Tips On Selecting The Best Artificial Christmas Tree

”Tips On Selecting The Best Artificial Christmas Tree” is a collaborative post which can include affiliate links.  Please see the disclosure page for more information.  Disclaimer – always verify medical information with your doctor, verify financial or other information from a professional and follow all laws for your location.

NOTE: This article was initially posted Oct 21, 2020 but had to reshare. We are loving our new tree and am excited to start setting it up this weekend!

My old Christmas tree has been on its last branches for a couple years now. It wasn’t ever one of those beautiful fluffy artificial Christmas trees, but for the $20 after Christmas extreme sale price, it could have been worse. Each season, the sad little tree was wrapped with lots and lots of pine needle garland so I’d have somewhere to hang more ornaments.

Kinda like Charlie Browns Christmas tree but not as cute…

via GIPHY

After several years of our little 5 foot tree barely making it through the season, it was time to check out the artificial trees available on the market now.  I had visions of a giant tree that would engulf the majority of our small living room, but alas, we have nowhere to store our couch and chairs for the holiday season. Plus, sitting in a tree to watch Christmas movies doesn’t seem too comfy. HA!

Here are some tips for finding the best artificial Christmas tree –

Choose High Quality

When I purchased the little tree that just couldn’t a couple years ago, we were struggling financially and I’m such a cheapskate already. That was the perfect storm for picking out a tree with horrible quality and the loss of needles and branches throughout the years. I wish I had just bit the bullet and paid for a good tree. My parents have had their artificial Christmas trees for over 10+ years. Each tree was a cost a little more than my cheapmiccheapskate but considering what they paid and how many years they have had the trees (they love Christmas time) the cost per yearly use is  less than what my cost was for the junky tree we used to have and I never even liked that tree. SIGH. 

Side note: I think about cost per use of items all the time after talking with a lady at Buc-ee’s one day this year. There was a little decorative pillow that I just loooved at my favorite gastation destination but it was $28. I started to put this back until this stranger said to me, “It looks like you really like that pillow. How long have you had your old pillows that you are changing out in your living room?” I told her about 5-7 years. She explained that if I kept that little pillow for 5 years that I love so much, that equated to a little over only $5 a year that brings me joy. MIND BLOWN! I bought the pillow and every day I look at it and it brings me joy. Same goes for Christmas trees.

Pick The Location For the Tree

Before you decide the Christmas tree that you want, be sure to determine where it will go in your home. Our living room isn’t a gigantic space and is open to the kitchen and dining area. Every corner and wall of this room is filled because there are only two walls and a small fireplace wall. That means the new tree is going to be in the living room right in front of a window.  On one side is the fireplace and on the other is a walkway into the dining area. 

Determine the Christmas Tree Size

After you know the location for where your tree will be displayed, it’s important to make sure the tree is appropriately sized. Because of the walkway and the size of our living room, the tree needed to not be any more than 3 feet wide. I thought I couldn’t have a tall tree with this small diameter.  I was bummed out until I checked out Nearly Naturals selection of artificial Christmas trees! You can sort the search by width and height. Soooo handy! I found our dream Christmas tree… 8 feet tall by only 32 inches wide. Eeeee! They have plenty of sizes(2.5 to 10 feet tall or 4″ to 36″ wide), colors, lights, and more. 

Lights or No Lights… That Is the Question

Anyone else remember being a kid and the strings of light that you had to help untangle each season? Uh oh, my age is showing! LOL  I love having an artificial Christmas tree with lights already included. There are many types of lights these days for prestrung trees. You can choose regular clear, globe, LED clear, light show, micro LED, multicolor, or the unlit one. Which I have noooo idea why anyone would choose unlit but maybe your family keeps the strings of light well organized and not like the ultimate puzzle to unravel. My new tree has clear LED lights and looks so good! Plus, I like that these are LED lights to help save with energy costs and better for energy saving.

Pick The Color and Material

Artificial Christmas trees can be lots of different colors. Here are just a sampling of ideas – green, white, red, pink, and more. There also are all types of material or finish such as flocked to look like it has been snowed on. Back in the 1950s there were aluminum tinsel trees – all sparkly and such! A long while ago our first tree was a country “pencil” tree which was basically a tall log with a couple branches stuck here and there into it. Yep, homemade looking and didn’t last long at all.  It all circles back to quality doesn’t it? These days there are sooo many different choices and styles to choose from when looking for the perfect tree for your home.  I went with the timeless look of a green mountain pine.

Now that you have the ideal tree picked out, it’s time to set it up. Check out this gorgeous and easy to assemble Christmas tree that I’m the new proud owner of below with the easy peasey steps for setting it up with the following pictures…

1. Unboxing was super easy. I thought this was going to be way heavier than it is but nope! I had no trouble moving this box around.

2. There was not a bunch of complicated pieces to keep track of – just the three sections of the tree, the base with 3 large anchor type screws, and the electrical plug cord. Rocky the cat literally thinks this tree is real and keeps trying to eat it. I’ve only ever seen her try to nibble on grass outside and doesn’t ever chew on anything in the house. That’s how good this artificial tree looks.

3. Set up was super easy. I just unfolded the base and started the screws in it before adding the sections. 

4. Next, I put in the bottom section and tightened the screws. After that I added the top two sections.

Check out the quality of the construction. I like that I didn’t have to attach limb by limb and these had hinges to make the branches fall into place after putting the tree together. 

5. Plug in the lights. This was also really easy. Each section had a plug for the electrical wire that plugs into the wall. It can’t be any easier than this! No more tangled up strings of Christmas lights!!!

6. After that I spent some time “fluffing” the branches from it’s long ride in the box. Then it was time for my favorite part… decorating! It’s always so fun to get out the ornaments and remember where they are from and good memories. Plus, I love love love having a pretty tree! My favorite is having it all lit up at night.

Here’s just a couple of my favorite ornaments…

Putting up our artificial Christmas tree this year was SO EASY! Plus, I’m just extremely happy to have such a beautiful tree to display all of the ornaments we have collected over the years. My best tip for when selecting your artificial Christmas tree is buy a quality product. You should be so much happier each year getting ready for the holiday season.

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