Go fake
— and turn the Christmas tree tradition upside down
Polyvinyl chloride needles, hinged branches, and pre-attached light-emitting diodes. . . . It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas?
Yep. Much to the chagrin of tree farmers and traditionalists, artificial Christmas trees are increasingly popular. Americans bought some 9.3 million artificial trees each year in 2005 and 2006, while the number of real trees purchased dipped from 32.8 million in 2005 to 28.6 million in 2006, according to the National Christmas Tree Association, which promotes the use of real trees. (The group's Web page links to an online game called Attack of the Mutant Artificial Trees.)
The president of the NCTA sounded pained as she described a Christmas event at her church. "The ornaments were beautiful, but the trees looked like toilet brushes," said Beth Walterscheidt, who co-owns a Christmas tree farm in Elgin, Texas.
Yet for those who can afford them, the artificial tree industry offers some remarkably realistic-looking products. Experts recommend looking for trees with a high "tip count," which refers to the density of the needles on each branch.
Artificial trees from the Balsam Hill Christmas Tree Co., for instance, sport thousands of plastic needles, with color and texture variations that make them look quite real. Modeled after several species of American pine trees, they are priced from $229 for an unlit 6 1/2-foot blue spruce to $9,999 for a 25-foot Rockefeller pine with LED lights.
Because they consume less energy and are more durable than traditional lights, LED lights are all the rage in pre-lit trees, according to Simon Shapiro, co-owner of TAGS Hardware in Cambridge, which sells more than 100 artificial trees each year.
Anyone in search of high-quality fakes should also look for "hinged" trees, which come with the branches pre-attached to the center pole. "Hooked" branch trees are less expensive than their hinged brethren, but they don't look as real, and they require the customer to stick each branch into the tree pole, and that's just annoying.
Looking real is one thing. Smelling real is another. For those who want the convenience of a fake tree and the aroma of a real one, L.L. Bean offers a hybrid tabletop tree ($69) that uses real branches and a foam center.
But retailers say lots of people have been eschewing the whole "realistic" thing and choosing a funky fake instead.
"Black was the hot new tree for last year," said Carrie Chen, vice president of marketing at Treetopia, an online retailer in San Francisco that sells colorful trees with names like Lemon Lime Sublime Tinsel and Purple Groove. "Purple seems to be the new color for this year," she said. And for folks whose Christmas spirit evokes a tropical breeze, Treetopia offers prelit palm trees adorned with fake pine needles.
The NCTA argues that trees are a renewable resource that give off oxygen, the majority of which are grown as crops on Christmas tree farms, not in forests. But artificial Christmas trees are reusable. Treetopia offers a five-year warranty on all its products, Chen said, but expects them to last at least 15 years.
Another hot trend turns Christmas on its head. Based on a 12th-century Christmas tradition of hanging a tree from the ceiling, the upside-down Christmas tree is now marketed as a way to save floor space - and make room for more presents. Hammacher Schlemmer & Co.'s are so popular that they were sold out by November, according to the company's website. Christmas Tree for Me also sells upside-down trees, in green or white, and Treetopia offers a pre-lit "Bottom's Upside-Down Christmas Tree."
One possible downside to artificial trees is the fact that the vast majority of them are manufactured in China - the source of millions of toys that were recently recalled due to high lead content.
But there's a simple, albeit untraditional alternative: the Festivus pole, which commemorates a "Seinfeld" episode in which the Costanza family celebrates a holiday called "Festivus" in lieu of Christmas. R&B Wagner Inc. sells Festivus pole kits. They consist, simply, of aluminum poles and collapsible bases. They're 100 percent recyclable and, manufactured in Milwaukee, 100 percent American.
Where to buy artificial trees
TAGS Hardware Porter Square Shopping Exchange, Cambridge. 617-868-7711. tagshardware.com
Treetopia, 877-768-7338. treetopia.com
Balsam Hill Christmas Tree Co., 888-552-2572. balsamhill.com
L.L. Bean, 800-441-5713. llbean.com
Hammacher Schlemmer, 800-321-1484. hammacher.com
Christmas Tree for Me, 877-241-3593. christmastreeforme.com
Festivus poles, 888-243-6914. festivuspoles.com 