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'm allergic to the pine needles so cant decorate it.
pine needles drop everywhere
my cat is also irritated by pine needles and likes to climb the xmas trees
I would feel horrendous at leaving it out to rot so would want to buy one with roots and plant it in the garden, then not bring it in for xmas and get a new one with roots, and the same would happen again, in twenty years I'd have a small pine forest in my garden and I don't think the housing association would appreciate that.

I like slim trees
my cats cant climb slim trees
I like a symetrical tree

The best tree I ever had was in a sale, it cost £30, it had bushy and thinner branches, it was 6ft tall and bushy. It lasted 12 years. The cat climbed it and snapped a branch. I bought it from a now closed down independent discount store.

I've had my slim one for 3 years, Its so convenient that I stuck a bin bag over the top while still decorated and stored it in the loft, fully decorated with lights etc, the following year it took half an hour to set up, including taking it out of the loft and dusting the branches. And the kids couldn't "help" with decorating it

I don't because I spent Christmas Day in hospital when I was about 6 as I had a pine needle down my finger nail that went septic .... I had to have it lanced

I'm also of the belief that a Christmas tree isn't supposed to look nice, it's supposed to be as tacky as possible. I grew up in the 70s and 80s so my tree is full of multi-coloured fairy lights, random styles of baubles and... TINSEL.

We always had real trees when I was growing up as the artificial ones then were horrible (made of tinsel and two foot high).

Now I can't be arsed with the mess (needles all over the floor before Christmas)

Real ones used to smell gorgeous but now smell of nothing

It's a waste

They never look even

My six foot artificial tree - ready lit - cost £25 from Asda and is beautiful. Why would I want to spend £££ on a messy, uneven, environmentally unfriendly dying bunch of stabby twigs

We have a 7 ft artificial tree. It was from Notcutts and looks lovely.

I do love real trees, but hate all the needles going everywhere and, more importantly, DH is severely allergic to fir trees. The only thing i miss is the pine smell, but Christmassy candles do the job just as well.

I've had real once and it was beautiful and smelt gorgeous but it was so sad when we took it to the dump. They are much more beautiful when they are growing outside and in their natural state so we won't be having another one.

The fake ones are really good now.
Once decorated in the wondrous Christmas tat they look as good as the real ones and don't make DD and me itch and sneeze.

I'm confused why people think a natural product is environmentally worse than a huge chunk of plastic that will take hundreds of years to decompose?

Actually I would love this one. Plenty of space for all my old decs too. Very tempted. Balsam Hill one

No hassle with getting the lights on right either.

The symmetrical perfection of fake trees is actually the thing I dislike most about them. If you could get ones that looked a bit bumpy and uneven I might buy one.

I'd love a Balsam Hill one! As much as I would love a real tree again, the only place I can put one is in front of my warm air heating vent so they dry out. The last time I had a real tree it was a very sorry looking brown bunch of twigs by Christmas
My latest tree was from Homebase and it was one of those artificial snow trees. Nice idea, but it shed snow like crazy for the first two years and turns out I'm allergic to it! Luckily there's hardly any left now so it isn't a problem any more

I think it's because people don't see them as a "crop" flop. But they are!

When my DS was crawling it was easier to have an artificial tree that didn't shed and wouldn't spill water everywhere if it tipped over.

Now it's back to real. Ours get taken down to the village and put into a chipper. They make either fuel, compost or toilet roll for cleaning poo crumbs.

We never had a real tree growing up. Always a fake one. I'd never be able to get one home even if I did fancy one.

We got fed up with having to transport a real tree from the farm to our house on top of the car.

We bought a fake tree from Tesco for £15 intending to keep it in the dining room and it was so nice it is now our main tree! it is much easier.

I did miss the smell of a real tree but we easily rectified this by putting a few pine branches on top of the fire place decorated with fairy lights!

If you honestly find the plight of Christmas trees so so sad and depressing well that is a very luxurious worry to have.

Can't stand the smell of real trees, it reminds me of toilet cleaner. Don't want the mess of the needles. I've never seen a real tree indoors that looks anything other than threadbare and sparse. The cost. Assuming £10 per foot, which seems to be about average based on some quick googling, over the course of our marriage, we would have spent over £2200. As it is, we have spent around £360. Last year we bought this one. It's beautiful. And, based on previous experience, I expect it to last at least 10 more years, so an average of £19 per year, rather than around £75.

Grew up with a fake tree, wasn't scarred for life by the experience. We bought our 6 foot tree in Argos about 20 years ago, for about £15. Still going strong.
Just inherited MILs very good quality one, so we can have one in both lounges this year.

Good point about the decomposing. Our council turns the old Xmas trees into compost. So it'snot all bad.

Fake, because as you say loafing the real tree growing for so long then just being cut down to spend a short time in a house before being chucked out makes me angry.

Ours was very expensive but will last years. It's 7ft tall and it is very bushy and full. Easy to put up although it does take fucking ages. I love it and I put it up December 1st and I cannot wait!

I bought an old plastic one secondhand from an Oxfam shop a few years ago. It was quite fun really. We had it as a second tree in the hall. But it smelt of damp.

We bought our first artificial tree because our cats were far too interested in real tree - wouldn't leave them alone. That and the needles. It lasted around 25 years so great value for money.

When it began to fall to bits I bought a real tree one year and put it in our unheated porch. It caused a lot of mould - quite spectacular but scary - so no more real trees.

Bought a good quality 6ft. artificial tree from the local garden centre two or three years ago. Quite pricey but it will pay for itself over the years as real trees are not cheap.

I paid £150 for £300 after Christmas last year. We can't wait to use it this Christmas and lots of other Christmases to come. Change decorations every year.

Only a real one will do for us, it wouldn't be a proper Christmas for us with a fake one. The annual trip to choose one, mulled wine and cheesy Xmas songs on whilst we decorate it. We love it. Then chop up the old one to use in the fire pit in the warmer months.

Because my cat is a twat and climbs both real and fake, the difference is I can't hear pine needles hitting the mirror at the opposite side of the room with a fake one.