Real or fake Christmas tree? Share your opinions with Homebase for a chance to win a £300 Homebase voucher. NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

‘Tis the season once again. With Christmas on its way, Homebase is keen to get Mumsnetters’ views on the pros and cons of getting a real or fake tree.

Here’s what they have to say: “The Christmas tree is at the heart of everyone’s Christmas look but where do you stand on the annual dilemma - real or fake? Are you a fan of the fresh pine scent and traditional feel you only get from a real tree? Or do you go for a versatile artificial tree most years? Let us know if you go as far as ‘lights included’ or if your fake tree came already snow-tipped and adorned with berries and cones. Tell us all about your trees from over the years, whether you decide on authentic or artificial this Christmas and any tips you have on caring for real trees.”

So what do you think? Does the authentic smell of a real tree win you over? Or are smaller artificial trees better suited to your home? Do you get your family's much-loved tree out of the loft each year or is it a Christmas tradition to go together and choose one? Does real or fake really matter to you and your family?

Whatever your opinion, Homebase wants to know.

We’ll enter everyone who posts on this thread into a prize draw to win a £300 Homebase voucher.

Thanks and good luck.
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

[ISeeIt]

Always real, preferably living. Artificial just doesn't compare!

[loosechange]

It's a real tree for us. If DH goes without me to choose it, it also tends to be a rather large real tree, as in over 6 feet tall.

I love them. Needles drooping, DS pulled the tree over once, pine needles in the carpet until August, it's part of Christmas!

[babster]

We fake it. I know real ones smell lovely and look gorgeous, but I have vivid childhood memories of squabbling with my brother over whose turn it was to sweep up the needles. Endless needles. So convenience wins here.

[GiddyOnZackHunt]

Real tree for us. We too had the Xmas tree spot picked out before we moved in. The dc have little fake trees in their rooms.

[Ataraxy]

There's pros and cons to a real tree. Being a single mum means I have to haul it in the house get the better to stay upright in the bucket of stones (as I never manage to get one with a small enough trunk to fit the tree stand). Also there was a horrific incident with a dead slug decomposing in the bucket. I haven't even mentioned the pine neddles and kittens yet.

However my DCs (9&7) love going to choose a tree, getting it wrapped and bringing it home. Even at this young age they look back fondly at choosing their real tree.

This year I bought a fibre optic tree for the back where we spend the most time. (Getting round the chore of putting on and taking off lights). Then we will go hunt a real tree for the front to continue that tradition. So hopefully when they are my age they can remember fondly the christmas tree hunt.

[Ataraxy]

*beggar

[Ataraxy]

• Needles. My proof reading is shocking

[PallasCat]

Agh I wrestle with this every year! I love the smell and look of real, but we tend to be a way a lot over Christmas, so artificial makes more sense for us.

[DinosaursRoar]

i would love a real tree, but SIL is allergic to them.

[Chopchopbusybusy]

We bought an artificial tree for DD1's first Christmas. She 22 now and we'll have the same tree this year! We've had a real one about 4 times during that time but I prefer the artificial one.
I would want a prelit tree or anything that looks very artificial though.

[Chopchopbusybusy]

Sorry that should say I WOULDN'T want a prelit tree.

[TrollTheRespawnJeremy]

It has to be real, the smell is lovely and the battle of the pine needles is such a festive thing ;)

[AnyoneButAndre]

Fake. We have the cheapest little plastic tree that DH bought a few years ago from Argos, which the DC decorate with whatever sparkly tat we've accumulated over the years, and a much loved twenty year old cardboard flat pack tree from Muji. The day the DC demand a real tree we'd probably give in, but for now it's the plastic from the attic all the way.

[NotEmptyNow]

A real tree in living room and fake one in kitchen. (Only cause I can't afford two real ones!) If I had to have just one it would definitely be real! I actually find the fake tree more hassle - having to reshape it every year pulling all the branches out. PITA

[Dachshund]

For me it has to be a real tree, it's just about the only Christmas tradition I won't compromise on. The smell and the atmosphere can't be beaten, and I don't have carpet so a quick sweep up each morning isn't a bother

[theshooglypeg]

I love real trees but this year it will definitely be fake: I have a toddler, a baby and two idiotic cats, so the tree won't stand a chance!

[Cataline]

I'd always go for a real tree and used to buy one every year on a day my husband would be at work. I'd smile and nod in a non-committal manner when we'd have the inevitable conversation about the actual height of the ceiling and the maximum permissible tree height and would then buy one at least 2 feet taller and as wide as possible and then spend the day panicking about how grumpy DH was going to be on his return from work (he was always VERY grumpy- a proper bah humbug!)
A few years ago, friends of ours wanted a real tree for a change and offered us their magnificent, massive, department store-esque delight of a fake tree to borrow- DH jumped at the chance and spent a large part of the Christmas period commenting on the lack of pine needles, the ease of putting it up, taking it down, lack of a dead brown skeleton poking out of the green bin well into the new year....
I should have realised where this was heading and been more argumentative but then DH returned triumphantly from a January shopping trip with a bargainous fake tree and I've had to make do with that ever since. It's a lovely tree as far as pretend plastic shrubbery goes (and I definitely don't miss the million or so stray pine needles) but I definitely miss the bushy scented loveliness of a spruce or pine and would swap in an instant if I didn't think DH would be horribly offended!

[campocaro]

Split family here. I love real and DD loves fake glittery one. We compromise by decorating a real one outside so I can see from kitchen window and DD has her's in the living room. This year we moved house rather quickly and all our decorations built up over the years are in another country :( sad about that but we'll get a few nice new ones this year and make up for it next year.

[GinAndSonic]

Artificial here, real ones bring me out in hives. I'm actually considering buying a garish tinsel tree this year

[GinAndSonic]

Whoops, fat fingers.
I'm considering getting a garish tinsel tree this year as it's our first proper Christmas as a single parent family in our own place and the kids (age 4 and 6) obviously think everything is better when it sparkles. I hate tinsel on trees, I like lots of baubles instead, but I figure that a tinsel tree will strike a balance. My Christmas trees have always been garish and mismatched, it's part of the fun of it for me really.

[starlight36]

Real in our house - choosing the tree and DH lugging it home is now an important part of our Christmas traditions.

[PrimalLass]

I've always insisted on a real tree. But I am so tempted by one of the lovely fake ones from Balsam Hill.

[mrspremise]

Was always real for the smell until the needles seemed to drop more and worse than ever every year. We bought an artificial a couple of years ago and have never regretted it, although I do think you have to spend to buy a decent one, because cheap ones just look bald and nasty... If we couldn't have a good one, I'd rather go without and just have shedloads of tinsel everywhere instead...

[cojmum]

We've always had artificial before, but I really want a real tree this year.

[SugarMiceInTheRain]

Fake here. We always had a huge real one growing up, and I loved the smell of it, but remember the needles in feet, constant vacuuming and occasional years when the tree was almost bare by the time Christmas day rolled round! With three children, one of whom is a toddler, artificial is definitely the way to go for us (though I'd like to get a larger tree as our current one is 13 years old and only 5ft tall (from the days when DH and I lived in a tiny studio flat in Germany).