered the carpet in needles and dirt.

We put it up , only suffering a few second-degree scratches, which remembering Vicious Bastard Trees I Have Known was actually quite encouraging. Hmm. It looked nice. Bit spindlier than I had thought when we had chosen it but hey. We decorated it. Lovely.

I didn't notice any Christmas tree smell though. I had particularly chosen the type we had as children as they smell the best. But hey, no smell is GOOD, really, isn't it? Isn't it? They only smell when they are dying and dropping needles.

Except, um, well, what are those green things on the floor, Balloon? Am I being a bit picky or are they needles? A LOT of needles. Hmmm . . . .

I watered the pot meticulously, to keep it alive. Oooh! I can smell something! Is it pine? Um no, it's the water in the pot gone manky. Can we empty it out like you do with a vase of flowers? Well, no, not unless you have a friendly giant on hand to pick the tree up and hold it for you while you empty the pot.

By Christmas Day it had been renamed "The Christmas Stick." I shouted at anyone who brushed against it. "Mind the bloody tree!" was my catchphrase that year.

Despite this, the tree kindly saved a few thousand brown needles to decorate the carpets and stick in our hands as we took it down.

I can honestly say that tree gave us the most pleasure when we:

a. were thinking about it
b. were choosing it
c. were burning it

The year afterwards we went back to our trusty artificial one, and it looks mighty fine.

And this year I have discovered that Yankee Candles do one which almost makes the house smell like you have a real Christmas Tree. That's from a distance - close up it smells like Toilet Duck. But hey - life is full of disappointments.

[Inertia]

If you're skint, then there's no point spending money you don't have on a tree that will be landfill in 3 weeks. And you'll have to keep shelling out £30 you don't have every year thereafter.

You'd probably be better off saving your money and buying a decent artificial tree cheap in the January sales, and putting it away for next year.