REALLY COOL artificial Christmas tree?

[PrincessKitty1]

I am a true-blue devotee of REAL Christmas trees. No artificial trees for me, no sir-eee!

....except this year, I'm thinking it would be great to put up a Christmas tree, um, before Thanksgiving. Yes, for some unknown reason, I'm dyin' to take out me decorations and ornaments and put them up! A real tree would be dead before Christmas. And make such a mess with all the needles falling off everywhere.

So, is there any such thing as a REALLY COOL artificial tree?? One that will make me wonder why I've been getting a real tree all these years? I'm open to wild, funky, mod, and retro (for instance). Ideas please!!!

 

[arkansas mom]

Not wild or funky, but I love the Martha Stewart trees you can get at Kmart. They come with lots of lights already attached. Some of the more expensive ones ($150) really look real. Then you can get funky with your decorations.

 

[Ranatra]

I was at Pool City looking at Christmas trees today. DH is begging me to buy an artificial one. I do like their 9 ft. trees, so I might go for it. We've had real trees for the last 13 years.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

Not wild or funky, but I love the Martha Stewart trees you can get at Kmart. They come with lots of lights already attached. Some of the more expensive ones ($150) really look real. Then you can get funky with your decorations.

Thanks, I will check these out! (I like real lights, rather than fiber-optic "pre-lit" trees--do these trees have actual individual little lights?)

 

[AKLRULZ]

We have three trees in our home - this place has the best most lifelike trees you can imagine: http://www.treeclassics.com/default.asp

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

Thanks, I will check these out! (I like real lights, rather than fiber-optic "pre-lit" trees--do these trees have actual individual little lights?)

There are many prelit trees out now with the actual strings of mini lights - you can find clear or multi or some trees even have both and you can change the look of your tree with a flip of the switch from all clear to multi color - pretty cool. You will find many different kinds in many different price ranges. GE makes a really nice one with lots and lots of lights.

 

[andromedaslove]

We have three trees in our home - this place has the best most lifelike trees you can imagine: http://www.treeclassics.com/default.asp

HOLY COW!!! $1,200.00 for a freakin' Christmas Tree. Someone shoot me now!!

 

[chasbos]

Oh come on - some are priced down from $1600 to $995!

I paid a fair amount for mine - $450, but that was almost 8 years ago and it still looks as good as the day I bought it! And I even let the kids put it up and take it down every year!

 

[Kimmielee]

I will have to dig for the box to find the name... but I paid $700 for a tree that is so real looking no one believes it until they touch it... I spray it with pine scent to get the "real" tree smell as well.

I had won a $2500 shopping spree which was the ONLY reason I could splurge on such an extravagant tree!!

I'll find the box tomorrow and report back!

 

[Kahana-ri]

We put up an artificial tree every year. Its nothing fancy, but when we are done decorating it is beautiful. We have a lot of ornaments. We also go out and cut our own Christmas tree. I try to get a 'Charlie Brown' Christmas tree every year. We put this one up outside. This way we get the best of both with easier clean up.

 

[EthansMom]

I bought a pre-lit Christmas tree last year with the little lights already strung on it. I paid about $250 and it looks pretty real. I love not having to string the lights!

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

3 or 4 years ago we bought an artificial tree with prestrung lights from Natural Touch. We did pay about $500-600 for it, but it still looks great, doesn't drop needles and I don't have to remember to water it. By the time the kids get finished putting on the dozens of ornaments (in clumps, of course), you can hardly tell the difference.




other plusses: it's flame retardant and I don't have to shlep it to recycling

 

[antmaril]

We bought a new prelit tree yesterday. I can't wait to put it up. I think it's beautiful. It's 7.5 feet and it has snow on it. It's not "flocked", but, rather, the snow is placed randomly on the tips. We just really liked it. It was $350 - a little more than I was hoping to spend, but it's a quality tree and should last for years. I think it was worth the extra $$$.

 

[nordkin]

I would recommend not skimping on quality because of the price. Every year we were spending $100+ for a cut tree and fighting with it and each other when we got it home. It was always an 11 to 12 ft tree. We finally broke down 10 years ago and bought an 11 foot artificial tree, that looks so real people question us when we say it is articficial, for $350. It still looks like the day we bought it. it has more than paid for itself dollar in terms of money and has made putting up the tree in our house less stressful because it is so easy.

The prices may seem outrageous, but they are well worth it if you buy quality.

 

[ducklite]

I was also a die-hard for years. I finally decided I didn't like the idea of cutting down a tree every year, it bothered me that we would kill millions of trees that would then fill landfills. (Not a flame towards those who still use real trees, just my personal feeling.)

So I swtched to fake about 20 years ago, and I'm so glad I did. No more mess, and significantly reduced fire hazard on top of the ecological benefits.

I had one that I kept for about 5 years but it was terrible--really cheap/cheezy looking, so I bought a new one that we had for about 15 years. Our last Christmas in NJ it went to the curb when we took it down, it was looking pretty bad by then, and it was only a six footer--wasn't going to work in the new house with a 12 foot ceiling in the living room. (We kept the piece that fit into the topper, it looks like a "mini-tree" and DH rigged up a "stand" for it so DS can use it in his bedroom, we put a strand of lights on it and he hangs his Nightmare ornaments on it. )

We bought one last year, it's a 10 footer. I wanted a taller one, but DH pointed out that I'd be the one on the lader to hang the top ornaments, and I hate heights so... Plus the taller they get the wider they are at the base, and anything taller would have filled the entire room at the bottom LOL!

We got it at Lowe's. It's pre-lit and really stunning. We had a lot of compliments on it from neighbors and friends. I want to think we paid about $400 for it, but I could be off by about $100 either way.

Fake trees are an expensive initial purchase, but they last realistically for ten years (that 15 year old tree we had was pretty gnarly the last few years LOL!) so when you do the math they are actually only about 30% of the price of real.

Let us know what you decide!

Anne

PS--I would try to get it before Thanksgiving, we got ours Thanksgiving weekend last year and they were already sold out of some of the really nice trees. We had to go to another store almost 40 miles away to get the tree we really wanted!

 

[golfgal]

We have three trees in our home - this place has the best most lifelike trees you can imagine: http://www.treeclassics.com/default.asp

I saw an ad for this company in a magazine and was going to look them up. Um, no, I am NOT spending $1200 for an artificial tree. They did have some in their outlet center for $250.

I want a second tree for our house, we always get a real one. I think I will get one after Christmas this year along with clearance prices on matching ornaments.

 

[AKLRULZ]

HOLY COW!!! $1,200.00 for a freakin' Christmas Tree. Someone shoot me now!!

Most of those are on sale 50% off, however many are already sold out for the season.