Real or fake Christmas tree? Share your opinions with Homebase for a chance to win a £300 Homebase voucher. NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

‘Tis the season once again. With Christmas on its way, Homebase is keen to get Mumsnetters’ views on the pros and cons of getting a real or fake tree.

Here’s what they have to say: “The Christmas tree is at the heart of everyone’s Christmas look but where do you stand on the annual dilemma - real or fake? Are you a fan of the fresh pine scent and traditional feel you only get from a real tree? Or do you go for a versatile artificial tree most years? Let us know if you go as far as ‘lights included’ or if your fake tree came already snow-tipped and adorned with berries and cones. Tell us all about your trees from over the years, whether you decide on authentic or artificial this Christmas and any tips you have on caring for real trees.”

So what do you think? Does the authentic smell of a real tree win you over? Or are smaller artificial trees better suited to your home? Do you get your family's much-loved tree out of the loft each year or is it a Christmas tradition to go together and choose one? Does real or fake really matter to you and your family?

Whatever your opinion, Homebase wants to know.

We’ll enter everyone who posts on this thread into a prize draw to win a £300 Homebase voucher.

Thanks and good luck.
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

[MumOnTheRunAgain]

It's been artificial here since I got my first flat. Never had a real tree since I was a child

We all associate the smell of 'tinsel' with Xmas now!

[DartmoorDoughnut]

With two dogs, a cat and a toddler artificial is the way to go for the time being, looking forward to having a 'proper' tree in the future though

[Daffodil1210]

Real in our house! Love the smell and the excitement (or tediously long, torturous process according to my DH) of going to choose the perfect tree on the 1st December! [santa] We always get a tree that doesn't drop its needles too much and haven't been disappointed so far.

[sugar21]

A real tree is lovely if you have the space for a tall one. When my Parents picked me up from school for the holidays we used to stop at a lovely garden centre and choose our tree and then have coffee and marshmallows.
Sadly these days I am limited for space so I have an artificial tree with lots of trimmings
I do hanker after childhood Christmases though or perhaps I'm being nostalgic with rose tinted specs on?

[HeadDreamer]

Fake. We have the same tree for about 10 years now. It's from tesco and not very expensive.

I've never had a real one. DH had when he was growing up and he hated the needles dropping. So he vetoed getting a real tree. I guess I'll never find out if it's as bad as he remembered.

[Florin]

I had a artificial tree as a child but always wanted a real one so as soon as we had a home of our own we now always have a real one. We put it right by a window so we don't have to drag it through the house. It goes in through the window and out through the window so you don't end up with needles through the house. We have moved this year into a beautiful old house and are so excited to put all the decorations up for Christmas, infact a couple have gone up already!

[SleepIsForTheWeakAnyway]

I've always had a real tree ever since I moved out of my parents. I love it. The special trip to go get it, the yearly underestimation of how high the ceiling is, the ladybirds, the smell, everything. Even after Christmas when I have to drag it through the house spraying needles everywhere and have to cut it in half for the recycling guys to collect.

No matter how well I try to tidy up after it I will find the needles for months after. A real tree truly makes Christmas last all year

[AGrinWithoutACat]

I would love a real tree but won't get one even though we now have the space as the cost seems to have shot up

We have had our artificial one for 10 years now and it is still going strong so has been well worth it, think this year it does need a new basket as that is looking a bit tattered now

Would love to upgrade to one with pine cones and berries, maybe frost tipped look and with inbuilt led lights - maybe next year (unless am lucky enough to win the vouchers )

[FattyNinjaOwl]

I had a real tree as a child. I remember the faff of cleaning up needles for weeks afterwards! Not doing that!
I have a fibre optic tree. My DCs love the lights. They become sort of mesmerised by them
Will need a new one soon but I reckon mine will survive a couple more Christmases. so long as DD doesn't try and climb it

[Pumpkinpie69]

I love real but the only downside to real is you can't put it up on Dec 1st! This lesson I have learned :) by the 18th the fake had to come out! Haha

[JasperDamerel]

My house is very small and real trees are horribly expensive, but I get one every year anyway. I like Frazer firs the best as they smell lovely, aren't too prickly and fit into a small space. We don't have a lot of storage space, so a real tree is more practical in terms of having to find somewhere to keep it for the other eleven and a half months of the year, but mostly I just love the smell and feel and general loveliness of a real tree. I would quite like to fall in love with an artificial tree for financial reasons, but I just can't.

[redheadandgoingtobed]

Real tree! Its the gift that keeps on giving- you find pine needles in the sofa all year round.

[CMOTDibbler]

I love real trees, and the whole process of going to the grower, choosing one etc really makes christmas start for me.

That said, we have had a fake one with fibre optic lights that we bought in Homebase one christmas eve at a vast discount that retired last year having seen us through kittens, toddler, puppies and was now showing its age badly.

[FlopIsMyParentingGuru]

Real here. It doesn't feel like Christmas otherwise.

Also my theory has always been that the extra spikes will deter potential climbers and if they don't, that it's weight will keep it standing.

2 year old DD may challenge my theories this year. She's a bit "wild"

[InMySpareTime]

Fake. Same tree for 14 years now, still going strong. We always put on all the decorations the DCs ever made, when we're done it looks like Christmas threw up over it!

[Ohfourfoxache]

Artificial every time. I don't like the thought of cutting down a tree just to bring it inside, decorate, then chuck out in January - it makes me sad

Growing up, my parents (and grandparents) had horrible, plasticky white Christmas trees. They really were hideous. We've got a lovely big bushy green pre-lit tree and it was one of the most exciting things about dh and I setting up our own home.

[YesterdayOnceMore]

Artificial here. We always smugly put up our tree on 1st December and take it down on Twelth Night and put it in the loft- no yearly (huge) expense, no pine needles everywhere, no stressful finding exactly the right shape, size and nice looking tree, and no having to leave it in the garden to go mouldy/ trapping round the country trying to get rid of it.

We decorate with lights and decorations ourselves. The decorations have accumulated over the years and so are all mismatched, from the ones we picked up on our worldly travels before children, to the 1st Christmas etc decorations the children have been given, to all the wonderful decorations they have made over the years (plus a few made by me and a friend). I love it- it tells a story.

[Bearsinmotion]

Growing up it was always tradition to go and buy a real tree. Dad always insisted on one with a rootball so we could plant it in the garden. Every year he did, and we spent the next three months watching it slowly die .

DP and I now have a little artificial tree we bought 10 years ago for our small flat. Last month we (finally!) bought a house together with a lovely big living room, and the biggest argument we have had since moving is whether we should buy a new 7ft artificial tree with pine cones and LED lights and loads of new baubles etc (me!) or stick with our little tree and save what little money we have left after moving expenses (him!).

I know he is right really but it would be so lovely to have a new tree for our first Christmas in our own home, and the DC would love it too! [santa]

[CheeseEMouse]

I prefer a real tree (although getting it out of a flat has previously meant dropping it out the window into the front yard). However practicality has prevailed with a toddler and a baby and this year the tree will be fake.

[LastTripToTulsa]

A real tree for me as it holds so many happy memories. As a child my Dad, me and my sisters driving around for ages in the dark listening to the Eagles in our mustard Coloured Skoda looking for the biggest Christmas tree we could find .Then all squashed up with the tree an that gorgeous tree smell....Miss my dad miss the old days

[ChippyMinton]

We have had a fake one for the last few years, complete with lights and fir cones. The increasing cost of a big, non-drop tree was the clincher, at upwards of £30 a time it wasn't sustainable.

I do covet a real tree though...

[aftereight]

A huuuuge real tree every year, the biggest we can squeeze into our high ceilinged victorian house.
We always buy from the same farm, and the DC see the tree purchase as one if the most exciting days of the year. Usually Dec 1st.

In fact, when we viewed prospective houses, one of the key tests was the christmas tree test [santa] i.e. space for a massive one!

[AugustRose]

We have had a real tree since DH and I have lived together (22 years) and 'the getting of the tree' is the start of our Christmas preparations. It's usually DH and one of the children and DH insists it has to be the first weekend in December. They do cost quite a bit but we usually go for a Nordman Fir which don't drop the needles and last well all the way to January.

We have had kittens and toddlers at various stages but the trees have always survived.

It's the smell you see, pine forests in winter are my favourite smell and this just brings a little bit of it home :)

[IpsyUpsyDaisyDo]

We have both! A fake tree in the loft for the years we spend Christmas away from home, and real for the years we host Christmas. I definitely prefer a real tree (a huge, bushy expensive one!), but it's quite nice to have it only some years, makes it more special. Also, our fake tree is HUGE, a real one that size would cost a fortune!

[Makemineacabsauv]

A real tree every time!!love the look and smell of them and an artificial
one just isn't the same! Even the hassle of putting it up/taking it down and hoovering up the needles is worth it!