Or do fake trees always look crap?

[heyyyottoe]

So I treated myself to a Balsam Hill tree and I’m honestly shocked at how shit it looks.

All my previous trees weren’t great but I thought buying this brand would be better … how mistaken I was.

so sparse and ugly. If I ever bother to decorate I’ll just get a real tree from now one.

This^
Id be extremely disapointed with thst trer OP.
Personally i dont think you can beat a real tree.
I did see a good artifical tree in The White Company a couple of years ago but still nowhere as good as the real thing imo, but it is personal choice

Yes, in my opinion, artificial trees always do look crap. But, on the other hand, if you want to put your tree up more than a couple of weeks before Christmas then this seems to be the only way to go.

Another thing is that an artificial tree is now an acceptable look in its own right, by which I mean it’s no longer expected to look like a real tree. It’s just a particular look that you get at Christmas.

Finally, I came to the conclusion several years ago that I love trees far too much to want to be having a dying one in my room.

My fake tree is rose gold and it is beeyootiful! Quite the pinnacle of fake trees. Only the shimmery turquoise one I had in the Frozen era and the classic aluminium silver one come close to such gorgeousness. I have now abandoned the idea of a yellow gold tree as they are nowhere as lovely as this.

I much prefer fake to real trees , mine is gorgeous , You should return yours if your unhappy with it

They always look crap, you can tell from a mile away by the shape too as they are perfect triangles

You’ve not fully opened the branches!!!!

It looks nothing like the tree in their ad! What a rip off! Unless they've mistakenly sent you the wrong tree.

I would return that tree OP, it doesn’t look like any amount of fluffing would get it looking like the pic. I would recommend white stores, I got my everlands fake one from there 5 years ago and love it- wanted something realistic but without the hassle of a real one.

I like to put it up early so we have an artificial one or it would be half dead by Christmas. Ours cost about £150 from Homebase around 6 years ago and it looks like your first pic OP, I think you should send yours back.

What is fluffing a tree?

Not all of them.

Real ones make a load of mess and then have to be disposed of afterwards. Not to mention the waste year on year.

If I didn't have children I wouldn't bother at all. Really not into the whole decorating thing.

No. Mine is fake and 25 years old this year. It looks amazing.

I gave up on false ones. They never look great

I have a fake tree. It fits in my house and is a nice regular shape so it's easy to put the decorations on.

And it's probably not massively less eco-friendly than having a real one as I've had it for well over 10 years and had the one before that for about 15 years.

I find real ones are too big for modern rabbit hutch houses.

I've had a fake tree for many years because it's so expensive to buy real trees! It looks fine with all the decorations on

I have a Balsam Hill and it takes about 2 days to spread all the branches out which is why they supply gloves. I always pop it up in
the garage few days before needed and spread the branches a few at a time. Have you done this with yours?

Me too @Peridot1, I come out in hives if I touch a real one! But I love my old artificial one, and it looks lovely with plenty of tinsel and baubles.

Unpopular opinion but I don't like Christmas trees full stop. We get a real one every year and I'm so sad that I've got an essentially dead tree sitting in my lounge. I don't mind so much when they are potted and then can go outside after, but this year I didn't find any potted ones and the potted ones I have on the patio are looking a bit sorry for themselves. Just bending down to turn on the lights every night pisses me off, faffing about on the floor trying to find the little switch. And then the cats attack the baubles. It takes up loads of space and drops everywhere. Plastic ones are ridiculous, I don't have fake plants and I am not going to have a fake tree.
Don't even get me started on those foil decoration things people had in the 80s.

I do however like decorating our fireplace with foliage and holly, that looks nice, and I don't just do it for Christmas.

You can’t beat a real tree.

The ones with the plastic branches instead of the green tinsel ones are the only ones I think look real. But I think companies put in extra branches for the photos. I got one from White Stores last year and while it does look pretty real, I fluffed for hours and couldn’t get it as full as the photos

most fake looks fine. the key is to make sure you fluff it well, you can always fill in a gap with some tinsel/or baubles.
The worst tree we ever had was one that you had to hook the branches onto the sort of trunk. that was a flipping nightmare you had to peer at each piece to see what letter it was, as it was A, one layer B next layer and so on.
the hooks kept coming unhooked you only had to move a bauble or turn on the lights and out they came! after Xmas that went into the bin

I love my fake tree and it 15 years old! 🎄

We have a fake one from White Company. It was a lot bit it's prelit, easy to store and looks beautiful. We've had it for 8 years.

I've got a couple of Balsam Hill ones. The very expensive one is fantastic and looks great. The cheaper one is a bit okayish, but we only wanted a smaller one to fill a corner in the hall, so it does the job. Their production values vary depending on the model, and you do get what you pay for.

We bought a plastic tree (or 2) after moving from an old draughty house to a modern, well insulated one with great under-floor heating. This cooked our real tree the first year round - by Christmas Day it was brown, crispy and had started to smell like a dung heap. Luckily the needles hung on in there till New Year's Day, when I dragged it out for composting.

I also have the real looking one from the white company and I think they're the closest to real I've found. I bought real for years and it looks no different.