How old is your fake Christmas tree?

[bigbabyblues]

Ours is 5 years old, but the one we had before that was a hand-me-down from DH grandma, and it was from sometimes in the 70's I believe......when did they invent these things anyway? I remember him saying he was little and they went to Pittsburgh to get it.....

Steph

 

[Kitty 34]

Maybe I'll go back to keeping our tree in a cardboard box....sounds like that might be better than the air-type plastic container.

When I say spray it...I meant I sprayed it with lysol just to get some of the smell out of it. I've never actually "washed" the tree or anything like that!!

 

[Virgo10]

Mine is almost an antique! Paid a pretty good amount of money for it (around $30) waaay back in 1972 and It's still going strong. No smells from it and it's kept its shape all these years.

I even brought it with us to Florida and will hopefully be putting up this weekend.

Roberta

Edited to add... umm, that's not our tree in the picture below.

 

[missypie]

I would guess that ours is about 42 years old...it is silver and WAY COOL. It came from DH's parents (who never get rid of anything). No smell, but if you don't watch out when you decorate it, you'll have all kinds of cuts on your fingers.

 

[kbkids]

Ours is three years old. I swore I would always have a real Christmas tree, but 3 years ago on the day after Christmas, my dad was in Lowe's. He saw this 6 ft pre-lit musical tree on clearance for $20 - the sign said the lights and music did not work. He decided to buy it, don't ask me why.

Fast forward to last Christmas. We had gone to Disney the first week in December and by the time we got back, I was scrambling to get things done. He asked if I wanted to use that tree, and I gave in simply because we didn't have time to go cut one down. We figured we'd put our own lights on it, and it would look fine. Well, guess what - we plugged it in just to see if any of the lights might work, and the whole thing lit up beautifully, music box works too. It was such a piece of cake to put up and take down - didn't make a mess - and I certainly did not miss messing with the lights trying to get them perfect.

So, guess what tree we're using this year?

 

[PrincessDadx2]

Ours is 12 years old and we keep it in a box in the basement. Never had a problem. People still think it is a real tree.

 

[mallcat]

Wow, I can't believe how long some of you can keep your trees going. I can never seem to get more than 4 or 5 years out of a tree before something breaks. I bought a prelit one last year, so this is the second Christmas for it. I keep it in its original box in a closet in the basement (dry, finished basement). Never had the musty smell problem. I love the prelit tree. It is so much easier and faster to put up than the ones where you have to attach each individual branch then fluff. This prelit one came in 3 sections. From start to finish, decorated and all, only took about 2.5 hours, whereas it used to take half a day just to do the tree.

 

[SpecialK]

Just so you know you're not alone....ours had a musty smell,too. It was 8 or 9 years old and we stored it in the basement. Never sprayed it with anything either. Maybe we bought the same brand. Got a new, pre-lit one this year and I LOVE it!

**Just reread responses. We stored ours in cardboard and it still smelled musty. Go figure.

 

[disykat]

Wow - you guys keep your trees a long time. I read somewhere that when they start to break down you get some sort of poisonous residue - I really don't remember what. So when our started to dirty my hands a bit (sort of a powdery residue) at 9 years we got a new one.

 

[skiwee1]

Wow - you guys keep your trees a long time. I read somewhere that when they start to break down you get some sort of poisonous residue - I really don't remember what. So when our started to dirty my hands a bit (sort of a powdery residue) at 9 years we got a new one.

Ours was never dirty or had a residue on it. It looked just as good as the first day we got it. It better had for $500 paid 15 years ago! LOL! Maybe it depends on where it is stored? We always kept ours in a temp controlled dry attic. We always put it back in the original box too.

 

[minniecarousel]

This is the 5th year with this tree. It comes apart in 3 sections, and the top section has a broken branch. We tried taping the branch to the trunk, but not sure if we'll be able to use it next year. The piece of plastic the holds the branch broke - tape just won't hold it and couldn't get wire to help at all. Oh well, we should look after Christmas to see if there are any great deals out there.

Pre-lit is the only way to go!!

 

[tae1218]

Ours is going on 4 years. I would like to get one that already has the lights on it and does not take so long to put together. I guess after Christmas I will start looking for some on clearance. I hope I can find a good deal.

 

[Tasha+Scott]

We bought a new one last year. We had the one before that for 4 years. There was nothing wrong with it...DH just wanted a bigger one. The new one is actually too big. It is too tall to put a tree topper on! We have to improvise with other decorations...trying to overshadow the fact that there is no tree topper.

 

[catsrule]

About 10 years old, a little Charlie Brown tree.

 

[Kitty 34]

Wow - you guys keep your trees a long time. I read somewhere that when they start to break down you get some sort of poisonous residue - I really don't remember what. So when our started to dirty my hands a bit (sort of a powdery residue) at 9 years we got a new one.

Hmmm, that's interesting, disykat

Hey Special K, thanks for making me feel better for not being the ONLY one to have a musty tree!!!

Actually, now that it's been up for a few days, the smell has disappeared so that's good seeing my computer is right next to it!!!