Comments on: Real or Fake Christmas Tree? Which is Best?

By: The Ng Family Christmas Tree

The Ng Family Christmas Tree — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 12:11:23 +0000

[...] of my son’s favorite things about Christmas is decorating the tree. We did go fake this year, something we feel will save us money and also help us breathe easier as we all suffer [...]

By: Deborah Ng

Deborah Ng — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:47:45 +0000

Interesting arguments both for and against. The fake trees are best for my son’s allergies for sure, but real trees are better for the envirnment. I know there are new envirnmentally safe fake trees coming up too.

Thanks for taking up the cause for either side, folks.

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 14:43:35 +0000

everybody sais that fake is better because you dont have to chop down a tree. but what happens when it comes time to get a new one, when the old one is all rusty and broken? you have to throw it away. at least real ones are biodegradeable.
oh and you dont have to store it, you can just put it inthe wood chipper!
fake trees are for people who aren’t willing to vacuum up all the needles, or chop down a tree or (plant it?). i can see if youre allergic or if youre elderly and can’t set up such a big beautiful fir, but otherwwise, fake trees just aren’t supposed to be a part of Christmas. Be the Charlie Brown for once. Get the tree, even if its really little and drops needles. It is still great to have a real tree that actually smells like real pine (and not candle scent).

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:39:08 +0000

Real Trees. They smell good and invoke the spirit of Christmas. Fake trees are not easy to assemble or put away. Fake trees come with many parts. If you enjoy a puzzle with the children giving you many pieces, fake trees may be your thing. And you may learn patience.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:50:34 +0000

As long as you use a fake for years it’s ok. But that’s a lot of plastic and icky chemicals used to make it. Real are better from an environmental stand-point unless like noted you do use it forever. I like the smell of real better too — off to look for that recycled house.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:58:30 +0000

Fake trees come from awful very uneco-friendly material. Made from PVCs. They never appear as beautiful as a live tree. What we’ve done this year is buy a smaller live tree in a pot. This tree was rather inexpensive and while we cant load it down with tons of shiny glittery ornaments we can still use our ornaments elsewhere throughout the house. This year we’ve made recycled ornaments from the kids old smaller toys since our tree is rather small. We also purchased a smaller string of LED lights that could be strung around the tree. Ours came from the Home Depot. We plan on keeping the tree watered and cared for until spring, rather than trying to plant it right away… in the cold hard ground. I highly recommend attaining a smaller tree. Its much better for the environment.

By: Feli

Feli — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:48:52 +0000

Very interesting. I read something over at Simply Green and he/she suggested to get a real tree because and I quote “these farms are using land that’s unsuitable for most crops, except hardy trees. So they’re saving land from development. Plus the trees provide habitat for wildlife and help combat global warming while looking all so charming and idyllic. And unlike a fake tree which is made from petroleum based materials and shipped from overseas, these trees are renewable and easily recyclable. ”

2 very interesting facts.

By: Melonie @ Workerette.com

Melonie @ Workerette.com — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 03:33:59 +0000

Right now we live in military housing so we’re sticking with my fake tree (or would it be “faux”? heehee). But when we have property of our own I’ll probably go with a live tree we can plant. Or at the very least one that can be mulched.

Everywhere I’ve lived the past 10 years has offered free hauling away of cut trees – the waste management companies take the trees and mulch them and then compost ‘em or sell the mulch. If your garbage company doesn’t offer such a service and you want to use a cut tree, give them a call – they might be willing to give the program a shot.

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:42:42 +0000

We did fake this year, but only because we will be gone for 10 days during the holidays. I don’t want to come home to a dead tree. My husband is the one who prefers the live tree, but I have always enjoyed the fake trees. Less mess, we have family members with allergies and fake trees come with lights attached. How cool is that!?

By: the aesthetic onion

the aesthetic onion — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 23:06:38 +0000

We’re from Oregon and there’s a lot of trees in Oregon, they’re grown for the purpose of selling them at Christmas, so it’s not like we’re cutting down the forest, they come from tree farms. So we usually do the real tree thing. But since we’re not in Oregon this year we sprung for a small fake tree

http://aestheticonion.wordpress.com/2007/11/25/decking-the-halls/

When we move back to Oregon, we’ll get real trees again and use this tree as a secondary tree in the house. But for now, the plastic one will serve us fine.

Oh, and by the way, these new artificial trees are way easier to set up than older ones. And go for the pine varieties, they look more like real trees.

A friend of mine had a good tip for filling out an old tree. Wrap a bough or tree like garland throughout the tree, it will give it more fullness.