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

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Unfortunately it's fake for us. We did have a real one but after 3 years of DD being very ill every December, one year resulting in an ambulance being called because she couldn't breathe, we figured out that it was the mould spores on the tree that she was allergic to. So whilst I prefer the look of a real tree; keeping my daughter alive has to take priority

I grew up with a small fake tree, (southern type climate) taken out every year from the garage, thrown over with tinsel. It did not feel very magical at all!

When I moved to the UK, and saw real trees I wanted that experience! I love the smell, the authenticity of it, and that it fills the living room. I have done this for the past 8 years. However I am leaning towards (from a cost / recycling ) point of view to getting one of those minimalist Danish/Swedish wooden type trees. However we were in a big shop last weekend and I asked my 8 year old what she thought about at that and she looked horrified!

I might look into fake trees this year as that way they can be recycled every year (at the moment a real tree is costing us over £50 yearly and it is recycled by the council).

But my heart does love it, the fact that my husband and daughter go out and choose one, we decorate it together .....

Real one here. At least 7ft tall. I don't care if I can hardly get into my living room for a month. I love the smell. When I was a child, we also had real wax candles. I am still mourning the loss of those.

Real tree here, it's our yearly tradition to go off to the local forestry a couple of Friday's before Christmas and choose one. We always go after school so all the twinkly lights are on, music playing and mince pies handed out then we all get to choose which tree we have. You can't beat the smell of a real tree.

I love real trees.

My DPs spent their first married Christmas in the US, and brought home a load of decorations AND a tree holder with a big bowl to fill with water for the trunk. So you kept the tree watered every day throughout the holidays and it (mostly) kept its needles. So we always had (and still do have) real trees in my DPs house.

In DH's house, there is a fake tree but some years a real one is bought instead. DMIL also has a couple of real ones that she has planted in pots in the garden and covers in lights for Christmas.

When we got our own house, we spent the first few Christmases travelling "home" and couldn't keep a real one watered. So as we were smashed broke, I bought a 5' fake in Primark and that has done good duty since. It comes out every year that we travel still, and the year that DD was 1 as well.

BUT, any year that we stay at home ourselves, it is a real tree. I searched high and low the first year we stayed here, and managed to find a similar holder to my parents one in a garden centre (it was imported from the US). We keep it watered daily, and most years manage to get to 6th January with very little needle drop. Usually good and busy, at least 6', and often I put it in the back room where I can go a lot higher! I usually buy it at the School but we used to go to the local secondary where the fourth years run a company and sell lots of very good ones (net them after choosing, can deliver) and raise money for charity. And have plenty of spare branches (from trimming trunks) for making wreaths or flower arranging as well if you want a few.

Doesn't everyone water their tree? I don't always bother sawing the bottom off the tree, but I always water it.

I don't have a traditional tree. I just use a bay tree cut into a round. It doesn't take up as much space as a traditional tree. And I like it.

We have to have a real tree or it's just not Christmas. It's one of the few things DH and I absolutely agree on.

Definitely a real tree, have to go and find the 'right ' one, which is usually from homebase as it's nearest and cheapest.It takes a while to choose though. It's the look and the smell although we get nordmann (?) now cos of less needle drop, but they dont smell as lovely piney as the traditional ones.Kid's pick a new decoration each year but lot's of the old ones have memories attached. Council pick up tree in the new year for recycling

Definitely fake, they look just as good, don't make a mess and save you money.

I bought a Homebase 'value' artificial tree when I bought my first home in 1999. My intention was to use it for a year or two until it got tatty and then go for real trees. 16 years later, it still looks brand new and I am yet to get my real tree!

Real. Always. Nothing beats the smell of a real tree. Anything that tries to emulate the scent smells like toilet cleaner.

Fake in the house, in fact we have two.
Real in the garden, which I picked up as a twig at the garden centre for £1one January, its about 6ft now and we decorate it for the birds with fat balls, peanuts etc [santa]

Fake do not look 'just as good'.

They look fake.

Fake. I don't have either the space or the money for a real tree.

We have a fake tree. I've actually never seen a real one (in someones house) irl

Real for us too. I wish more people would deliver them though, I don't drive and it's a palaver every year.

I love the smell when we come downstairs in the morning.

I adore the idea of a real tree - they just look so much better. I'm not bothered about the pine smell - just the looks really.

But, despite all the claims of non-drop needles etc, there somehow always is more mess with a real tree so we stick with a fake tree at the moment.

We've just had too many bad experiences to risk a real tree again. I remember the year that the pine needles that dropped took SEVERAL YEARS to clean up completely - they made there way all round the house and we just kept finding them however much cleaning was done.

Then we had a small living tree with roots which came in from the garden in its container each year for about 3 years. It was lovely until the year it brought a fly infestation with it and then it was a nightmare!

So we're sticking with a fake tree this year.

It's my first year with a child so I am planning to get my very first Christmas tree this year. When I was growing up we had a tree that stayed in the garden most of the year but was brought into the house for Christmas. I'd love to do that eventually... But I'll need to get a house with a garden first, rather than my current flat.

Artificial one here. It's a beautiful big tall one with pine cones and snowy bits. We had to buy a new one 5 years ago as the year before we moved house on the 23rd December. DH in his wisdom put the Christmas tree in the moving van fully intact. Just lifted it from the living room to van without disembling it. It was a horrendous winter and the snow was thick on the ground. The poor tree didn't survive the journey, it had to be gaffer taped just to get through the next few days.

So the next year pregnant me and baby ds set off to buy a new one. We picked our current lovely big tree, struggled out to the car only to realise it wouldn't fit in the car frantic calls to family members followed until my brother rescued beautiful tree and delivered it home.

Over the years we have had artificial trees and real trees and loved them both. Our "tradition", built over the last 12 years or so, is to have a living tree in a pot in the garden and bring it in for the festive season.
It has to go in the porch to be checked for live visitors but then has pride of place in the living room.
I love decorating the house for Christmas, absolutely one of my favourite things in life.
We buy a new decoration every year; having just visited Edinburgh this years is a tiny felt Christmas tree in plaid. There will good memories attached to it, as with all the others.

Fake, so that we can put it up as early in December as possible.

I had a real tree many years ago. Arranged it in a pot with red crepe paper around the base. I'd read somewhere that it needed 1pint of water daily, so I chucked that amount in every morning. It was days later that I realised that the dad, heavily patterned carpet was now stained with red from the wet crepe paper.

The first weekend of December we put on our coats and wellies, go up to the forest and choose a tree that the forestry commission have grown. This takes a while as we look at each tree from different angles and debate how tall a tree we can get. Kids run around choosing trees to look at.
Once we have all agreed on a tree we watch it get through the big funnel wrapper than bundle it into the car and get it home.
Then comes the annual crooked Christmas tree dance, which consists of the kids shouting left a bit right a it until we've got it straight and the annual Hunt for the hacksaw as we've invariably chosen a tree slightly too tall!
We then put on Christmas songs and decorate (aka kids put on decorations and I move them to more appropriate and asethictically pleasing locations.
We then sit down with hot chocolate and a mince pie and the Christmas season officially begins in our house [santa]

We have a fake one, it's huge and looks great. The only thing I dislike is taking it to pieces and getting it back up the loft.

Think ours might actually have been from Homebase. It was a present from my mum as we moved into our house start of December 4 years ago and a lovely tree made up for the fact the rest of the house was a mess.

I've always loved the idea of a real tree, so last year we got one for our conservatory. It doesn't get too warm in there and I regularly watered it, but by 24th December I was ready to throw it out! It was shedding needles constantly and looked awful by Xmas! Nightmare! We couldn't put any presents underneath it or hang chocolate s on for the children as you only had to breathe near it to make the needles fall! Back to a beautiful artifical tree this year!