Real or fake Christmas tree?

November 24, 2022 5:24 PM

Real, delightful tree that becomes a fire hazard entirely too quickly, or fake tree that is appropriately sized, yet… fake. Help me figure out if we should stick with real trees or get a fake one.

My partner and I both grew up with Christmas as Serious Holiday, and yet I live in a small apartment (think 400 sq ft, but with 13ft ceilings). Most years we lean into the insanity, and do a real 8-9ft tree that takes up entirely too much space, is a fire hazard and while utterly delightful, is quite the chore to just deal with, both battling into the apartment and then out of it. (We’re in a walk up) Last year due to family illness and the associated travel we skipped the tree, and both found that the holiday season wasn’t feeling quite right, so I would like some sort of Christmas tree device. We also keep the tree up until after Christmas by the Julian calendar (Jan 7th) so longevity had always been a little dicey with real trees, and a fake tree might be good for us.

I have also recently discovered the genre of “pencil trees” (super tall skinny trees) which looks like it might solve most of my logistical concerns; but I have no idea how to pick out a fake tree, or what is a reasonable amount to spend on one. When I pick a live tree I buy the weirdest looking one on the lot and embrace it; I think I’d like one of those “alpine trees” but I don’t actually need a pre lit one? I also have some ecological concerns about a plastic tree/and it seems like living trees are in the long run more sustainable for the planet…

Any advice welcome. Telling me to stick with real trees is also an option, I’m just intrigued that fake trees might be worth it? And if so, what kind?

Unlike most NYers, I do actually have storage space, so that factor doesn’t constrain me…

posted by larthegreat to Home & Garden (40 answers total)

I still like the sustainability of a real tree. But I don't bother with a 8 or 9 footer. You can get a smaller one, like 4 or 5 feet. It's so much easier to deal with.
posted by hydra77 at 5:33 PM on November 24, 2022 [5 favorites]

Pine bough wreaths are festive, decorative and smell nice. Also, since they hand on vertical services, require little floor space.
posted by SPrintF at 5:34 PM on November 24, 2022

Consider value to you vs. value to the planet (which is value to you, just on a different scale). A thousand years from now, your plastic Christmas tree is still around. If you get a real tree, there might still be a tree farm or weird former tree farm around somewhere. Which world would you rather live in?

Those tiny LED lights on a fresh stalk of brussels sprouts. Eat the brussels sprouts on Christmas.
posted by aniola at 5:41 PM on November 24, 2022 [6 favorites]

We live in Vermont and have a fake tree, which is apparently sacrilege, but we don't care. Got it originally because we had small dogs in the house, but now we just love it. Has LEDs that can be white or colored, sets up in minutes. Looks natural. Don't need to water it. Don't need to worry about the size because it is always the same size. Breaks down easy and is stored in a bag.
posted by terrapin at 5:42 PM on November 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

I love a real tree, but one year our apartment management declared residents could no longer drag our own tree out of the building after Christmas, but rather must make an appointment to have maintenance come in and get it. For various reasons we never made the appointment, and wound up paying a couple of our daughter's guy friends $10 apiece to drag its dry, brown, crumbling ass over the balcony in the dead of night in late March, and throw it in the creek so it wouldn't be traced back to us.

That's the last real tree I ever had. I bought one of those pencil trees from Home Depot and I really like it. I think it came pre-lit but I add a couple strings of lights to it every year anyway. It fits very nicely in the tiny space in front of our patio door and I think it looks really nice.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 5:48 PM on November 24, 2022 [7 favorites]

I have an irrational hatred of fake plants. They don't feel right, and, especially for Christmas trees, they don't smell right. In the past we've sometimes decorated something that wasn't a Christmas tree, but it also wasn't a representation of one. Also, if the thing comes pre-lit, how can you have the holiday tradition of trying to untangle the mess of lights and artistically drape them around the tree while arguing about color distribution and evenness?!

Modern LED lights should make the tree less of a fire hazard. I also recommend not putting it directly behind the front door as we did in our old house.
posted by LadyOscar at 6:05 PM on November 24, 2022 [3 favorites]

Now that there are fake trees with moulded needles and memory wire for shaping the tree and lights that automatically hook up, there's no reason in the world for a real tree. Real trees don't last long enough. That's my big beef with real trees. Like you get maybe a month max and in that last week or two of that half the needles will end up on your floor. Not long enough. Not good enough.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:23 PM on November 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

Wife is allergic, so we've always done a fake tree. Just mentioning in case you may have family or other visitors who are allergic. Also a fake tree gets delivered or bought once so whatever carbon footprint is once (ignoring tiny power draw of a string of lights for a few weeks). I think the important thing to look for is something that breaks down into a box appropriate for your storage space, looks like it is well made and/or from a good name brand, and suits your style/taste.
posted by forthright at 6:42 PM on November 24, 2022 [3 favorites]

Memory wire is a new one, but I was going to say that the time you save by not having to vacuum up needles and watering and whatnot, you spend in tweaking every little branch end because they get all scrunched when you pack it away.

I've also seen aluminum-style trees more prominently this year, which is its own flavor of artificial, but a choice that can't be replicated with a real tree.
posted by rhizome at 6:43 PM on November 24, 2022

Prelit is fuckin' awesome. You plug the base section into the wall and it lights up. Then you slot the stub of the middle section into the top of the base, and it lights up too. [kronar]SORCERY![/kronar]

You can buy stankerators you hang on a fake tree to give it something passably close to a real tree's stank.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 6:46 PM on November 24, 2022 [3 favorites]

Look for a used fake tree, if you want to be a little more sustainable. You can get living garlands and wreaths for the scent and they are much easier to compost or whatever makes sense, and less energy to grow and transport. But a used fake tree will be taking something that would otherwise sit forever unloved and making it meaningful - and since you like wonky real trees, a slightly funky fake tree is probably fine too. It’s not all reduce and recycle, there’s reuse, too.

When using fake versions of living things I like to er on the side of noticeably unrealistic. It’s all about symbolism, and symbolism is abstraction. Growing up in San Antonio I was always obsessed with the big tissue paper flowers for Fiesta. Origami flowers embody the beauty of nature and the precision of craft in the same way ikebana does. Hyperealistic stuffed animals are creepy, but abstracted cute stuffed animals are wonderful. So maybe, instead of trying to find a super realistic fake Christmas tree, you could find an extra unreal looking one. Maybe an all silver tree, or one with shimmery green needles that reflect colored lights, or the kind with lights that are part of the branches. It’s not a real tree, and it’s not trying to be. It’s its own thing, and it could be just as celebrated and seasonally relevant as a real tree, in its own way.
posted by Mizu at 6:50 PM on November 24, 2022 [9 favorites]

Response by poster: Delightful answers as ever, and good food for thought. For those enthusiastically recommending a fake tree, how would one assess quality?

(going in person to a suburban big store would be my first guess, but I am in NYC, and have no idea how to assess quality online, or where fake trees could be observed in this city? I’ve never been in the market for one so don’t even know what direction to head here)
posted by larthegreat at 7:00 PM on November 24, 2022

I have a pre-lit fake tree, in pink, and I absolutely adore it. It's a gorgeous fluffy fantasy that adds so much lightness and joy to the room, and it's super easy to set up and store. I got it at a big-box store - Home Depot or similar stores usually have a variety.

I chose a tree made by a standard Christmas lights brand (Noma) which I liked, because it made me trust the wiring and the replaceability of the bulbs and the possibility of speaking to a real person if there was an issue. It's been 5 years and not a single bulb has burned out.

I wanted small incandescent lights rather than LED as they create a much more beautiful ambiance, wanted to make sure that a single dead bulb wouldn't kill the whole strand (I forget the name for this but it's a selling feature so it should be listed on the box) and I preferred a tree that is NOT flocked (flocked trees are sprayed with fake snow, kind of like velvety fibres in some kind of glue - they're very pretty, but it's a bit more messy as it flakes off over time, and I have pets and kids who fiddle with things so I didn't want them messing it up / eating the fibres).

My tips: Take photos of how it's packed as you unbox it, and do keep the box - it'll come in handy for storing it.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 7:18 PM on November 24, 2022 [2 favorites]

Pick the most ostentatiously rich neighborhood near you. Check their Craigslist. You'll get a used plastic tree that has been pre-screened for quality.
posted by aniola at 7:19 PM on November 24, 2022 [9 favorites]

I lived in a tiny apartment for years and always had a fake tree I got at like, Rite Aid, which was... fine.

Then last year I bought a house and was so, so excited to finally have a real tree. But it was terrible! First of all, I felt REALLY guilty cutting down a happy, living tree. Then, it was crazy expensive and difficult to get home and into my living room. And then it dried out SO quickly. I felt like it was immediately deterioting. I was constantly vacuuming up needles and begging it to just hang on until Christmas. I always keep my tree up well into January because it's so happy and twinkly but this thing had to go five seconds after Christmas ended. The whole experience made me really sad.

This year, I'm going back to a fake tree. No contest.
posted by silverstatue at 7:29 PM on November 24, 2022 [6 favorites]

I last used a real tree about 20 years ago, when our annual hunt through the bush (may or may not have been trespassing) ended up with having to get our car towed out after becoming bogged and the following year, arriving home after a successful hunt to find the biggest huntsman I've ever seen sitting on the side of my daughter's car seat. I vowed I'd never go through that again, so haven't. I'm glad to not be continually cutting down a perfectly good tree every year and killing it for my own amusement, but using the same fake tree for every year since and still going. So far I've saved over 20 trees by this one decision.

The type of artificial tree you choose is really up to your own taste, but don't go out expecting to find something that actually looks just like a real tree because, unless you are at least quite rich, you won't find one. They don't look quite like real trees and they certainly don't smell like them. They also don't shed all over the house like them. I'm not sure about fire danger, but suspect the real trees are about the same as fake ones in flammability. I bet real ones smell better when they're burning though.

My suggestion is that you'll have to go out and look at fake trees and see what takes your fancy. Personally, I'd stay away from pre-lit trees due to distrust in the lighting lasting the 20+ years I would expect to keep the tree. I like Mizu's comment that using fake things is not about trying to re-create the real tree but create a representation of it.
posted by dg at 8:33 PM on November 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

Have you considered a live, potted tree? There are many evergreens that look the part and won't grow too tall, especially if they are container grown. You buy a potted tree of your choice, decorate as usual, and water it like a normal house plant. It won't drop many needles, won't be a fire hazard, and will be carbon negative. Once the season is over you can either keep it as a house plant for next year or go plant it somewhere.

If you do decide to do this remember to pick a small species if you plan to keep it for years to come (or get into bonsai). If you lean more in the plant it in the spring direction then just make sure to get something that is a native species, especially if you plan to engage in a little guerilla tree planting.

My family did this for many, many years and the idea of buying a tree every year or keeping a fake tree in storage that accumulates dust and disintegrates over time seems like madness to me.
posted by forbiddencabinet at 8:48 PM on November 24, 2022 [9 favorites]

Can I recommend a real, tabletop tree? It's between 3-5 feet and sits on a table. You get the scent of a real tree and the visual effect of a tree, since it's at eye level. It requires about 1/3 fewer ornaments and lights than a full-size tree, and one person can easily move it in and out of an apartment. You can buy, set up and decorate the tree in an afternoon.
We put ours on a folding card table in front of a window. It's convenient to put the presents on a table and not scattered on the floor.
posted by Lycaste at 9:08 PM on November 24, 2022 [6 favorites]

I've always used fake trees as real ones feel like such a hassle, but real or fake there's no one saying you *have* to buy an 8ft tall tree. Get something smaller. Presents don't even have to fit under it, you can put them somewhere to the side or some other convenient spot.

I do feel like the fakeness of fake trees is oversold, especially these days. Not saying you can't tell the difference, just that once its decorated and all that, you're not really looking at the tree anymore.
posted by Aleyn at 10:04 PM on November 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

Mom's idea was to find a few bare branches beneath the trees. Sometimes she would spray them white or black, other times she left them as is.
Wrap them in white twinkle lights, stick them in a few decorative containers filled with potting soil, and drape festive cloth around the base of the branches. Adding unraveled cotton balls over the soil is another method.
Plug them in and voila! Quick winter theme decorations.

A few tiny bells or garlands or knickknacks may be added, but the simple style is pretty.
A mirror under the containers or behind the branches is also a nice touch.
If they are kept natural then the branches can be returned where they were found.

Nothing beats simmering spices in water on the stove for that holiday touch. Unless it's baked goods.
posted by TrishaU at 10:27 PM on November 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

I second what silverstatue said on living trees. It's dying, they fall apart, they don't hold ornaments well, and you feel bad throwing them away. Fake trees are up as long as you want, hold all the ornaments, and are a friend you can reunite with every year. They have a spray if you miss the smell.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:38 PM on November 24, 2022 [4 favorites]

Give up yer old conifers! The first Christmas we spent together was in a tiny garden flat two weeks after The Boy was born back in the 1970s. On the 23rd we hadn't a tree, partly because the only ones left were motheaten-scraggy and mostly because there was no room - it was either a tree or a table to eat the dinner off. The following morning I snuck out into the garden and sawed a small branch off a shrubby tree that had struggled out of the cinders and broken bottles to a meagre existence up against the back wall. I brought this back inside and wired it up so that, if you squinted, the twig looked like it was growing through the wall from outside. That tradition has continued. Last year's twig never came down, so will have another go round this year.
posted by BobTheScientist at 11:01 PM on November 24, 2022 [3 favorites]

Norfolk Island pine
posted by oceano at 11:50 PM on November 24, 2022 [4 favorites]

In some places you can rent live trees, delivered and collected, a great solution if they do it where you are?
posted by tardigrade at 1:39 AM on November 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

You can get a photo or illustration of a tree printed on fabric by a place like spoonflower. Then decorate it with flat fabric ornaments and some sort of pins - or go crazy and glue magnets to the back of the fabric and to the ornaments. Lights can be poked through holes in the fabric individually and then sewn/hot glued to the back. Or you could use that glow in the dark paint.

Get a fairly small conifer in a pot for your deck and then put lights and outdoor rated ornaments on it for the holiday season.

You can usually get bits of conifer from the guys selling trees on the street for not much money. Use these for the scent.
posted by sciencegeek at 2:45 AM on November 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

Anna and Angela both grew up with real Christmas trees, so our expectations were high for how a proper Christmas tree should look. Realism was our number one concern, but usability and overall charm were our other top priorities as we engaged in our early October Christmases. Each of Angela and Anna’s friend and family group chats have exploded over the past month: Are we Christmased out? Are we living in a three-month-long Christmas wonderland? For better or for worse, we are not; we packed up and sent away our trees to their new home at the Consumer Reports offices in Yonkers. But an artificial Christmas tree comes with one undeniable advantage: Unlike a mortal tree, whose days are numbered post-felling, a quality fake tree can deliver Christmas joy for years to come. Consumer Reports delivers the goods on artificial Christmas trees. Some trees have a foot pedal to switch the lights on or off. I had no idea. Was I the only one in the, er, dark, about this?
posted by Bella Donna at 2:46 AM on November 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

I don't know whether you should stay real or go fake but I would say that if you go fake you should go as fake as possible. Embrace the fake. Climb right over the top and get something blindingly white, or shocking pink, or electric blue. Something that says "Fake and proud!"
posted by kaymac at 4:25 AM on November 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

My fake tree is a hand-me-down from a former neighbor. But for me, one of the important details of a seasonal tree is the way the needles break up the small lights to create shadow and twinkles on the ceiling and wall when other lights in the room are off. My tree happens to do that well (the wire in the branches is bendable so I can adjust the shape as needed, ensure that there aren’t gaps, etc.). (And I bring in smaller pieces of live greenery for the smell, which was not specifically part of my holiday memories - we also had a fake tree when I was a kid - but which I do really like.) What you and your partner value in a tree might be different, though! I’d recommend spending time reminiscing and really trying to pick out what aspects of the tree were important in each of your happy Christmas memories. That will be your answer to the question of how to judge quality of a fake tree.
posted by eviemath at 5:08 AM on November 25, 2022 [3 favorites]

We were Team Real Tree for many, many years. But, we finally just tired of the mess of dropped needles and hauling the thing to wherever the town decided to locate the community tree dump that year, and the ever-escalating cost of even the shaggiest trees.

We've now been Teal Fake Tree for a good 15+ years now and would never go back. It's a decoration. It goes up for a couple of weeks, and then it's down.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:27 AM on November 25, 2022

Where will you keep a fake christmas tree the other 11 months of the year in your 400 square foot apartment?
posted by Hypatia at 7:54 AM on November 25, 2022 [3 favorites]

I like the fabric tree idea. Simple, creative and a good family project.

Another idea of Mom's -- she really enjoyed plastic canvas projects when sewing and crochet were no longer easy to do. She had arthritis.

She made a flat tree silhouette of green plastic canvas and stitched medium and dark green yarn over it.
Whip stitch the canvas rectangles and points together before covering. Leave several loose fold lines, or make in sections and fasten together with large safety pins or zip ties each year.

Then she went nuts with bobbles and trinkets and all kinds of weird stuff attached to it. Lights wouldn't work (fire hazard) but anything else Christmas tree-adjacent was fair game.
The thing was four feet tall and could hang from the wall. The tree was a bit heavy, so care was needed.

When the holidays were over she just folded it up and put it in a box for next year.
posted by TrishaU at 8:22 AM on November 25, 2022

+1 to the tabletop idea -- real, smaller, alive -- solves a lot of your problems.
posted by slidell at 8:37 AM on November 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I've considered getting a wooden Christmas tree, like this one.

A friend has one and I've wanted to get one for years. The setup looks pretty easy, and they're made of wood, so they biodegrade.
It doesn't look like a tree, but I kind of like that about it. Fake trees have always bothered me because they are just pretending to be a real tree. This is not pretending to be anything other than what it is.
posted by cleverevans at 9:12 AM on November 25, 2022 [3 favorites]

The Washington Post just put up an article weighing in on the sustainability of real vs. fake trees if you want another perspective on that side of the argument.
posted by Aleyn at 9:39 AM on November 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

When I lived in a very small place I'd always get a smallish real tree and put it on a table. I'd wait till well into December to put it up, and I'd leave it till Twelfth Night.

If you love real trees, fake ones are simply never going to be as good. As someone pointed out up there, fake trees don't smell right.

Real trees grow back, and the small ones grow back fastest. Around here the city mulches them when the season is over. And they don't add plastic to the world.
posted by tangerine at 10:59 AM on November 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: WOODEN! Christmas trees! Absolutely the vibe we're happy to go with.

I wouldn't have even known these existed, but they are fake, yet not obnoxious, and in many cases fold flat. This is brilliant. We might even DIY one to our exact specs.

(We have a storage unit, hence storage isn't an issue, and our table is both my office and often in use for food, so less convenient)
posted by larthegreat at 11:57 AM on November 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

Agree Norfolk Island pine. My friend (Cleveland) and I (Tampa) both have 20 year old trees that started as Christmas trees. Hers is still in a pot, not much larger than when she bought it (about 3 feet), and very healthy. Mine is in the front corner of my yard, after a decade in a screen porch farther north (where it stayed 8 feet tall), and is now 60 feet tall, also very healthy. Not a hard tree to take care of, and so beautiful.
posted by toodleydoodley at 12:03 PM on November 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

Fake trees are made with PVC, and 99% come from China. They may be convenient but they are really bad for the environment.
posted by chocolatetiara at 3:12 PM on November 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

Concerned about your dead tree going to waste? Not to worry, these goats love to eat them!
posted by Melismata at 4:24 PM on November 25, 2022

I was wandering the web earlier today and ran into this, which I thought was delightful and how I would decorate today If I were to.
posted by evilDoug at 4:26 PM on November 25, 2022 [3 favorites]