If you tend to get a fake Christmas tree, why?

[Spidermama]

Wouldn't you rather have a real one?
I don't understand fake trees. What are the advantages?

Nope i wouldn't want a real one.
Too prickly and messy!
And my artificial one will last for years and i only had to pay out for it once.

I love real trees and have had them in the past, but have had an artificial one since ds's were born. No drop, no mess, no more expense once you've bought it, no worries about what to do with it afterwards (remembering we haven't got a garden...).

I think when we've moved - maybe next year - we'll get a real one, but our artificial one from Woolies bought 5 years ago has done us really well!

Had a real one the first year we lived here, and planted it out (still there).

As I don't want a pine forest, and I don't want a succession of poor slow-dying cut trees each year we've used a fake one since '99.

Yes, I'd love to have a real one. But dh thinks they're expensive, wasteful and messy, so we have the fake. It stays in the attic the rest of the year, so it's handy (at least I can say that for it). But I'd FAR rahter have the look and smell of a real one...

Can't afford to be buying real xmas trees every damn year I'm afraid. Got a house full of invited peeps for Xmas to feed.

I have a cute twig tree which I unearth every year - (on my profile) I love it because it's small and neat, but I do love the look and scent of a real tree - would never buy a plastic thing.

Because Ds would pull all the needles off a real one!!
ASD can be such a delight! He does it with flowers and leaves too. Show you them tne pulls them apart.
I'd love a real one but I don't think it would cope with the month my decs are up. Ds loves all the tinsel and lights so they go up the first week of December. Anything for a quiet life!

But ... but ... it's not a real tree. I don't get it.

I wonder if people who have artificial trees were brought up with them and it has become traditional.

Or are there people out there who have had real trees and now opt for fakes.

mildly allergic to the real ones me, so can't have one in the house

Main advantages of artificial is that they don't shed, are symmetrical, and are reasonably environmentally friendly.

Yes I think there might be something in that SM - I was brought up with a real tree, dh had a fake. Figures!

We had real trees as children but now have artificial - for a while at least. It's just more sensible/pragmatic.

We bought a fake tree about 11 years ago and have not had to buy one since - so saves money.

I don't think it's particularly eco-friendly to cut down a tree, stick it indoors then throw it away a month later (yes you can get rooted ones you plant in your garden but hardly anyone does). Yes you can argue that a fake one isn't really eco-friendly but at least it's getting reused year after year!

They drop needles - a nightmare with little ones around

Unless you buy it ridiculously early, you get stuck with a crappy shaped one.

It's yet another expense to shell out year in year out. If it wasn't for our fake tree I would reckon that half the time we wouldn't have had a tree because we couldn't afford one.

I do think they (real ones) smell gorgeous though

We had real trees when I was growing up but, for many it's affordabilty, now what don't you get about that?

advantages -

costs less
less waste
less mess
less faff

i'm a bit like phoebe from friends and see it as a waste of a poor tree tbh

Miaou most Christmas trees are specifically grown to be Christmas trees so I don't mind that aspect any more.

We tend to do two years of artificial, then one year of real.

The advantage of a real tree is the lovely smell when they are fresh. Taking down is easier too - you just take off your good ornaments and lights, and leave all the cheap bits.

Other than that....

a real tree which has been hacked down only to slowly die in your living room

pointy, it's only like having cut flowers in your house, isn't it??

They are wasteful
Needles and small kids don't mix
I hate the smell of real trees

The last time we had a real tree, we had to get a new hoover because the needles gave the old one a heart attack.

It's just like having cut flowers pointy and as I say the trees are planted to be christmas trees so they know they're going to die.

Has anyone read E Cummings book Little Tree?

The real ones are messy I admit and difficult to get in and out but I just wouldn't feel it was christmas without one.

well yes, but flowers would only last a number of months in the wild. The tree would last for decades.

(We get a real tree these days, I'm not agin 'em but I can easily see the advantages of a fake one)

grew up with and always had real.
one year were going to be away for most of xmas and new year, so didn't make sense to get a tree. got a fake one half price because it was too sad not take have one.
it is fab, have used it ever since.
do miss real tree, but as we have the fake one now it seems silly to buy a real one.