After 26 years of fretting about leaving a live tree up while gone for actual Christmas, plus the fun of vacuuming up fallen needles, we’ve decided to switch to an artificial tree starting next year. Now seems like a good time to buy because they are on-sale but I’ve no idea where to start.
What brand do you have? Do you like it? How long do they last? Is it worth it pay the money for a pre-lit? Pre-lit doesn’t seem like a good idea to be as what do you do when those lights die? But perhaps I am missing something. Any advice much appreciated!
We got prelit. As you noted, they are on sale now. We got one for 90% off about 15 years ago. Two years ago, the lights failed. So, we got a new one…also on sale…and prelit.
It’s just so easy, and nice to pit the tree together, and plug it in…and not have to wait for someone to string the lights.
I vote for prelit.
Brand doesn’t matter as much as the type of look you want.
Prelit is the way to go. And if one goes out the rest stay lit. Consider your space whether you want an extremely full free or more slim. Also decided if you want white lights or colored lights. Some trees have both and let you choose or light both.
My husband went to Home Depot yesterday to replace our tree.
He got a 7.5 foot prelit Spruce, Holiday Home Accents brand. Original price $166, on sale 50% off. It’s basically the 2015 version of the much older tree we’re replacing.
Love love love our pre-lit. It’s super easy and it’s perfect everytime. I just bought the best shape for the spot it sits in. I used to buy real trees when the kids were little but once they “allowed” me to buy an artificial because they were dead set against it, I headed right to Lowes and got a great deal on Christmas eve. The very worst real tree experience for me was going to a tree farm and slogging through the mud and rain with the kids in a wagon. Ugh there was sap and mud everywhere. If i miss the smell of evergreen I just light a Gold Canyon candle in Holiday scent. Better than the real thing.
I bought a prelit artificial tree this year. I needed something tall (9ft) and skinny to fit in a small spot. I think it looks great. I got it from Walmart for around $100.
The only disadvantage we have found with pre-lit is that you are stuck with one set of lights. Ours are white. Some years I’d like to have colored lights. We have a 7’5" Northern Spruce, have had for eight years with no problem with the lights.
Regarding storing it, UHaul sells a Chistmas tree storage duffle on their website for about $10. So you don’t have to keep it in the box. Some people just put it in the basement or garage set up during the year, too. I ended up putting special labels on mine for the order to put the pieces together. One year I put piece C in piece A, and it got stuck. :0 It took two cups of eggnog, but eventually I found the strength of ten Grinches plus two and got it apart again.
@intparent QVC has a tree that has both white and multicolored lights that you can
use with only white, only colored or both. I don’t know if they still have any left, but I thought that was a great option.
I bought my pre-lit tree several years ago and loved it the first three years. Unfortunately every year since we lose more lights. It is a GE pre-lit tree and while the bulbs are replaceable the fuses are not. An Internet search shows this to be a common complaint of the GE brand tree, and seems to have been designed this way to force people to buy new ones. I have resorted to putting additional strings of lights on the tree to cover unlit spots, but inevitably more lights go out during the season. It is a shame–it is a beautiful tree. i have been looking at the trees on sale and am considering buying another one, but it definitely won’t be a GE or any of their related brands.
We have a prelit it’s 14 years old. Still works great. It has both small lights and big globe lights on it. They are multi colored. While I like the fact it looks very pretty the big globe lights have to be unscrewed and put in boxes when I take it down. Plus I have to “find” all the bulb sockets each year to put the globe bulbs in. Because of that each year when I put the bulbs in I say I’m going to get a different one next year…
We have a 10’ Balsam Hill tree that is gorgeous. Since it was so expensive, we went with unlit since we do not want to have to replace the tree if the lights go.