Page 2 | Balsam Hill Xmas Tree

cocomelonhead · 2022-09-10T15:21:53+00:00

Which one should I buy? Which ones do you have? Bonus points for pictures! Been promising myself one 'next year' for years now but our old one really is on its last legs (was my in laws when my husband was a kid!), so this year I'm gonna do it and hope it lasts as long as the old one.

Floralnomad · 12/09/2022 22:49

We can’t fit our large tree in the bags provided , so it goes in a couple of large plastic Christmas tree crates .

SheldontheWonderSchlong · 13/09/2022 08:57

Alucadekena · 12/09/2022 17:50

I love mine. Have had it several years and I get it to look exactly like their photo. If you watch their video you will see how each branch should be fluffed and where people go wrong, the example in the middle. Mine is the blur spruce.

I will admit that I do something that helps with branch fluffing but it is because it also aids me stringing the lights. However, putting up the tree has always been a family thing so I have help but everyone knows what to do so each person gets 2 branches per layer to fluff. There are 4 of us.

When you get your BH tree it comes in sections and each section is held together with some ribbon. When I put the bottom section into the stand and let down all the branches I then tie back up all the other branches bar the bottom layer. This means I can easily see each branch and there are 2 designs of branch. You just go up and sideways with each bit just like the video below and because there are 2 designs of branch there is a set way to do it. There are never any gaps.

I then wind the lights up and down each branch, from trunk to tip but up and down each tip too and back to the trunk. I use a 1000 lights on a 6ft tree. Take down the next layer and do the same again, fluff and light. Yes it sounds like a faff but to be honest I am not going to want to sit looking at a sad tree for several weeks. When we pack the tree each layer is tied up with strips of fabric from an old sheet. It sounds like more effort than it actually is. When putting up the tree we listen to Christmas music, chat and have fun doing it. I also taught my children when they were little how to decorate a tree so it looks cohesive rather than just flung together. There are lots of videos on YouTube showing how to decorate a tree to make it look amazing.

I know from this thread that people are very negative about BH and I can't upload a photo as it has all my metadata in the files. Here is the branch fluffing video. The trees are used on day time TV shows here and in the US, they are well regarded.

I do all this and it is still nowhere near as full as the picture, plus losing bits off it every year doesn't help. I think the photography is very clever on the website in choice of backgrounds etc to make the trees look much better than they are.
I still think it's a very pretty tree, but I definitely got sucked into the hype!

Floralnomad · 13/09/2022 12:03

@SheldontheWonderSchlong what bits are you losing , neither of mine shed any bits at all and our large one is a few years old now .

SheldontheWonderSchlong · 13/09/2022 12:36

Floralnomad · 13/09/2022 12:03

@SheldontheWonderSchlong what bits are you losing , neither of mine shed any bits at all and our large one is a few years old now .

The 'realistic' PE tips. Lose a few more every time the tree goes up, no matter how gentle I am with it. Glad you're happy with yours.

BeansOnToast32 · 13/09/2022 12:51

I bought a 5ft Royal Blue Spruce from BH last year in the sales, it's pre-lit with 600 colour and clear lights. The controller it comes with allows you pick between colour lights, clear or a mixture of both and you can choose how bright or dim you want them. I absolutely love it, it's beautiful and it made my Christmas much brighter last year. I can't wait to get it out again.

It looks very realistic. Just looked at the price of it now and it's £399 from £549. Last year I paid £299 from £449. That's a massive increase.

lalaland2021 · 14/09/2022 06:31

Mine was awful, looked nothing like what it did in the pictures despite doing everything to spruce it up. I sent it back and got a refund. Then went to JL and got a lovely one. Here is a picture of the tree up next to a photo of what it should look like!

CaptainMum · 14/09/2022 07:31

I got one from FB marketplace last year. A 7ft white spruce I think. I did have lots of compliments on it, but it wasn't extraordinary. I would buy again, but in the summer when they're reduced, or a second hand one. The new prices are crazy to me. Mine isn't pre-lit, as I vary whether to use white or coloured lights 😊

SheldontheWonderSchlong · 14/09/2022 07:36

lalaland2021 · 14/09/2022 06:31

Mine was awful, looked nothing like what it did in the pictures despite doing everything to spruce it up. I sent it back and got a refund. Then went to JL and got a lovely one. Here is a picture of the tree up next to a photo of what it should look like!

I'm sure someone (probably from Balsam Hill) will be along in a minute to tell you that you just hadn't fluffed properly!

With mine, I was also surprised just how much of the cheap green tinsel stuff they had used on it considering the price and that it was part of the 'most realistic' range.

I do love that it's pre-lit though so would definitely recommend that.

lalaland2021 · 14/09/2022 07:42

Hahaha I'm sure someone will be!! After a good 2 hours of trying to spruce it up I gave up and decided I haven't got that sort of time to continue!!

ImAvingOops · 14/09/2022 07:44

I bought one of the narrow, sparse ones and I do think the branches look more realistic than the tinsel ones. I got mine in the sale - I wouldn't pay full price.
Have attached a close up with the cats, so you can see.

lalaland2021 · 14/09/2022 07:50

I've got to add Balsam customer service was brilliant and arranged collection and have a refund straight away so definitely can't fault them on their customer service.

lemmein · 14/09/2022 07:56

I bought one from Cox & Cox a couple of years ago - the blue spruce one I think; I absolutely love it!

I pretended to everyone I got a bargain on eBay as I was too embarrassed to admit I'd spent a feckin fortune on a fake tree to sit in the corner for a few weeks.

It IS beautiful though 😍

Alucadekena · 14/09/2022 08:04

@SheldontheWonderSchlong you shouldn't be losing tips at all. I would contact BH and complain. We are not gentle with ours and I have never lost a tip yet.

And yes, I would love to offer a tree branch fluffing service because those BH trees are used on tv shows so a professional tree decorator fluffs the trees. I just learned how to do it, as I have said, by isolating each layer you get full access to a single branch tip which is then much easier to fluff rather than fighting through layers.

The BH bag is incredibly generous and made of very sturdy material. Mine is stored in the loft so I drag it across the loft floor and also up or down the stairs as it is too cumbersome to carry in my house with its weird 90 degree turns where I need to upright the bag to get it round a corner.

And no, I don't work for BH but I do love Christmas and followed the Poncetastic when it first went up a decade ago. Even packing decorations away is a delight for me because I know when I see them next it will be another Christmas.

MsSquiz · 14/09/2022 08:30

This is ours, we got it last year and I love it.
It took ages to set up and get everything "right" but when I was telling my SIL how long it took, she said it takes a lot longer the first time.
We got the twinkly light show one, which has an app you can use to change the lights and colours. We didn't actually use the app last year, but no doubt DD1 who turns 3 in December will like to play with that!

www.balsamhill.co.uk/p/vermont-white-spruce-artificial-christmas-tree?sku=2808468

EarthMutha · 14/09/2022 08:46

I bought a BH tree a few years ago and was so disappointed I sent it back. I replaced it with a National Tree Co tree and absolutely love, paid around £200 for a 7ft tree, really bushy etc... My sister ended up buying the sane one the following year. We both bought ours from

www.hayesgardenworld.co.uk/category/christmas/artificial-christmas-trees

MeriPenomause · 14/09/2022 09:01

We tried to buy one a few years back. It was a sale item. We got an email after a while saying that due to brexit there were issues getting it into the country so they had to cancel our order.
Dh emailed back stating that he might be able to help due to the job he does and if they could let him know what restrictions they were struggling with he would look into it.
He then gets another email saying that they didn't know why he had been told that as it was just that it was sold out.
We ordered another tree only to get the exact same response as the first one regarding brexit. Word for word. Wouldn't touch them with a barge pole!