Do you buy real Christmas trees or put up artificial ones?

We have a cat tree we use. So artificial.

that is so adorable, ive been seeing that all over social media would you say its worth the money?
- I got it last year for $90. It was up for ~2 months. Cats loved it. Got it back out a couple weeks ago, it is not used as much this year as last, but it does still get used.
  I would totally say it was worth it.
a real one might not survive a cat.
- I've never had a cat take out a tree. I've had cats that crawled up the tree. Worst case, they knock some ornaments off it. Young kids are far more dangerous.

When I can, I get a real tree. After Christmas, I trim all the leaves and branches off the trunk and put those in the municipal compost bin. I then put the trunk in storage and let it dry out for a year or two. Once dry, I'll carve them into things like walking sticks, wizard staffs, etc.

That's fucking rad
- Thanks! Here's an example. That's me on the left, my husband on the right.
  
  I made both that walking stick and wizard staff from old Christmas trees. And a close up view of the staff:
wizard staff is so fire
- Only if you're not careful
Name checks out
Artisanal! I love it!

Artificial. While it was a ton of plastic I can't get over cutting down a tree every year. Seems wasteful to me. My artificial is exactly the same as it was 10 years ago and I have no need to replace it.

The ecological damage of a single artificial tree vastly outweighs that of cutting down many trees (don't remember the exact numbers). - Source
- My main ask then because it does matter is how many real trees cut down is the equivalent. As said it's done for me, artificial tree is up right now so moving forward it doesn't make sense for me to abandon that. For those who don't have one though, how long would they have to own the artificial tree?
  I'll admit I'm skeptical of the statement because it's a common technique that has been used to prevent people from choosing greener alternatives. The great EV debate has been plagued with it, with people bellowing that the cost of mining the minerals means you should just drive ICE cars when in reality if your EV rolls over 15,000 miles you've officially hit the tipping point.
  Same thing with new stoves, water heaters, a lot of pro-oil will claim "Well manufacturing alone means that you're actually hurting the environment, you wouldn't want to do that now would you?" and put the blame back on the consumer when in reality most of those purchases become carbon neutral usually after a year or two of standard use. Now for the trees if it's 20 years... maybe. Even then I wonder about the potential of those 10' fir trees growing into full adult trees and what we cut short by cutting them down. (Granted I know most are farmed now, but even then, it'd have be be multiple decades for it to make sense in my book)
a real one, which are usually Norway Spruce species, which has the iconic signature tree look. YEA its annoying when it starts to decay and go brown, you just dump outside, its wasteful asf. and a real one you have to make sure it doesnt carry any pests with it.

Never bothered with putting a tree up, but I've always kinda wanted to steal this idea:

I gotta say...
This was a triumph.
- I'm making a note here: "huge success"

Aluminum pole. No tinsel. It's distracting.

I am surprised at how many artificial tree users there are. Way more than I expected.

I have mostly lived where I could just go get a real one from the woods if I wanted to, so I guess that gives me a bias. If I couldn't have a real tree, I dont think I would want one at all.

I am not much into christmas, but the whole bringing a tree home with a connection to nature makes it worthwhile. Love the smell of a fresh tree too.

Never had issues with needles or bugs so I find that strange as well. I mean sure, the tree drops some needles at the end, but that is what the skirt is for. The few outside of that is just a single day of vacuuming that you would be doing anyways.

I am surprised at how many artificial tree users there are. Way more than I expected.
I am not much into christmas, but the whole bringing a tree home with a connection to nature makes it worthwhile. Love the smell of a fresh tree too.
Also the whole no microplastics being generated thing. You'd think that since that discovery was made people would be quicker to choose non-plastic and yet here we are.
We always had an artificial one growing up, but if I ever buy a Christmas tree myself I'll buy a real one.
Same. This comment section is so bizarre to me.
I've always had real trees. I love the smell too much to go with a fake one. And I agree, there's something magical and nostalgic about the whole process of picking out a tree, and tying it to the top of your car to take to your house. It's part of the Christmas tradition.
Not sure how real this survey is, but they say 83% of households do a fake tree.
https://wror.com/2025/11/18/fake-christmas-trees-are-preferred-over-real-trees-by-a-big-percentage/
- Wow. That's crazy to me. What's the point?

Real f'sure.

A lot of states sell Christmas tree permits every year, so for 5-10 bucks plus gas I can harvest my own tree(s) sustainably.

It's rad.

If you can't find yourself in any of the states above, it's likely you live in a state with state-run Christmas tree programs. Texas, Oklahoma, any state not in the half of the US listed above will have other state resources for Christmas tree permits and many private tree farms, which are maybe 10 dollars more but offer the same service:

Buy a permit, drive there, choose a tree, chop it down, take it home.

Haven't done this, but I've known people who do. Beats the tree lots.
Thats what we do! 30-45 minute drive and we can get noble firs.
- Heck yea! A satisfying quest all around.
Never heard of this. Probably because the nearest are hours away.
- Nope, centrally located because the whole point of the program is sustainably harvested trees accessible to civilians.
  You can check the linked locations above.

Real. Every year, my partner and I and other partners or friends are welcome to join us, go out into the forests and legally cut down a tree.

It's a pain in the ass, it's adventure, it's a party, it's fun. It's also way cheaper than just buying one. I think we paid like $13 for the state park purpose licence this past weekend.

I have a tradition I made up for this, too. Every year, I cut a puck off the bottom of the tree before I put it in the stand. I drill a hole through it, label it with the year with a marker, and hang it from the tree. I think this will be our 7th year? It hasn't been decorated yet because our living room is super small and a disaster and the tree is currently in the kitchen.

I find that the challenge gives purpose to time, and gives us excuse to socialize more in these dark months.

Real, but I keep it in a pot and it goes outside the rest of the year. It's about 3.5' tall at the moment and gets a little bigger each year. I've had it for 4 years now

Same, except that once it gets too big we take it out to my parents' house in the mountains and plant it there. So far one has died and one is surviving and happily growing.
That sounds excellent... i might pitch that to my wife for next year.

I use a real tree because I have cats that would eat the plastic one, and I feel that plastic trees are worse for the environment.

Real every time. I feel bad for the poor tree but nothing beats the smell of a fresh Christmas tree in December.

As an asthmatic, fake trees are the only way to go. The mold real trees have and produce as they die often cause croup cough among asthmatic. You only need croup for one Christmas before you figure out it's just not worth it.

Fake one. Bought it a decade ago and its still doing just fine.

Doesn't feel like Christmas without the smell of a real tree. I go out back and cut a small one.

I haven't had or put up a Christmas tree since I was a child. I don't see the point. I don't do any seasonal decorations. Time moves so fast that it's like a week later I'm taking down a bunch of shit I paid money for and can barely use.

We started putting our shit up almost immediately after Halloween. I don't mind all the gaudy bullshit, just the work and storage space. I just want to put up projector lights. My wife complains that they look like someone didn't put any effort in — I said that's exactly why I like them. At least we were able to agree on a prelit tree with no extra ornaments. I do miss the extravagant trees my grandma put up when I was little but it's so much breakable glass shit.
Last year I put up permanent Govee lights. They were pretty good but then we had our roof redone this fall and I noticed half of them don't work now. C'est la vie.
Yeah, fun sucks
I get where you are coming from, but I find holiday decorations to be one of the highlights of an otherwise crummy season.
Winter is so depressing. It is cold and dark all the time. It is fun to come home to a bunch of silly lights everywhere. I leave mine up for a few weeks past Christmas. If you ask me, the tree should stay up until the first day of spring.

I hunt my own free range tree. It's satisfying having a hand in is death. Feels good to take that chainsaw to it's body, cut it down in the prime of life, strap it to my truck, let the wind whip through its slowly dying limbs. Drag it inside my house and hack parts off until I'm satisfied it fits. Stand it in my dining room and drop fresh water into a bucket with screws attached that is designed to prolong it's eventual demise. Then after a couple days of letting it slowly warm, we gather as a family and decorate it's festering body with glittering lights, shiny baubbles, and memories of years past. Before we then place gifts below it's slowly dying limbs to exchange with each other on the day we celebrate the world breaking and entry champion for the past 1745 years. After that I wait a few days, rip the glitter off, and toss the remains outside, either in the trash to be buried and gone, or to the graveyard of the trees, where it can finish rotting with others of it's kind.

It's a lot of work, but oh so satisfying.

Real. But I live in a pretty foresty area and just go to the neighbourhood farmer where I also get my eggs from and my poultry and it's not pricey and goes into the fireplace once it's dry enough.

When I can be bothered (not often) I get a real one. The smell is amazing, it looks great and the imperfections and variations make it look much nicer. Oh, and the best bit? When I take it down I get to take it to the goat farm down the road - they go absolutely fucking nuts for fir trees.

fuck holidays id rather eat shit

I'll honestly just take the ham.

Why would i want a real tree? They're messy and EXTREMELY FLAMABLE

For me it's all the winter dormant insects in the tree that wake up once the tree is inside a warm home that makes me never want a real tree.
- Or the smell of frozen animal piss thawing (I've heard some people mark their trees with fox urine to prevent theft)
A properly watered tree is actually not very flammable.
Maybe some enjoy flammable? My lunatic ex took an old Christmas tree out to the backyard and set fire to it because he wanted to see how fast they burn. He nearly did burn down the house, that was a BIG fire, very tall fire. But if you have a big enough space, or broke it down to burn more slowly and reasonably? Fuel.
- TIL my family is lunatics.
  We do have a fire pit and it's fire department approved distances from structures.

No because that's not feasible for us

Real.

Cut it down at a tree farm that has a Santa workshop.

Option 3: we don't buy any trees.

Neither

Neither. Cutting down a healthy tree for a little ritual seems extremely wasteful to me. I don't care much about Xmas so I don't have a fake tree, either. I do have lights up in the apartment, but they're up year round. I like the colors.

Artificial mainly because we spent a fortune on a good one like 10 years ago but I don’t have to shell out $150 for a new one each year. Plus it’s pre-lit.

Fake.

The real ones are expensive, throwaway fire hazards.

After 3-4 years of throwing away real trees you’d easily have enough for a nice artificial tree that will last decades.

Yeah but real trees are a renewable resource, fake trees are an easy plastic luxury to avoid.

Y'all put up trees every year?

I feel like I'm "not allowed" either.

I grew up in a very religious household/extended family. When I was 19, I became agnostic. But I actually really enjoy the Christmas season and decorations. It doesn't have a religious tie to me, but it has a nostalgic tie to me.

My husband is VERY jaded/exhausted/raged by Christianity as a whole. Their very existence pisses him off. So naturally, Christmas pisses him off.

But in a fantasy world where we could all get past this bullshit -- I'd honestly be happy with either. I grew up with artificial trees, but real trees always seemed better. But killing trees to be a decoration in your home for a month seems wrong..

Final answer- artificial tree would be my choice if I decorated.

While I certainly feel the rage, the tree is yet another decoration the Christians copped from the pagans they sought to drown out. It's yule, not what Jesus put in his home for his birthday (not that he was actually born in the winter anyway, they rewrote that too). Eggs and bunnies are pagan fertility things, not what phasewalker Jesus handed out from the tomb.
While I know it's clearly a Christian symbol now, you can't change what makes you nostalgic.
Anyway, I don't know about everyone else, but it was only this summer I learned that "pagan" just means ANY religion that isn't Christian. I assume it's more the various Nordic, Germanic, and Anglo sects in the European Christian range.
It doesn't have to be a religious celebration. Just copy the USSR and celebrate the parts of Christmas you want (putting up a tree, gift exchanges) on New Years.

Artificial. Cost me an arm and a leg when I got it, but I've had it for so long it averages less than half the price of a real tree pre year. Plus, I don't have to bother with finding a good tree, transporting it home, and then driving to dump it at the recycling centre.

Neither, I have a 5 foot tall Gumby instead. It was a carnival prize and is wrapped in lights and decorated with smaller Gumbys, Pokeys, Blockheads, Prickle and Goo. No Nopey though.

Nope!

I just hire someone to stand in the corner after I cover them in lights.

Oh Christmas Troy, oh Christmas Troy...!

Surprised no one mentioned cost. When I moved to a city it got real expensive to buy a new tree each year. When I lived in a place where pine trees grew it was a lot cheaper.

Bought a tree about 7 years ago that fits in my place and spent $45 once.

It’s way nicer to have a real tree but I saved hundreds at this point.

Man are artificial trees a TON of work to keep nice.

Artificial, real trees are not easily available where I live. Plus we get the same tree every year!

When I was a kid we did a real tree. When we visited my brother last year we did a small real tree. Normally we have a fake tree.

We had some deaths in the family and some sicknesses, so we weren't feeling festive last year and set up a 3 foot tall fake tree before we skipped town. This year, today, I set up the big huge fake tree as a surprise while my wife wasn't home. I'm hoping the Christmassy decor without the work will get her into the Christmas spirit. We'll see if she's glad or annoyed. :-D

No update after thirteen hours. Wife wanted to decorate the tree. He dead.
- Wife was happy. Though I have now been asked to retrieve all the ornaments from the attic so her and her sister can decorate it. I only did the lights. Teamwork!

artificial because killing a tree is repulsive to me. killing a tree for a tradition full of lies makes it even more repulsive

Plastic.

I use an artificial, don't see the point of cutting down a whole tree for it to slowly die in your house over a month to then throw it out after.

If there were more services where you could rent the tree and then it gets put back in the ground after the season I would be all for it.

Artificial trees you buy once and you don't need to replace it for years if not decades. Though would prefer if they started making them with biodegradable plastic

I bought an artificial one second-hand which felt like the most sustainable option - not cutting a tree down every year and not paying for virgin plastic either. Charity shops here are usually filled with pretty nice ones since a lot of people seem to replace their plastic trees far more frequently than they should.

Have always had artificial. My parents still use the same tree they used when I was a kid. When my wife and I bought our own place we invested in a good quality artificial and I expect it to last just as long.

Real trees are a nice idea but I’ve seen far too many horror stories about them causing fires, and even if they don’t go up in flames they still drop needles and insects everywhere. Why take the risk?

none, my house keeps getting messy despite expending few hours of cleaning every week, no time for extra chores

we've used artificial for at least the last 9 years now. Less cleanup, less expensive and easy to setup

Still deciding.

I have fond childhood memories of traipsing through a tree farm until we found the right one, then taking turns using the old two handled buck saw we carried out, then trying to work as a team to carrry a massive tree back
now I live in an urban area with no nearby tree farm. I’m sticking spending well over $100 and I don’t have a car with roof rack to carry it.

Sometimes I use an artificial tree and sometimes I goto Home Depot as the most reasonably priced place to get a real one. Last year the selection at Home Depot was bad plus they were all small so I spent twice as much at a higher end place

@butterycroissant one of my imfant memories is going to woods somewhere so my mum could steal the christmas tree, its a good memorie :)

nowadays its artificial for sure, i am to pussy to steal things

Fake tree. Easier, safer, less messy. Yeah, it's plastic, but it lasts as long as you want to keep using it. We just got a new one because we needed a skinny one for space reasons. But the old one we had for over a decade, and we sold it on to someone else.

We 'rent' a real tree. After Christmas we bring it back and they re plant it.

You cannot replant a tree without it's root structure.
- It's in a big pot. It is not a sawn tree.

This year we bought a real one, but we’ve used artificial before. I’m pretty neutral on the whole thing; love real trees, but artificial trees at least don’t kill real trees (unless you count the likely toxic manufacturing process)

The real trees are purpose-grown and biodegradable, like carving pumpkins or floral bouquets. Killing a plant for ceremony and decoration feels way less wasteful to me than making more permanent garbage.
- Ah, yes, that makes sense to me!

I live in Australia. Everyone here does fake trees.

Not everyone - Christmas trees have always been real ones in my family. If you don't live near where pines grow you can get a nice Christmas tree from a she oak.

Number one cause of house fires around Christmas time, dry trees in homes. We put up the same artificial tree every year.

I used to go real, but lack of proper ones made me go artificial instead.

I grew up on the countryside where part of holiday tradition involved grabbing a saw and finding a proper tree in one of the many woods around the property. Now that I live more urban I have to rely on whatever is on the market. And the quality of the market is awful, so I might as well have something that at least looks good.

we have a saying at our house, 'its not christmas until you you kill something'

thus, its always a live tree

You should try buying a carp!

I have a potted one I drag in and out of the house

It's like $10 to pay the Forest Service for a tag to cut one down yourself in the USA

Ceramic is the only way to go.

I've had artificial pretty much my whole life.

The last two were both hand me down trees, and in turn I handed down the tree I had.

Artificial. Didn't even buy it. Picked it up from the curb and fixed it up with new lights

Fake

My family has always done artificial. We don't have the tree we had when In was a child, which was a big tree that took up a good portion of the living room. We had a lot of light strings and a lot of ornaments. The base had a thing that allowed it to slowly spin and it was amazing, after it was up and decorated.

Now we have a small artificial tree that is a lot newer and not anywhere near as impressive and maybe a quarter or less of the size. It's still good because it brings out some holiday spirit.

I've always had a fake one as a kid and continue with them on my own. My spouse always had real ones, but the care and cleanup of a real tree is obnoxious. Gotta keep it watered, gotta keep the needles contained, gotta wrap it in the thinnest fucking bag at the end, gotta vacuum the needles you missed, gotta vacuum the needles that spilled form the bag rips, gotta put it on the curb a certain day. So we do fake. Started with a curb find with dead lights where we just threw more lights on top

We did real ones for years, but in our new house I got tired of sweeping pine needles, and still finding some in April.

Also, we adopted two inquisitive cats, and the tree water is highly toxic. So these days, it's artificial, downstairs and upstairs.

Frugal family, never had a tree. I didn't care either. I just wished we did something fun as a family. I see normal families on tv and I feel jealous. My parents aren't like bad, but they kinda aren't good either. None of the holidays were really memorable in particular. I had "okay" moments, but nothing really "wholesome" that i could share.

Like any useful gifts or really just family time to some new place is all I want, fuck trees, I personally don't care, it doesn't really do anything.

I mean colorful lighting would look cool, but trees? Meh.

(I'm not born in a western country for context)

Many years ago, we decided we did not want to cut trees anymore for the purpose of decorating our place, and since we also did not want to use a plastic one I did what I had to do by... painting a small one on top recycled cardboard that I cut to shape.

It's really small (the fat red-bearded dude doesn't overwhelm us under gifts either, maybe it's because he hates our tree?). It looks like a kid's version of a Xmas tree, some people would call it ugly as fuck, I say it is unique. We can easily (dis)assemble it & store it (takes no space at all), it never shed, we never lose or break a decoration, and setting it up with all it's decorations is just a matter of sliding one piece of cardboard into another, for its trunk/foot ;)

Despite it being made out of cardboard and being painted with gouache it's sturdy, only needing a touch of fresh paint every now and then. The previous one lasted something like 11 years before I had to make a new one, this year.

I'm also team cardboard tree! Mine is a small one that came as a kit with lights and stuff, painted it at the office as a holiday fun thing with the over-lunch craft crew. It's about 10 inches tall and fits on the shelf under the TV, next to the PS2.
This year I went all-out and got a Christmas tree-shaped ornament to set next to it. It's shaped like those vintage ceramic ornaments and tickles me pink.

Bucket tree, tree in a bucket. Have the tree in your house in a bucket, bucket is in the house with the tree in a bucket. Move bucket inside with the tree in the bucket, or outside once you're done with bucket tree.

Buck it

A real tree 🎄 The smell and the beautiful imperfection, that is Christmas 🥰

My wife’s allergic to pretty much everything, including pine needles, so we bought a high end artificial one years back. Looks like the real deal and doesn’t leave her in massive discomfort.

Both!

Since my kids were young, we've made it a tradition to go out to forest service land and cut down a real tree (with a cheap permit), which helps with wildfire mitigation. The trees are usually kind of scrawny and awkward as they're not grown on a tree farm where they're all spaced apart and tended to during their growth, but the experience is fun. We put our cheap, lightweight ornaments on that.

Our main tree is a fake one that we can put up earlier.

Our annual tradition is to go out into the bush and cut one down. Then we make a fire and have a hot dog roast.

Same. Its my favourite xmas tradition

Neither!

Same.

I used to have a pine sapling that I grow in a pot, and always used it as a Christmas tree in winter. But one year it died. I tried to grow another after that, but failed twice. Now my confidence of keeping a sapling alive is all gone. Maybe I should make a cardboard one this year. Or maybe just use a different plant that's not a pine, fir or yew.

We get a real one from our neighbor, he does yardwork & sod most of the year but at Christmas he gets some trees to sell from some guy he knows in N Carolina and they are always amazing all of them. Yes it costs a lot, we have a large family who come for Christmas and it's nice, I categorize the expense as entertaining.

When I was poor, I would just make a "tree" each year out of something. One year the coat rack, one year on the wall in construction paper, one year I found a inflatable one like a beach ball, one year my ex cut the top off a bush & hedged it into a cone - that went on for almost 20 years, always something different. My kids didn't mind at all, nobody ever said "you need a tree" only "cool". You don't need a tree. Don't feel obligated at all.

At work I have a wee artificial one.

Artificial. Real trees are a colossal pain in the ass.

My family bought a miniature real one two years ago so we'll probably keep using it. It's a bit of a hassle to water and take care of throughout the year, but I like it, the water is probably still cheaper than buying a whole new tree, real or artificial. It looks cute and is (obviously) easy to decorate.

I grew up with real ones but became lazy. Plus I lived for a long time in a 22m2 studio and no real tree would fit so we bought a skinny artifical one. A realistic one with some asymmetric branches and high quality stiff needles.

Still going strong after 10+ years and moving twice, will probably last another decade.

My family buys real once. I dont buy any

It can get pricey.

I like the idea of having a real tree, to have that nice pine scent in the room and how it flourishes with the decor. But I've been leaning towards getting artificial ones.

Real Christmas tree, fresh from a farm about 2km from here.

Used to throw a Christmas tree festival. We have artificials we got from that.

Of course only the real thing counts. It's a superstition after all, isn't it?

Real tree

I don't really want to do a tree to begin with but if my wife's gonna make me do it I'm going to do it right.

Also I don't have to wrestle the damn thing up and down the rickety ladder to my attic, it's bad enough that I have to do that with the bins of ornaments.

And I get the catharsis of getting to burn the damn thing after the season is over.

Also it gives my house a slight piney scent.

Artificial, bought a friend's tree second hand 8 years ago.

Thinking about replacing it next year. Have a toddler, and trying to make Christmas more special, and this one's old enough it's lots a lot of it's needles

We buy a live tree, but a small one.

Neither of them

We’ve been living in small apartments. We got one of the pencil trees from Balsam Hill around 2009-2010 and still use it. Works way better in tight corners than a natural tree.

We swap back-and-forth between real and fake. Some of it depends upon time to be able to go out and get one, because we go and chop ours down When we get a real one. It also depends on the weather if it gets really cold sometimes will just put up the fake one. But yeah, we do prefer a real one.

Big artificial one, and one tiny "sad" real tree.

This stems from three years ago when we had to say goodbye to our 12 year old dog that we had since he was a puppy. We had zero desire to put up our artificial tree, but we wanted something so we grabbed the last 3" tree from whole foods that had fallen behind the display. We only put on one Star Trek DS9 Worf ornament and a small strand of lights.

Over the years it's become our Star Trek tree, but we still try to find the saddest tree of the lot.

I'd be fine with a fake one, but my wife prefers real ones, so that's what we do.

Real. I can't stand fake things, especially fake nature. Wood veneers, marble painted plaster laminates, LVT, no no no. I'd sooner have no tree at all.