I never thought I would be writing this post, but I am considering getting a fake Christmas tree.
- Yes, I love Christmas.
- Yes, I love the smell of real trees.
- Yes, I think they are beautiful. (see last year's here)
- Yes, I love the experience of going and cutting down our tree.
But...
- I don't like the mess they make.
- Putting lights on is annoying.
- And I'm allergic to them and I'm pretty sure my son might be too (he's had ear infections both of the last two Christmases).
- And we are often traveling before Christmas so the tree gets dried out an drops needles even faster.
And to round out the debate, these are not the reasons I'm considering this move.
- Environmental reasons. I think real trees are more environmentally friendly but let's not debate that point.
- Expense. A good artificial tree is hundreds of dollars and probably won't last more than 6 or 7 years until the lights burn out or it's too dusty or worn from use.
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| Home Decorators Collection - 40% off right now so $161 plus free shipping |
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| Frontgate - $$$ |
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| Brookstone - $429.00 + shipping |
Do you have a fake tree that's super realistic? With LED bulbs? I'd love to hear about it!
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteWe just threw our fake tree out that we have had for about 7 years now. I am so excited for a real tree again but now I'm all worried about allergies. Never thought of that one! Oh the debate! Well this year we will go real and see what happens. I'm so excited to have the fun cutting down the tree experience with our kids this year! Good luck with your decision!
Not only allergies, but someone told me a horror story of bring several trees into the house and finding bugs (aphids I think?) all over it. She wound up throwing it out.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, we have 2 fake trees - one with lights that's 4 years old and (hopefully) still going strong and one without lights that was handed down from Rob's parents - it must be at least 20+ years old. I like to hang our Christmas/Holiday cards on that one. I have a feeling it'll last until we pass it on to Lukas when he's old enough. So in other words, if you have one without lights, it can last forever.
You can also always get a nice cheaper real wreath to put inside the house to get the scent!
Btw, I got our lighted fake tree at Target for less than $100.
ReplyDeleteWe go with a live tree each year both because I love the look and smell of the "real deal," but also because we don't have a lot of space to store an artificial one 11 months out of the year. If we had allergies in our house though, it would be really hard to keep putting a live one out. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI had a real tree my whole life, but last year we broke down and bought a fake one.. it was under $200.00 at Home Depot, and Target is having an awesome sale right now on them. Love the idea of having it up early and not feel rushed to take it down b/c of the needles. I do miss the smell though! Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteI *love* the tradition of going to the tree lot (or farm), picking out the best tree, and getting it home and decorated. My husband HATED getting it in the house, putting it on the tree stand, making sure that it was watered enough to keep it alive all season, and the cleanup when the holidays were over. Conceding that he had the worse deal, we broke down in 2009 and bought a faux tree from Costco for $249. In the store I was just "meh" about it but once we got it up and decorated I LOVED IT.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/beckycaudill/4240005204/in/set-72157622820430925
http://www.flickr.com/photos/beckycaudill/5255942591/in/set-72157625474246368/
I also am faking it. Up from December 10 to January 7. Home Depot with 1500 lights under $200, and I love it. A couple balsam fir wreathes and some Frasier Fir diffusers from The Thymes. The house smells and looks great.
ReplyDeletei dont mind the allergies because no one got here,but the problem here is there are no trees here.. hmmmmm
ReplyDeleteThe home decorators price is kind of hard to beat but if you have a Costco they have one that looks exactly like that for around $250. We bought ours 4-5 years ago and it is still going strong and is very realistic looking. I grew up cutting down our tree and love the idea of real trees but we live in Florida and they are all trucked in, expensive, and usually worse for the wear. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWe use a fake tree for some of the same reasons, the mess and the maintenance. Not to mention the added bonus, the lights are already installed. Michaels has these little things that you hang on the inside of your fake tree to make it smell real. For a few bucks, I am going to give it a try.
ReplyDeleteWe purchased our fake tree last year because we wanted a 10' tree for our family room. We were still going to get a real one for our living room so I was ok with the fact it was fake. Well, once we set it up we fell it love! It's perfectly shaped, doesn't look 'fake' at all and can stay up from Black Friday till after New Year's without dropping any needles!! We ordered ours through Meijer (Dunhill Fir Christmas Tree Pre-lit with 1200 Clear Lights) - there was a coupon and a big kick back thru Ebates. It was delivered to my garage door 2 days later and we have no complaints!! If I wasn't so obsessed with 'tradition' and going to cut our own tree down every year I'd get one for our other room as well! :) You'll love your tree I promise!!
ReplyDeleteBeing grinch-like I hate the real tree! Its just such a hassle every single year & we hurry to take it down because its dying rapidly. And then you get stabbed repeatedly since the needles are dried out. It is nice, however that we live next to a creek & throw it over the edge. It creates a little home for all the animals & then just breaks down into the soil. Regardless, my husband is not into the fake tree, so real it is until I can break him down! Probably when the kids are gone.
ReplyDeleteI love a real tree - the smell, the un-perfectness of it...HOWEVER - I use a fake tree that I have now had for 15 years ! It's big, its beautiful and it looks as good and as realistic today, as it did 15 years ago ! I did enjoy cutting down a tree and having the pine smell, but I always felt bad about it....my teenagers would also prefer the fake tree, and my husband appreciates the fact that it never falls down in it's stand like our real ones used to !
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those people who likes a tree from their own property, carried in from the woods in feet of snow. But, last year S bought us a tree at Offenbacher (sp) the day after xmas (it was a $700+ unlighted tree for $100). I like to have a tree up for a month (usually from mid-to-late Dec well into Jan). Our thought was that the trees we could buy in VA are cut in early Nov. at the latest and it's way too warm here for the sap to have stop running, so you'll bring it inside in early Dec and it will be a pile of needles in a week. We also kind of like the ease of putting lights on the tree once. So we've got our tree and a gazillion warm white LED lights to string (this weekend in case baby decides to make an appearance early.) Plus, it allows us to travel without worrying about burning the house down by having a giant piece of kindling in the living room (there's no travel and real tree option at our house, the last few years it was a definite or).
ReplyDeleteRe: how long it will last - S's parents have had the same tree that we bought for 15+ years and it still looks great. As realish as you can get for a fake tree and surprisingly their non-LED lights are still holding up well too. I think you could easily have the same fake tree with LED lights for 25 years.
So I vote that you wait 'til the day after xmas, buy a ridiculously expensive unlighted tree to get as real a look as possible for the least amount of $ and then string your own warm white LED lights (unless there's an option to buy with warm white so you don't end up with blue cool white LEDs.) Most importantly, however, is to send Jim out to buy it ;)
QVC has great trees including the slim option which I have (fits so much better into our not large living room in our 1945 built N. Arlington home). I agree with others that a live wreath is enough to get the great scent. Happy holidays!
ReplyDeleteWe put up several trees - all fake - the main one is NOT pre-lit. It is over 20 years old: a hand-me down from friends. It does take over three hours just to get it set up, but it is just too beautiful. Turn on the Christmas music, light the fire, make some cocoa and get out the 12 foot step ladder! I think it's worth it.
ReplyDeleteWe started faking is two years ago, also because of allergies in the house. I bought it after Christmas for a way cheap price from Michaels. It is prelit but,really, when they burn out I'll just hang my own. I think the tree looks very sad when it is naked, but fully dressed it is lovely. As for scent candles, potpourri, or fresh baked cookies all work fine. Happy Holidays!!!! oxoxo
ReplyDeleteWe have had a fake pre-lit tree for the last 6 years and we love it. It was a must for us because we used to travel every year at Christmas. The only problem with our pre-lit tree is that some years we would get it set up & plug it in and most of the lights would be out. My husband would be FURIOUS!!! A few years ago we found the "Light Keeper Pro" and it is fantastic! (My husband claims it saved Christmas). So if you go the pre-lit fake tree route I would definitely invest in one of those. We also do a real wreath inside, it does smell nice. The other option is to try a different type of tree, my great aunt always puts up a cedar tree, others bother her allergies.
ReplyDelete