Artificial Christmas Trees - Balsam Hill

[Clockwork99]

Have noticed that Balsam Hill have a sale on trees. Any thoughts on their range or alternatives?

Been looking at the Silverado or the Royal Blue Spruce. Any comments are helpful!

Just my experience, I have one in the loft, looked amazing in the photo but v disappointed when I got it home. I told them I thought it was pretty average and they sent me a YouTube video of how to set it up so it looked better. I'd already done that. It was still mediocre. Nothing like the photos in the brochure. Waste of a lot of money.

Good to know. What tree did you go for?

It was in the July sale in 2017 (still not worth it at half price), can't remember which type I bought. I had a real tree at Christmas that year for the first time. I've switched to that now, and I have my tree recycled each year, they make it into bark chips for kids playgrounds (I like that)

My woolworths tree, donkeys old, was better, but it was knackered.

I have got three BH trees, they all look fantastic when you spend time fluffing the branches out properly. Oldest one is 12 years old and shows no signs of its age.

6ft Alpine. It was sparse in the middle no matter how much I twiddled and faffed with the branches. Just checked my email, it was indeed back in 2017. Its still in my loft.

Have a look at Christmas Tree World. Much cheaper than BH. Our 8ft Woodland Pine is amazingly realistic, it fools everyone. Their sale might still be on.

I've got to disagree, I got the 7ft Fraser Fur last year and it is absolutely stunning. I put senticles fragrance sticks inside the tree and it smelt wonderful. I've never seen another artificial tree quite the same!

We've got a BH tree and it is stunning. Expensive but worth the price. Does take a lot of effort to fluff it up properly (my DH did that last year and I'm desperately hoping he'll do it again this year). They give you gloves to prevent tree-related injuries!

We've got the 7ft Grandview Fir, pre lit, and it is absolutely gorgeous! You do have to spend a lot of time fluffing out the branches, I had watched the YouTube video and read many comments on here about that. It's worth it though and after the first year it gets easier to fluff

Thanks on the advice. Those with balsam hill trees.. do you mind telling me which model you have?

Hi OP we've got the 7ft Grandview Fir (pre lit in candlelight) It's dense but a bit narrower than others which is what we wanted as our house is small. Wish I move to my dream mansion I'll get the 12-foot Nordmann Fir

We've got the Norway spruce. I was really pleased with it - it's got a narrow profile which works well in our space. I was about half way through fluffing the branches before I realised there were gloves though

Mine's the Norway spruce. Bloody marvellous, bought in sale 5 years ago. Wear gloves! It takes a while to get the branches out but that's what DD is for. Personally I dislike real trees, unless they're planted in the woods/garden/forest. You get my drift.

We bought Balsam Hill last year pre lit but can’t remember which one. I spent a long time looking at reviews I know that! I think we needed to spend longer on the ‘fluffing up’ stage so good to know it’s easier after first year.

I bought the 7' Silverado Slim last year. I love it but it does take a lot of time 'fluffing' it up. I put ours up at the beginning of December and spent a few days tweaking it and then got to enjoy it over the whole month.

Take a look at the Ultra Mountain Pine from Christmas Tree World. It's a fantastic shape. BH don't have one like it. They are all too "triangular" for me. Comes unlit or prelit. I got the 8ft. And a fraction of the price. The inner branches are ordinary pvc but all of the ends that are on show are realistic PE
I love mine.

This is it.

We got a 7ft Silverado Slim back in 2015 and I bloody love it.

Cost me £149 in the sale back then and basically paid for itself in 3 years if I compared it to what I had to pay for a real tree each year to be delivered (I don't drive)

Never thought I would have a fake one but it looks lovely and fits in my living room without being a tripping hazard.

I hang the scented things in it so it smells "real". Didn't bother with pre-lit as I like the "cold" white lights rather than "warm" and I wuv it so!

Even my little brother (who is a "has to be real" xmas tree snob) didn't realize it wasn't real until he stuck his face in it.

Check the % of the "most realistic" branches, the higher % the better it will look.

We have a 7’ prelit slim BH Fraser fir and it’s absolutely awesome . We’ve had it a couple of years and dh was very sceptical when I bought it , it was £200 in the sale , but even he was impressed with it . He did take a long time arranging the branches though and I do think it’s worth the effort . It’s also not particularly slim !

I love our Balsam Hill tree. I bought one last year second hand from eBay, I’ve just checked and it was a 6 foot Norway spruce prelit. We’ve since moved to a bigger house and I’ve bought a 7foot one for this year, again from eBay so much cheaper (dh is 6’5 and always said a 6 foot tree was too short). Prelit was a revelation as it means no horrible untangling of lights at the start of December. I like that it’s a nice ‘grown up’ tree that I can decorate tastefully, while the dc have a tacky tree in back room that they can decorate however they want. I’d recommend searching eBay if you’re unsure, if you’re not impressed there’s plenty of time to sell on before Christmas