Real or fake Christmas trees ? Lighthearted

[genuinequestion21]

I've not been a very Christmassy person my whole life. So I never decorated for Christmas. So it's all a bit new for me.

I'm a mum now and I got my first Christmas tree last year and went all out for my DD.

I got a fake one last year as it needed to fit into a specific space.

Anyhow, I'm in a bigger house this year and can get whichever tree.

Now the debate has started- fake or real ? What are the benefits of each ?

My in laws are super anti real, whereas my family is super anti fake. I want to get a real one, my husband wants a fake.

I bought a real one today. Any tips on how to maintain it etc ?

This seems a contentious subject. My in laws will definitely comment on it..

I said to my husband, worse comes to worse, we put in in the garden with just lights.

We have fake but only because the only place we can put a tree is really close to the radiator, and the one year we did have a real one we did all the right things to keep it topped up with water etc but it still dried out quite quickly. I'd prefer real but no choice really

Fake all the way. I cannot stand the smell of real ones - always makes me think of those awful solid toilet rim blocks from when I was a child. I have to hold my breath when I walk past the real tree a generous parent always donates to our school every year.

Ah see I've got a fake one with glittery branches and prelit. Much easier as all we do is chuck baubles on and stick a star ontop easy peasy

Real but as a pp said, don’t buy too early. We’re getting ours next Saturday. I love the smell & the look of real trees.

Everyone's probably already said, but far too early to get a real tree. We've had a real tree for the last few years after moving into a new house with more space, but it goes in the bay window next to radiators so not ideal. I am looking for a new fake tree this year, hopefully realistic looking and quite spindly.

Real - getting end of next week or the week after - love a real tree - never had an issue with pets and needles - recycled by giving a donation to a local charity who mulch it and reuse the chippings

Grew up very poor with a fake (occasionally white tinsel) tree. Left home
and was always a “real tree” devotee. Then moved house last year and have literally nowhere to put a real tree of any sort of decent size, unless I do some serious sculpting to make it a significantly less bushy. So bought a prelit fake one that was the right width- And do you know what?

I was just as working class when I was off chopping down my real tree at a charity tree farm, and sending it for chipping for a worthy cause, as I am with my fake prelit Robert Dyas special.

And my Christmas morning Bollinger tastes JUST the same sat in front of either.

We always used to buy a real one and pre kids we loved our real trees and wouldn't contemplate anything else.

But three DC down the line we realised that the choosing and buying of the real tree each year - not to mention the cost, the constant needle shedding and the watering and the fact that the branches drooped pitifully with any ornament that wasn't light as a feather plus the faff of chopping it up to take to the tip in January - had actually become a mahoosive stress. It was never magical, never Christmassy. Ever. No-one would agree on which tree to get, the DC all ended up in a strop and by the time we'd got the sodding thing home and manhandled it into place and hoovered up all the needles it had already shed, we'd feel drained of any sense of Christmas joy whatsoever.

So about 5 years ago we bought a fake one and OMG it's been amazing. Easy to put up, easy to take down, looks amazing, no shedding of needles, no stressful buying trips, no stroppy DC. Our tree fits absolutely loads of ornaments on and looks so gorgeous and realistic that people assume it's real. I love love LOVE it. I know you have to use a fake tree for years before you officially neutralise the environmental impact but that's no problem, frankly I'll use this tree every year until I die.

I feel like trees shedding all their needles isn't something that happens so much anymore. At least not with the ones I've bought in recent years.

We have both.

Real one in the living room

Fake one in the dining room.

I would always have a real one could quite happily do without the fake one

We have a big fake one and a little pot grown real one. Fake was bought in 2013 and is in the living room. Pot grown tree bought today and I’m hoping to plant it outside..it’s so cute and there’s something special that it’s real and growing! If I had to choose between the two I’d definitely go real.

I love real trees. Probably as a reaction to tons of plastic shite everywhere as a child.

DP doesn't see the need for any tree at all but absolutely not a real one. In fairness, he does point out that my skin blisters as soon as I've touched a real tree, so I am being totally daft, but I like the idea of something natural, rather than something that will still be knocking around in landfill somewhere in a thousand years. Not much carbon capture being done with a Blossom Hill, in any case.

I have a small real one on the front and back window ledges and a 20 year old fake one from Next indoors which I'm quite fond of. It's in a weighted wicker pot rather than normal stand

I quite like the idea of pot grown christmas trees, it would be nice to try different varieties, eg blue spruce, scots pine, lodgepole pine. Does anyone know how long it would take to grow a sapling into a tree big enough for the main inside tree? And would it be ok just grown in a pot all that time?

Fake because it costs less (I bought my tree second hand for £25 - it is a 7ft very bushy one) and I can position the branches however I want. I think it looks nicer than a real one once all the decs are on.

Real. We go cut our own. Many trees have been cut weeks ago (so no point waiting until closer to Christmas) and if low drop should be fine if kept away from a radiator and watered. We always, even if buying one already cut, get one first week of December and it stays up until Jan 6 with no issues.
I have dogs and cats no issues there.

I'd rather go without a tree than have a fake one.
Me too!

@AlwaysLatte

I'd rather go without a tree than have a fake one. Me too!

More for the rest of us

We had fake trees when I was a child, I had real trees for a number of years when I was an adult but I am back to fake now. I have an expensive, good quality fake that will do me for the foreseeable.

I like the smell of real trees and the idea of them. I dislike cleaning up the needles, the mess of getting rid of it and it not lasting. I think you have purchased a real tree far too early, it is going to look very sorry for itself by Christmas!

I don’t think size of house is a factor in the decision, both real and fake trees come in multiple sizes.

Fake. I experimented with a real tree in 2014 only to find out it took up most of the space in the room. Plus it weighed a ton. As I'm now in a wheelchair, I don't fancy wrestling on my own with a real tree. So, after 7 years without a tree, I've got a small prelit fake that I can put together and place on the side to kid myself I have a much taller tree.

Fake and second hand so no environmental concerns.
But yesterday I brought in some pine branches that were blown down in the storm and the smell took me right back to childhood when we always had a beautiful real tree

Real. AND the old-fashioned kind (Norway spruce I think) with the prickly needles that drop everywhere and make the room smell lovely with the ‘Christmas tree’ smell that none of the others have. We only get ours mid-December at the earliest though.

Most important thing about a real tree OP, is to get a fresh cut. The trunk will seal itself over (re-sap) a few hours after it’s cut. It doesn’t matter how much water you then stand it in, it won’t be able to draw any up

So when you buy a real tree, ask the garden centre / wherever you’re getting it from, to slice off the bottom 2 inches. Then immediately when you get home put outside in a deep bucket of water for 24 hours.

As soon as you’re ready to bring inside, into your stand and fill to the brim with water. You should be re watering every single day, right to the top of the container. If the level gets too low, the truck will reseal itself and it’s game over

I cannot be faffed with the buying and transporting home of a real tree. It's not like you see on Instagram etc although I do agree they do look better.

How much is a 6/7ft real tree? There are some beautiful fake ones on Baslam Hill, very expensive but probably the same one off cost as buying a real tree every year for 20 years.