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?

I've had both at different times in my life, and prefer artificial. My current tree is having its 14th outing this Christmas and I expect it to keep going another 14. I don't buy another tree every year because I want whatever the current trend is, black/white/snowy/pink etc.

I've always had a fake tree. I personally don't like real trees at all, but thats just preference.
Mine came from Tescos, it cost £25 (half price from £50), is 6' tall and has lots of branches. I've had it for 5 years now, looks good as new, and won't be buying any more, other than a tabletop one, when it wears out.

I always have a fake one - why would I want a dying tree in my house !
My current tree is a black fibreoptic one I bought about 10 years ago. I figured if I was going to fake it, it was definitely going to look fake :-)

Considering that we should be all about recycling now, having a real tree seems a bit stupid to be honest (and don't get me started on fireworks or Chinese lanterns...!)

I'd rather have plantations of Christmas trees than a factory that's making plastic ones.
Having said that I have my grandmothers fake Christmas tree from the 1st world war. Obviously looking a bit sparse but better than it's real counterpart. I love imagining all the Christmases it has been part of over the years.

Dd2 allergic

cheesy - they do smell nice, but it's not as strong. I have fairly high ceilings and I can only smell the tree within a couple of metres of it, not over the other side of the room. So you don't get the festive smell.

I LOVE Christmas trees and I do long walks round my city to see as many as I can!! So I generally buy a Nordmann fir pretty early - in the first or second week of December - and it lasts until January in a room with 2 high-powered column radiators and a log burner. There are scatterings of needles, but really not that many. That's how much of a difference we are talking about!

We had a fake one for years. It smelt weird!

Last year we bought one from a local nursery but it's a recyclable system. You buy one one year (potted) and if you return it, you get a discount the next, and so on so you can afford a bigger tree the next time

Becasue after about 15 years of dh being really ill every single Xmas we finally realised (doh!) that he is allergic to the real tree 😩 we now have a very fancy fake one that looks real but doesn't give him flu like symptoms.

But Liz, real trees can be recycled (chipped down etc) and eventually biodegrade whereas as far as I know the fake ones hang around in landfill for thousands of years. Our trees get collected by the council as green waste.

Balsam Hill, because I couldn't get a tall enough real one with a slim profile. I love it, people think it's real once the skirt goes on the bottom. This is 10ft.

Buy one in the January sale

Needles, recycling, money, in no particular order.
We currently have a tree you put together and adjust branches to suit, cost about £40 15 years ago. Still looks OK, but I actually preferred the small white tinsel one I bought when I first had my own place - my thought then was if you're going to go tacky, go completely tacky!
I do like real trees, but prefer them planted outside, hate the thought of cutting down a perfectly good tree only to chuck it out a few weeks later. Also I can do without the expense of buying a tree every year.

We have a fake one because before we had DD we generally spent Christmas somewhere else than at home and so our tree was never the one we were enjoying at Christmas itself. Having forked out for a reasonably nice one, it now seems wasteful to throw it out and spend money each year on a real one just to chuck it out a couple of weeks later (as you say, OP). I kind of feel we are doing less damage to the environment by using and reusing our fake tree than we would be by buying annual real ones and certainly a lot less damage than buying new fake ones each year.

If/when it falls apart we might think again. I like the recyclable tree idea Faith - might go for something like that in the future.

That's no good, jangly - the whole matter's a sentimental one! No-one could claim a Christmas tree's necessary to a healthy life 🎄

I love real trees but trying to cut the trunk to size so it fits into our tree holder and getting rid of it afterwards (taking it to the gardening bin at the recycling centre which fills the car and house with needles) means I accepted the gift of my parents old artificial tree last year.

However, your post has reminded me that I can't remember where I put it :o

*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.*

I have to say I still find it a weird thing to invoke. It reminds me of meat eaters who won't eat meat on the bone, or who hate any reminder that meat comes from animals. If you're happy to waste paper the rest of the year then it's a bit childish to get sad about actually seeing a tree 'unnecessarily chopped down'.

I have a lovely fake tree in the loft that I've had for 10 years, but I only use it when I can't get a real one. My real ones come from a local SSI that is returning scrubby woodland to its original peat bog status, and every few years they encourage people to come and cut a self-sown tree to keep the regrowth down. We've had pine and birch, which are sweet in a twiggy way, all free and helping to restore the bog. Wellies are required and we're likely to get very muddy as we negotiate the bog but it's good fun.
DDog tries to wee up whatever tree we have, real or fake, as he's not a discerning hound.

I would worry my cat would hurt herself on the pine needles.

My dog knocks over any tree we have and I can't be bothered with the needles everywhere and getting rid of it at the end of the season.
Fake trees are so much easier.

I have a real one because it will have bio degraded down long before the old artificial ones have done little more than sit in landfil.
And it will have converted carbon dioxide into oxygen while growing, rather than being made in a factory.
Although both facts are based on my limited scientific knowledge!

The expense.

Don't like the smell of Xmas trees so I get a fake one but its fibre optic.

Oh and for anyone who does have a real tree but doesn't know what to do with it in January - call your local zoo. They will be more than happy to take it off your hands - the Lions will have a field day with them. I think it's something to do with the scent, but they love it.

Our local zoo sent a leaflet out last year and they got about 500 trees donated which kept their lions happy for about 8 weeks.

Oh yes, the lack of symmetry and the fact that they always look a bit threadbare. Fake and fluffy is so much better IMHO.