I was recently interviewed for an article in Real Homes Magazine (it’s the December 2018 issue so if you’re quick, it’ll still be available) answering the question: Are Real Trees Better Than Fake? It was a friendly sort of debate between myself and a woman with three children with each of us having our own arguments for why we’ve chosen what we have. As you can probably guess from the title of my post, my answer was, of course, ‘No, real trees aren’t better than fake’ but this is simply my own opinion and what’s right for me won’t necessarily be right for you.
While I haven’t yet put up my tree this year, I wanted to go into a little more detail in terms of why I always choose artificial over real trees. The truth is, I totally get why someone would want a real tree. Totally. The smell, the ritual of choosing it, the tradition… but, well, it’s not for me. The pros of a faux outweigh the pros of a real one and I’m going to tell you why now…
I’m a blogger
This may seem like a really weird one to start with but it’s actually quite a big reason for me choosing a faux Christmas tree. Ya see, people start looking for inspiration for their own Christmas decorating around November or so. It’s about the time the weather really turns and we start thinking of the cosy winter to come and well, with that, is always Christmas. So in order for me to present ideas and decorating tips before you actually start shopping, I’ve gotta get my tree up. Added to that, most brands want Christmas content to start coming in around November or at the latest, early December. This means I decorate my tree far earlier than what others might do.
Now, real trees tend to need a lot of love if you want them to look exceptionally well after a month of being up. Knowing how much I tend to neglect my plants on a regular basis, I don’t trust that I’d be able to keep a tree alive for the 6 weeks of the ‘Christmas season’ in blogland. It’s just not going to happen. My tree would look dead and brown by 25th December and well, I would kind of like it to last until at least then. So artificial it is.
I’m a perfectionist
There was no 2017 tree – we were in the midst of packing for our move and so I opted for decorating just the dining room instead!
I don’t like gappy trees. I don’t like asymmetrical trees. I don’t like imperfect trees. And guess what? We’re talking about NATURE here. Things aren’t ever going to be perfect. The problem is, I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I want a tree that’s completely symmetrical, totally bushy with no weird gaps anywhere. Oh yes, and the perfect height and width for my room. Not much then! The only way I’m going to get that symmetry and perfection is with a fake tree.
I don’t have children
I actually think this is kind of important to consider as well. I reckon if I did have children (you can read why I don’t here), I would love to have that tradition of bringing the kids to the tree farm to choose a tree, strapping it to the roof of the car, bringing it home and decorating it as a family (awww!). There’s nothing that sounds more Chrissmassy to me than that. (Yes, I watch a lot of Christmas films, there’s a certain lovely charm about the whole thing.) But, hey, the fact is – I don’t have kids. And so I don’t have that tradition in my life. I’m not looking for pity here – not at all – it’s just a fact. And here’s why I’m not bothered by that…
It’s less of a hassle
Saying that, the idea of having to add “drive to a farm and choose a Christmas tree” to my already-ridiculously-long list of things to do to prepare for Christmas doesn’t appeal. Not at all. Wayne goes up to the loft, hands down the box to me at the bottom of the ladder and I build the thing in about 20 minutes. Job done. One less thing to worry about. I also don’t have to constantly clean up dropping needles. It will stay looking exactly the same without me having to do a thing (aside from maybe removing my cat from climbing inside of it)!
And one more bonus: I can decorate it exactly how I want and not worry that my kids want to decorate it their own way (which is fair enough of course when you do have children) but I can be as ‘Monica from Friends’ about it as I want to! Ha!
It’s more cost-effective
Buying real trees is expensive. I have had one of my artificial trees for 8 years, the other 4. So, if you buy a good quality one and take care of it, it can last for years and years meaning you can use the money you save on buying real on what is normally a very costly season!
The Environmental Impact (?)
The whole topic of which is environmentally better is a difficult one because there are so many different factors involved. If you kept your artificial tree for 10 years and then gave it to a local charity (which you should definitely do – please don’t just throw it away!) and they use it for another 10 years, well, the environmental impact of that one tree is going to be very low. However, if you decide to buy an artificial tree every year and chuck your old one into a landfill, the environmental impact will be so much higher.
Many real trees are put in landfill every year (terrible for the environment needless to say) and many places import real trees from other areas – making the carbon footprint of a real tree higher. However, if you buy a real tree from a local farm and recycle it, well, the environmental footprint is so much smaller than fake. So for this, I’d say, do your research and if you do decide artificial is for you, then please do get as much use from it as you possibly can and when you are done with it, please donate it!
So those are the reasons why I always choose an artificial tree over a real one. And now, do you want to join in the (friendly) debate? Which do you choose each year and why?
I’ve been thinking this over myself. I want to find a local grower where you ‘rent’ your tree – so you take the same real tree year after year, then return it after xmas and they take care of it until next year. It makes my heart cry to see the real tress thrown out in the street – and yet plastic isn’t where I want to go these days (
When we first moved into our home we had real Christmas trees, then Keith got made redundant and we had a young family so we bought the best artificial tree we could afford and I think we had it for about 15 years, when it fell apart, so we bought another one and hopefully this one will last even longer. I don’t have to worry about if I’ve got enough time or money to buy a new one, we are not using the car to go and get one so yes I’m very happy with our artificial tree. Xxx
I often think about the ease of an artificial, but i do love the smell and tradition of a real one (although my car is always full of needles for the next year!), we always buy the specially engineered ones and they never drop needles and are up for 4 weeks.
One thing I will ask though – can you do a blog on how to photograph your Christmas tree in front of a window!! I can never get it right lol
I vote for the artificial tree. :) It’s cheaper and can lasts many, many years. In my case we have now tree Nr. 3 since my birth, and I am 42 years young. :)
100% on your side….last real tree I bought and pushed it into the car, then spent the following year picking the needles out of the seats with a pair of tweezers. Like you, mine has to be perfect, bushy without holes and missing branches.
I love real trees, it’s the smell, you just can’t replicate that, although I’m always on the lookout for candles that do smell like the real thing.
However, the needles get everywhere, and we still find needles have woven themselves into the carpet in the dining room years after our last real tree, and the tree was only taken through there, on the way to the living room!
We also don’t have much room for a tree, so we’ve got a 3-4 foot tree with fibre optics, which we put on a small table, or on our deep windowsill.
I always look longingly at the real trees when I see them when we’re out and about, but I stick with the fake one.
I have kids and we still go fake. We have lots of Xmas traditions such as doing the tree on the first day of their school holidays. But I’m intimidated by the idea of looking after a real tree and don’t want the mess. Pretty much sane as you.
I vote for artificial. The cleanup from a real tree (needles and tree sap) is way too labor intensive and trying to keep it alive and green during the Holidays is pretty much impossible. Who can stand on their head underneath the already decorated tree with a pitcher of water in their hands. Nope.
If you want the smell and the feel of real greenery, purchase a real swag or wreath and be done with it.
I’m with you! Had our pitiful, cheap, artificial tree for the last 10 years, and I just dropped it at a charity shop and replaced it with a grown-up persons fancy artificial tree today. Much as I hate plastic I can’t deal with the idea of killing a tree every year, so I figure using an artificial one to death has to be better. Add to that the cost and wonkiness of real trees and it’s a no brainer for me.
As wonderful as real trees can be, and I have lovely memories from my childhood, the fact is that real trees and greenery are terrible for people with allergies and athsma. Once a tree is cut, it immediately begins growing all sorts of fungus, etc. when my daughter was two, we brought our freshly cut tree into the house and instantly had a sick child. The tree ended up outside for the birds. I am all in on artificial trees!!!
Five years ago, our live tree crashed in our living room (when my husband was out of town & I was home alone) breaking every ornament that had been collected from travels and my childhood. Heartbroken, I immediately replaced it with an artificial tree. My husband does not like the fake tree, but at least I don’t have to worry about it falling.
Fake is my preference! And yet, my husband and my last boyfriend insisted on real – so I don’t get my way anymore. The reasons I like fake are just what you’ve listed – it is SO much more convenient!! I want to jut be able to grab the tree out of the attic, whenever I so desire, get it up and decorated. All this without any journey out anywhere, trudging through wonky gappy trees in the cold and wet – to pick the okayist one you can find in the price bracket you’re willing to go to… to have it drop needles all over the damn house and then be a big pain at the end of Christmas when you have to get rid of it. You can’t just pack it up and put it back in the attic – you’ve got to do something with the tree. One of ours was still in the garden, leaning against a wall in August of the next year! Arrrghhhhhh – I want a fake tree this year (and forever!) !!!
My SIL in Florida said to me 10 years ago, “once you get an artificial tree, you’ll feel like an idiot for ever having a real one”. I grew up with an artificial and always loved the tradition of bringing the box down and putting the branches on! Husband liked real, which we did for awhile… needles everywhere… Now I have a driftwood tree that my husband and I made and it’s fabulous! And stores easily… branches in baskets… and I get to put the branches on again every year. :) <3
I love the sound of your driftwood tree, what an amazing idea! ‘Artificial’ but made of natural materials, perfect! I also have the childhood memory of bring out the Xmas tree box, and having the same tree each year very much added to the tradition.
I grew up with real, and I adore the smell and also the tradition, though I confess, we lived on a farm so we never went anywhere to get a tree, just cut one down from our own woods! And as an adult I’ve never been to a farm either, just B&Q or a local garden centre for a pre-cut one. Now I have a daughter though maybe the trip to go cut one down will have to become a tradition, it does sound lovely!
I am adamant I want real, but the husband is desperate for fake. And I have to admit, having read this, you’re starting to convince me. Thing is, I want a very realistic looking fake one, and those are £££ which we can’t afford at the moment, so I think I am sticking with real another year or so, and maybe invest in a really good fake one. Because it will be a whole lot easier, if a little less lovely (in my personal opinion)! x
Using some real evergreen branches and a real garland, even a real greens wreath indoors, gives you that lovely evergreen piney scent of Xmas, if you can’t go for the whole tree. So sad seeing the unloved abandoned trees after Xmas! If you have storage space, a (faux) tree can be for life not just Xmas… bring it out each year like a faithful old friend :0)
I always thought I would be a real tree person for life. I grew up with that movie-esque tradition of driving to the tree farm with my family, trekking through the snow and sledding down the hills til we found the perfect tree (never the first one, bring plenty of spare mittens to mark the potential trees), strapping it to the roof and treating ourselves to hot chocolate. The experience of that really made the Christmas season for me.
But we couldn’t afford a real tree my first 2 Christmases in the UK and had to put up with a hand-me-down horrible fake snow fake berries monstrosity from my father in law. I hated it, and the holiday just didn’t feel the same. So the first winter we could afford a real tree, we went for it! I was so excited… until…
It wasn’t the same. No snow, no Christmas tree farm, the trees weren’t big enough. It wasn’t the tradition that I loved. And then the maintenance was fun (not) disposal was a faff with the council. It took the shine off it.
Now I’ve settled into making my own traditions. I moved into a flat, bought a nice artificial tree with NO fake snow or berries, so I can decorate it to my taste. I ALWAYS have a Christmas tree Yankee Candle on when I’m at home. I miss my real tree-ditions, but I can’t enjoy them in the same way while I’m here. So I guess in my heart I’m always real tree, but really, it’s the Christmas joy that’s way more important than the tree anyways – and whatever helps with that, wins in my book!