There is nothing wrong with faux fir! And if you need to know more about the best artificial Christmas trees in this season of goodwill and cheer, our advice will help.

For many people, organising a Christmas tree can appear to be a daunting undertaking when there is so much else to do.

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Find your quality artificial Christmas tree with this guide.

While many of us will enjoy the smell of a real Christmas tree, they do require upkeep which means there are various benefits to buying an artificial Christmas tree this year.

Indeed, if you buy a good quality artificial tree, you could end up saving hundreds of pounds over the coming years because you’ll be able to reuse it for every festive season until it starts to look bedraggled (but then still retains its attractive qualities because you and family have invested so much love and attention on it).

Having an artificial Christmas tree in your home

The other big attraction for having an artificial Christmas tree in your home is that it will not shed needles which need to be cleaned up. Along with pre-decorated artificial trees, you can also buy those with festive lights that have been added already along with baubles and other decorations.

However, what is probably the biggest attraction for buying an artificial tree is that it will look just as good on Christmas Day as it did when it was first put up. For many people, that’s the only attraction they need to invest in a quality offering.

Here, the Christmas.co.uk team look at a range of trees to suit a variety of budgets.

The best artificial Christmas tree bargain

For those who do not want to spend a lot of money on their fake tree, there are some excellent artificial Christmas tree bargains to be enjoyed. However, you need to be aware that the artificial tree that you buy will probably look nothing like the tree on the box! That’s because artificial trees will be made of moulded plastic branches with a tinsel-type material – so the better and more expensive trees will have a higher density of branches, along with a combination of materials for the branches.

Despite this, there are some excellent offerings that may well suit you and your festive needs. Among the artificial creations we liked is a 4ft Shatchi tree from Amazon for £11.99. We like this choice because there are 230 tips for owners to decorate with baubles and tinsel.

There’s also a metal stand, and for the money it looks realistic enough with a decent width and height. Once decorated, it’s quite impressive and particularly suits small spaces.

We were also taken by Asda’s snow and pine Christmas tree, which stands 6 ft tall and costs £35. While it’s not pre-lit, it does have 600 snowy branch tips and looks like a veritable winter wonderland. It’s also highly rated on the Asda site from previous buyers.

It has a robust construction, so you should be able to get several years of use from it.

The Pound Stretcher’s bargain artificial Christmas tree.

For a real artificial Christmas tree bargain, you can also head to your nearest Poundstretcher store where they have a six-foot green Christmas tree, that is quite impressive. It normally retails at £14.99, but they have been selling this from £7.49. This price point may appeal, but for some there may not be enough branches for all of your decorations and it could look sparse.

It’s not available online and it’s probably worth using their website to check ahead with a store to see there are any available.

Also, B&M is offering a six-foot green Christmas tree for £12 and again, it’s only available from stores. If there are any remaining! The trees also available in black or white and it has 410 tips so families have lots of space to hang baubles and decorations.

Not to be outdone, Home Bargains also offers a six-foot green ‘pencil’ tree for £14.99 and Asda also offers a six-foot Christmas tree for £15 with 440 tips with decent online reviews from those who have bought it.

Other artificial Christmas tree bargains to consider include an evergreen six-foot Christmas tree from Argos for £20 and B&Q have a very nice artificial woodland pined also standing at six-foot costing £20.

It’s also worth giving an honourable mention to the half-parasol Christmas tree from Argos, which is 6 feet tall and costs £40. The idea is to protect your tree from pets and it’s also great for saving space since the bushy parts only begin half-way up the trunk. This also means that any Christmas tree decorations will remain safe from children, dogs and cats and, let’s face it, there’s also lots of space beneath the tree for Christmas presents from Santa.


When should we put our artificial Christmas trees up?

It’s a question on most people’s lips in the run-up to Christmas, and that’s when should we put our artificial Christmas trees up?

One of the benefits for having an artificial tree is that you don’t have to worry about the timescale of buying a new Christmas tree and then having no needles left on it by the time Christmas Day comes around.

Usually, people put their Christmas tree up when Advent begins, which is the fourth Sunday before Christmas.

This year, it is 1 December, so most people will put their trees up on that day and then leave them until the 12th night, which will be 6 January 2020.


The best pre-decorated artificial Christmas trees

Amazon’s pre-decorated Christmas tree

The choice of pre-decorated artificial Christmas trees expands every year and there are some very impressive offerings.

For those who may be short of time, or may not have the confidence to decorate their tree, then these make for a great idea.

We quite like this pre-decorated tree from Christmas Workshop available on Amazon for £42.95 as it can be put together in just five minutes. It also packs away quickly and there are 60 lights as part of the pre-decorations, including 30 gold baubles and 30 gold bows.

 

The best pop-up artificial Christmas trees

In addition to sourcing an artificial tree that looks realistic, it’s also possible to have those trees that literally pop-up.

This means they take just a few minutes to erect and will come looking festive with Christmas lights and baubles already in place.

For those who are short of time may find that these pop-up trees fit their budget and personal style – so when you are ready, Christmas will be ready in just a few minutes.

What’s not to like about that?

One of the best examples of these is a 4 ft tree from Amazon costing £59.95. The tree has 50 white LED lights along with 24 glass baubles and 24 satin bows. You simply pull up the tree and plug it in and you can add as many decorations as you like.

Christmas Street also has an impressive pre-lit 6 ft pop-up Christmas tree for £39.99 with nearly 100 LED lights that are fitted around the central trunk. Along with being easy to store, it’s an ideal way to create a festive atmosphere instantly and along with branch tweaking, everything will be done and dusted in lesson 15 minutes.

The best large artificial Christmas tree

The frosty and festive snowy fir from John Lewis

Not everybody wants a small pre-decorated or artificial Christmas tree for their home or place of work, while many will want a larger offering.

Among them is an impressive 8ft artificial tree from Snowtime which, when put together, offers great quality and appears to be a full, realistic tree. You will need to spend some time getting the branches just right, but it comes with a storage bag and stand.

It’s certainly worth the effort of putting the tree together and then adding lots of Christmas lights and other decorations. It’s available from Amazon at £74.99.

Another big choice offering is a Victorian pre-lit pine Christmas tree that stands at 7ft tall. There are 500 LED lights on this little beauty, which costs £143.99 from Amazon.

It’s available also in 5ft and 6ft sizes with the largest offering containing nearly 1,600 PVC tips so there’s a realistic finish when it’s completed. It’s easy to put together with a hinged construction and the pre-lit LED lights have several different functions including wave, flash and twinkle.

We also think that the frosty festive fir from John Lewis & Partners is also worth a mention. This 6ft tree costs £79 and again while it’s unlit there are 525 frosty tips available for decorating. It’s also highly rated on the John Lewis website by those who have bought it.

John Lewis also offers a great version of an interesting trend which is to have an artificial Christmas tree made from other colours. Their 7 ft Isla diamond smoke fir artificial tree is essentially blue and is an interesting addition to every any home.

Along with being a great Instagram opportunity, the £199 tree is easy to put up with bushy branches and has a realistic outline of a real tree with lots of space for decorations.

Best potted artificial tree

While artificial Christmas trees come with a metal or plastic stand, some come with impressive planters to appear as if they are real.

One of the best we’ve come across is available from John Lewis with their St Anton Potted Pre-lit Christmas tree. It costs £129 and stands 4.5 feet high, but it’s really impressive and one of the best artificial Christmas trees currently available. If this sounds like it could make your Christmas complete, the tips are available in snow frosting or pure Forest Green plus 100 white LED lights.

Most impressive artificial Christmas trees

The green mountain spruce from Harrods is impressive.

If you really want to pull out the stops to impress family and friends this Christmas, then the Green Mountain spruce offering from Harrods is the one to go for.

It’s an 8 ft tall tree with excellent faux needles to help make it look realistic and costs £495. While it’s not pre-lit, it’s the ideal choice for those who want a realistic looking tree that’s a pleasure to decorate with family baubles and trinkets.

Another pricey offering is the Rocky Ridge Christmas tree by Norfolk Leisure which is available at Selfridge’s from £550. The tree is 7.5 ft tall and has an impressive range of lights.

It will certainly be a talking point in anyone’s home and for many of those wanting the perfect artificial Christmas tree, then this is probably the choice for you.

However, when it comes to finding an impressive artificial Christmas tree, then the prize for offering what must be the most realistic creation we’ve come across yet is the excellent pre-lit Infinity fir from Hayes.

While it may cost £2,279, as an imitation Christmas tree it’s a realistic alternative. And unless you take a close inspection, most people will not realise that it is made from plastic.

There are lots of glossy leaves made with high quality plastic and, impressively, there are more than 4,000 lights fitted to it. To help underline the quality offering, there’s a warranty of 15 years which should bring peace of mind for what could be a sound investment.

The best unusual artificial Christmas trees

A chalkboard Xmas tree – an unusual offering to decorate yourself!

Finally, there appears to be a growing trend to have artificial trees that do not resemble a natural tree at all.

For example, there’s a chalkboard Christmas tree that is an interesting alternative from Not On The High Street at £130.

It really does what it says on the tin and you write festive messages on the chalkboard. It’s easy to set up and take down and you can feed Christmas lights through the boards if necessary.

The popular website also has artificial trees that essentially look like they’ve been made from tinsel and there’s no greenery or branches or even leaves to be seen along with sparse fake trees with no leaves on them whatsoever.

For something unusual, and to be ‘on-trend’, these alternative Christmas trees look like they are here to stay!