Tree or not to Tree

[Inky 1,110]

So, back in canada every year we went and picked a tree, always have had real trees all my life. Prices have gone up.. my mom spends around 70-80$ a year on a tree in canada to get a good nice one.

Now, living in america with my husband and our tiny storage locker base housing.. we dont really have the money, space, nor the want to clean up after a real tree. ( I think buying the faux one would save us about 80$ a year )

Im looking into getting my first faux christmas tree..

Opinions of people who have them or what not would be awesome!

I was looking at some pre-lit ones but only the 200$ ones seem to have led lights, led lights would be what I wanted to go with for the safety.

The non lit ones seem a little more reasonable 99$ - 69$ what about hooked or hinged? anyone have experience with thos kinds which one do you prefer.

We have no decorations, no nothing.. my husband isnt really a " christmas person " as he puts it but I think it would make the place a lot more home like instead of storage box like and im thinking a budget of 200$ for our first christmas together is good to do the tree and a wreath and some lights.

- Also hes deployed and wont be back till just before christmas so its going to be kind of a surprise for him to come home too as well!

Feed back / ideas please

[Malrothien 6]

I grew up with real trees, too, but I picked up a fake one last year because we couldn't afford to spend $60 a year on a real tree. We bought a 4 ft tree at Walmart for $20. We put it up on a tupperware that we cover with the tree skirt and it is plenty big (we live in 500sqft). It's not pre-lit, we bought LED strings at Costco a few years ago.

[lgg 2]

I say just plain have a tree! Whatever you can afford for now but a tree is nice.

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

Bah humbug.

[Marilyn. 340]

we bought a 6 ft fake tree a few years ago for about 80 bucks... the one thing I don't like about ours is that all the branches have to be put in one by one.. next time we buy one I think we will get one where the branches just fold out...

I grew up with a fake tree...

yeah the real trees are nice but I think they would be a pain to clean up after and you have to make sure it has water etc... I think I will just stick with my fake tree

Edited November 18, 2009 by Marilyn.

[Malrothien 6]

we bought a 6 ft fake tree a few years ago for about 80 bucks... the one thing I don't like about ours is that all the branches have to be put in one by one.. next time we buy one I think we will get one where the branches just fold out...

I grew up with a fake tree...

yeah the real trees are nice but I think they would be a pain to clean up after and you have to make sure it has water etc... I think I will just stick with my fake tree

If you keep it watered, it won't shed when you're removing it.

[Inky 1,110]

I grew up with real trees, too, but I picked up a fake one last year because we couldn't afford to spend $60 a year on a real tree. We bought a 4 ft tree at Walmart for $20. We put it up on a tupperware that we cover with the tree skirt and it is plenty big (we live in 500sqft). It's not pre-lit, we bought LED strings at Costco a few years ago.

Yea I worry about regular lights heating up and melting the tree and stuff like that! plus i have a dog dont want his nose burned on a light or something.. Melting trees and fires from christmas lights worry me hence the want for LED heh.

[lgg 2]

I just got excited about xmas!!!

I'm going to bake and cook my butt right off.

Can. Not. Wait.

[Inky 1,110]

we bought a 6 ft fake tree a few years ago for about 80 bucks... the one thing I don't like about ours is that all the branches have to be put in one by one.. next time we buy one I think we will get one where the branches just fold out...

I grew up with a fake tree...

yeah the real trees are nice but I think they would be a pain to clean up after and you have to make sure it has water etc... I think I will just stick with my fake tree

If you keep it watered, it won't shed when you're removing it.

Ours always shed !! even when we kept it waterd haha. My mom would spend so long cleaning up the needles all over.

[Marilyn. 340]

this is our tree.. and no, I don't have the tree set up yet these pics were taken last Christmas

[Malrothien 6]

I grew up with real trees, too, but I picked up a fake one last year because we couldn't afford to spend $60 a year on a real tree. We bought a 4 ft tree at Walmart for $20. We put it up on a tupperware that we cover with the tree skirt and it is plenty big (we live in 500sqft). It's not pre-lit, we bought LED strings at Costco a few years ago.

Yea I worry about regular lights heating up and melting the tree and stuff like that! plus i have a dog dont want his nose burned on a light or something.. Melting trees and fires from christmas lights worry me hence the want for LED heh.

The trees won't melt from regular lights. They can handle extreme heat with no issues.

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

I haven't been a Christmas fan since I was a kid. My parents always have a tree etc., but it's really not that big of a holiday for us. Every year we tell each other that we're not going to do a gift exchange the year after, but we always wind up doing one anyhow.

I grew up with live trees until I was twelve, when we switched to a fake one. My parents still have that same fake tree to this day, so it shows that they are indeed durable.

[Rhiannercakes 14]

I'm not the biggest fan of Christmas, but we've had the same fake tree for 20+ years.

It still looks the same as it did in the pictures of when I was first born, since the tree's usually put up before my birthday.

Edited November 18, 2009 by Rhiann

[Jasman0717 9]

We bought a fake tree three years ago and it does look very natural. The only pain is putting it together

[Inky 1,110]

this is our tree.. and no, I don't have the tree set up yet these pics were taken last Christmas

wow it looks really pretty! looks real too! so the only down side for you is that you have to stick on every branch. Seems like it would be frustrating / take a while to do with a large tree. Is it hard to stick them in or just time consuming? the hinge ones look decent, the one in the store did anyways. Only thing is they had some spaces on that tree between the branches and because it was hinged you cant relaly change the spaces to make it look more full like yours does.