To ask those who have artificial Christmas Trees...why?

[Loafingaround]

our last house was far too small, so couldn't fit a christmas tree in there. Having moved into a house large enough to house a christmas tree ,we are finally getting a christmas tree this year. Ive grown up with my grandparents and parents both having real trees, which I know and smell utterly magical and festive, but the thought that these beautiful trees have grown (for approx 8-10 years for a 8" tree!) only to be used and worshiped for a few weeks- then turfed out half dying onto the pavement forgotten about- is also so so depressing and sad to me. It sums up so much wrong with the world in general... I just cant bring myself to buy a "real"tree so will be going artificial. Why do other people go fake? Can you recommend the best, real looking artificial trees and where you bought them?

We have fake because 1) it can be bought once and reused (I've had mine for about 10 years)
2) it doesn't make a mess
3) we don't have to take it down the dump in the new year
4) I can't be arsed to go and source and transport a tree home every year
5) Trees are expensive and I can better use the money else where

When I was a child we never had a real tree, just a spindly fake. Actually there was a real tree one year when the neighbours accidentally got two and kindly gave the spare to us. I thought it looked and smelled wonderful but when we took it down it shed a few needles and my very houseproud Mum went nuts and said never again as it had left a trail of destruction. (It hadn't)

Anyway since being an adult I have always had a real tree. The only year we didn't the reason was because DD was a toddler and I thought she would pull it down on herself.

As for the waste of a real tree then:

a) as someone said Christmas trees are grown as a crop

b) where we live we have a brilliant recycling scheme for them. Every year a team of volunteers go round on a pre-arranged weekend and collect the trees that are left out. You are meant to attach a cheque to the tree as a donation to the local hospice. The trees are then pu through some massive shredder thing that turns them in to chippings that can be used for footpaths etc. It is a win-win-win situation. The trees are removed without any hassle; they are put to good use; the scheme raises many thousands of £££s every year for the hospice.

dh is allergic to christmas trees

Needles when we had small crawling children.

A fake tree isn't more environmentally friendly but if we use it for long enough then it won't be too far behind.

About five years ago, I didn't get round to pruning the "nuisance" tree at the back of the garden (probably planted by someone who wanted a willow-type for crafts). When I finally got it cut back, I decided to paint it white just for a change, and have had it ever since.

I grew up with real ones, but preferred the ease of one that lived in the loft most of the year, and now I have a really "green" one which lives in the garage. Spare branches from my pruning and painting were gladly accepted by local charity-shop for their decorations, and have finally got round to making another tree for a friend who wanted similar but not at the high cost.

I can recommend having a look round the garden in Autumn, or asking a gardening friend.

Real Christmas trees are actually more ecofriendly than plastic ones! See:

www.treehugger.com/culture/ask-pablo-real-or-fake-christmas-tree.html

Also, you can often buy them from charities. I get mine from a local city farm, so all the proceeds get ploughed back into what is a fantastic community project.

If you go for one of the new Nordmann fir type trees, needle drop is very much more minimal than it used to be. You do need to remember to water, however.

I hate the smell and half the family have hay fever and would sneeze themselves to death. Plus the mess of all the needles and the hassle of getting and disposing of them... I can't think of many pros tbh!!

The last time I had a real one the surfeit of dropped needles knacked the Hoover

I love real trees, but I don't like the circumference at the bottom of a typical 6 foot tree spans 6 foot! Artificial trees have a smaller circumference at the bottom, so uses a small footprint than real tree.

If we had a bigger house it would be a tricky one because as much as I love real trees, I hate the waste and also think it's a shame for them to be chopped down, used for a few weeks then thrown away. I know they get recycled but it just seems to be gross consumerism in the form of a tree to do that.

My mum always has a real one and while it's nice and lovely, it's a fucking faff, getting scratched outting baubles on, trying to stop dog pissing on it, and the needles that stick in your feet for months.

I have a pre lit, pre decorated one that takes ten minutes to assemble put up job done! It cost about £30 in a sale eight years ago and it's as good as new so loads of life left in it. The only decorations we add are the ones dd or children in family have made.

Dh sometimes says he would like a real tree but when I tell we can have one as long as he takes responsibility for decorating, hoovering needles and getting rid of it after Xmas, he changes his mind.

We've got a really naice fake one which I bought one January in a sale with 75% off (it was still blooming 50 quid though) I figured I'd be storing it every year in the loft anyway, so no worries storing it for 11 months before using it for the first time...

My kids enjoy putting it together as they remember how to do it and I pretend I've forgotten

I buy real needle-dropping pine branches to fling on the mantelpiece make into an arrangement - for the lovely smell

My DH grew up with a real tree and I grew up with fake. I prefer that they are symmetrical, not 'gappy' and don't shed needles but DH feels very strongly about having a real tree so I have relented this year. I need a good argument to persuade him for next year (maybe I should just buy one in the sales without him knowing .... ) I know he won't be convinced by the money argument.

my DH also thinks decorations should go up on Christmas Eve so for years I thought this was his family tradition but MIL told me they've never had them up that late ! He's definitely not getting his way on that one.

We get feral trees being cleared from our local nature reserve for £5 a time (harvest your own). If I couldn't do that I'd have an artificial one - have you seen the cost of a "real" tree!

I don't like fake trees at all, and find them soulless and depressing, but Bslsam Hill are generally considered to do the best ones, if you like that sort of thing. I keep on trying to like fake ones because they work out so much cheaper in the long run, but I just can't.

I love the phrase 'feral trees' ! What a great description.

Because of needles, and also because one year I bought a tree that shed its needles entirely within 48 hours. We had to rename it the Christmas stick.

It's more cost effective -can dig it out every year

shovetheholly - do Nordmann firs smell nice do you think? My neighbour was telling me they don't drop their needles as much but she thought they don't smell as festive

We must remember that trees don't actually have feelings. And Xmas tree growing is an industry like any other.

CheesyWeez We always get a Nordmann and yes it smells nice. And they don't shed much.

I'm guessing all the people who think it's wasteful don't wrap presents in paper - even that made from recycled trees

It's perfectly usual to dislike one particular thing on the grounds of wastefulness but still engage in other activities that may be wasteful. You can have an opinion on waste without being a zero-waste, carbon-neutral, off-grid self-sufficiency ninja.

Our £8 5ft artificial one bought at Woollies 17years ago is still going strong. As are the string of lights we bought at the same time nary a bulb replaced either!

What weird attitudes. The trees are farmed specifically for Christmas....they're not growing wild....so I hardly think deforestation is a logical argument. They are slow growing so spend 7 or 8 years throwing out oxygen etc therefore making a positive contribution to air quality. And yes they are enjoyed for a short while. Just like the turkey that will have been bred and fed for months and the carrots and potatoes grown by the farmer only to be consumed in one meal. We get our tree from a " pick your own" farm which keeps the costs extremely reasonable ( about £25 for a 6 foot tree I think) and choosing it forms part of our Christmas tradition. If you choose you can dig it up and re plant it in your garden so there's no waste at all.

That calculation is odd - for some reason it includes ' pre-strung Christmas lights which consist of 2 kg of PVC, 2 kg of copper wire, and 1 kg of glass bulbs.'

Mine had none of that, any decorations added would be the same as for a 'real' tree. And 2kg copper wire? seriously? And total weight 35kg - mine is nothing like that heavy.

Oh and I forgot: spiders.

The last time we got a real tree, it had, unbeknownst to us, a little nest of spiders in it. I spent the next day calming hysterical children and getting the fuckers down from the ceiling.