Had Costco pre-lit tree for 10 years when the lights went out Christmas Eve two years ago, bought a tree from Balsam Hill last year and was very happy with it, we are not decorating this year as we will be traveling..... :) The new one is pre-lit LED lights, warm white.....had a 12 foot fake tree for several years at prior house that was not prelit but was wonderful for holding all the ornaments you accumulate with 3 kids......in Southern California trees dry out very quickly as we get Santa Annas (warm dry weather) this time of year.....when kids were small we would get a "fresh tree" at a lot but seemed like a fire hazard shortly there after.....

Jill, I've been looking for unlit and the ones I see are pathetic. Just checked out Barcana. They don't sell to individuals online.

Even the prelit at the nursery where we buy a fresh tree looked so plastic up close. Happy to have a real noble fir this year.

I do have a 4 ft. Martha Stewart tree in decorative pot that I bought at Sears for $25 in an after Christmas sale. I haven't put it up for years, but it actually looks pretty realistic.

I see so many nice and realistic looking artificial trees, but I just can’t seem to pull the trigger when it comes to buying one. So I end up with a real Noble Fir. I have a lot of old lights that are still good.

We bought a slim 6.5 foot tree at Costco about 9 years ago. It fits perfectly on one of our end tables, so all that we have to do is take away the table lamp. A few years ago we decided not to un-decorate it, and put a big plastic bag over it and took it down to the basement. Now it takes us less than a half hour to put the tree up.

We made the switch over 20 years ago when I decided the tree needed to be place in front of baseboard heat in our previous house. An added benefit has been that DH and I no longer argue when putting up the tree.

When we moved into our new home in 2014, the 6’ tree we had didn’t cut it with our 10’ LR ceiling. Ended up with a tree from Balsam Hill. Not as full as others I’ve purchased from a local Christmas shop, but with the amount of decorations I have, it’s fine.

Thanks for the information. I ordered from treeclassics.com. They are having a huge sale. I got the 7’ Kennedy narrow fir prelit clear regular lights for $269. Reg $8something. Plus free shipping.

1929Spanish, I just this minute ordered the 6-1/2 ft. Kennedy narrow prelit clear regular for $219. Fingers crossed. This will be a first for me. I'm looking forward to no needles or watering or putting a 4-1/2 ft. tree on an upturned laundry basket covered with white towels. I also think I'm going to have more placement options.

Ok, you both need to report back with reviews. I'm looking at the site now and very tempted. They have unlit, although some are sold out.

NHBaskets - I love that we can see It's a Wonderful Life on your tv.

I have no prior experience with fake trees. This is one of those "over my dead body" fits I pitched as a teenager whenever my mom suggested an artificial tree. In those days they were all aluminum and you couldn't really put lights on them for fear of electrocution. I did a major pout and my parents would always acquiesce. :)

6-1/2 feet is larger than I've had in years. Hmmm, I might have to beef up the ornament supply a bit. Although it says narrow, it also says 40" wide and that doesn't seem very narrow to me. I was hoping to stick it near my TV (is that too gauche?) and not have to move a very heavy chair and ottoman, but we will see.

I will NOT miss stringing lights every freaking year. My cats will miss that excitement.

The tree we got this year is 45-46 inches wide. It's narrower than in recent years and really a perfect fit. I'm leaning toward either an unlit Grand Fir, Classic Fraser, or Alberta Spruce.

Current tree...

I’ll update when mine comes in.

Linelle- just call it reusable. You’ll feel better. I got the first one because I had to drag my trees up an interior staircase and the real ones made such a mess. I like the skinny trees not only because my space is small, but also because It’s obviously a fake tree so it becomes part of the “thing”.

The “thing.” I’m not so sure that’s what I’m after, but it’s ordered and I will give it a shot. I’m somewhat traditional when it comes to Christmas, but some things have just gotten onerous. As long as as Händel’s Messiah is playing on the box, I should be okay, right?

Yup!

Spanish, will look forward to your update.

We decided to give our old one one more year. It’s fine, it’s up and decorated, although some lights are out, you’d never notice unless you look really close at the back. That was one thing that sold us on the old one, it has about a thousand lights. I think one section has a short and is totally gone.

Silly question: Can you add your own string(s) of lights? Presumably so, since some trees are sold unlit, unless that's a look now considered Trendy. :p

After Christmas I would add Mardi Gras lights to the 4' tree and only plug those in.

We got a "Mixed Pine" from Hobby Lobby about 9 years ago and have been so, so happy with it. We're debating whether or not to replace it because more and more lights are going out. DH has been able to revive most of them with one of those "Light Keeper" guns which restores entire sections with one pull of the trigger. However, last year it was only a few lights but this year many more lights were involved and it was much more time consuming. So, it may be time for us to check out the after Christmas sales. I'll check out HL first due to our excellent experience with the current tree.

I got a 7.5 foot from Balsam Hill and I'm happy with it! I got it unlighted, mostly because usually I put two or three different sizes of lights on. This year I spent a bit extra on a big strand of LED lights, and they have been good enough. I found the Balsam Hill tree to be easy to set up.

My tree was just delivered, less than 48 hours after I ordered it on a Sunday. In the box it weighs a ton.

Here's the deal. Ordinarily I would open it and put it together. But it's only December 5th, and that's too early for a Christmas tree IMHO. It's fine for others, but not for me. Next week is soon enough. I really don't have room to put it up and stash it, because it's still a Christmas tree in my house before the appointed time. Hmmm, I think I'll put it together to check on it from a technical perspective, and then take it down till next week. It should be easy, right?

No staging. :p Pretty much the same from every side. Even up close it looks pretty darn real (except for the trunk, but I'll work on that).

It was sooooo easy to set up. Nothing to it. Although I bought it from Tree Classics, the instructions say, "Thank you for purchasing your Christmas tree from Balsam Hill." Not sure what that means.

It is exactly 6.5 ft., including the stand, and 40 in. wide as per specs. While it's a "narrow" style tree, it doesn't look overly disproportionate.

My cats are so digging all of this. Each section comes tied with fake raffia and I had to take it away from Zephyr and put it in the box if I'm ever to reuse it.

I might take some lights I already have and wind them around the trunk. I think it gives a tree more dimension.

Knowing it will look a LOT better with ornaments (and at night), at this point I'm quite pleased with my purchase. Thanks 1929!!!

Since I don't want a Christmas tree up until next week, I took it down and put it in the box in another room until then. It was even easier to disassemble, although it doesn't fit in the box quite as tidily as when it arrived.

The slimmer dimensions of this tree mean I can put it in a different location that doesn't require me to move a lot furniture into a weird configuration. I thought 40 in. wide wouldn't work but it's fine.

I kept waiting for needles to drop onto the floor. I do miss the real tree smell though.

Thanks for sharing. Mine shipped from Sacramento and will be here tomorrow. Unless the fires in between slow it down. Will keep folks updated as well.

That looks pretty good for straight out of the box.

1929, I was shocked when I got the ship notice saying it would be here today, then saw it was shipping from Sac. This was like Nespresso fast.

Following up.... I finally got our tree up this morning. I love it.

Mine went up yesterday, one day ahead of my not-till-double-digits-date rule. It's still undecorated, but I'll get to that tomorrow.

Honestly, it looks real. I had originally planned to wind a separate string of lights around the trunk, but it's not so easy with the lights already on it, so I abandoned that plan.

The only problem? No smell. At all. I miss that. I stopped in Whole Foods this morning in hopes of finding an essential oil that is Christmas tree-esque, but nothing came close. I don't want to spend a whole lot. Any suggestions?

I burn a pine candle. This year I’m using this one.

I second that Thymes Frasier Fir Candle. They make wax melts, too, that I use in my Scentsy.

I like Frasier Fir reed diffusers.

I’m glad you posted your tree classics tree. We were thinking of ordering from them this year, but have put it off till next year. Gave the old girl one last year. It looks really nice, Linelle.

The cats have been very well behaved with the tree so far. They usually like to hang out on the window seat. I gotta get a candle or something to give me a little tree scent. Without it, there's definitely something missing.

I bought a Thymes Frazier Fir candle (the one in the white ceramic holder) and I love it. It doesn't smell exactly like a Christmas tree, but I don't care. It's the loveliest smell, very sublime and not "Hey, I'm-a-scented-candle!" Thank you all so much for the recommendation.

The candle was a bit pricey, but hey, I'm worth it. I'm very mindful of flame, esp. with cats in the house. I would have bought the oil that you use with sticks, but I didn't have a setup for it and the candle was the simplest solution. Can anyone recommend a stick setup thing for future reference?

Linelle, your tree is gorgeous! I've decided to try Tree Classics next year. The three I liked are all sold out now.

A candle warmer solves the flame issue. What do you mean by a stick setup for the diffuser?

I bought my MIL a Thymes Frasier Fir ornament type diffuser. It had scented wood chips or something in it, and you could hang it right in the tree.

I'm very sensitive to scent and - provided I don't have to sit right beside it, this is actually one I don't absolutely hate.

We got our 7ft skinny fold up tree at Walmart I think last year. The box says $99. It has lights and comes in three collapsable sections. I love it because it takes minutes to assemble. I'm not religious but have it for the family. I no longer decorate it. I think it's pretty enough with just the lights. I haven't put the skirt under it yet but here it is out of the box. I just need to move a little lighting to the left.

Linelle - for a reed diffuser set up, all you need are the reeds/sticks, fragrance or diffuser oil (no water!), and a narrow mouthed vessel of some kind - a pretty, short bud vase, or something like it, would work perfectly.

Amazon has a lot of Reed Diffuser supplies, here are a few to get you started.

100 Reed Diffuser Sticks - $6.68 Amazon Prime

4 Glass Reed Diffuser Bottles - $11.98 Amazon Prime

2 Cream Ceramic Reed Diffuser Vases - $7.99 Amazon Prime

Hour tree classics trees look great. I am sold. Just one question....do the branches truly feel real or do they look and feel a bit plastic?

Frasier Fir collection including reed diffusers

They are plastic. There’s no getting around it. And there are two types of needles. The ones on the outside look more real than the inside, which is really just filler. I’m after a construct of a Christmas tree rather than passing a fake one off for real.

They feel plastic, but how much of your Christmas tree experience is touching the tree? Very little for me. Until I just read 1929's post about the needles in the middle, I hadn't even noticed that they are less realistic than the outer ones. I didn't pick up on it at all. It looks like a real tree.

At first I was unsure about a narrow tree, but I'm totally used to it now. After years of short fat trees, I'm digging the graceful proportions.

Cindy, thanks for the link for the FF reed diffusers.

ETA: And thanks JePenseTrop for the links to diffiusers. Why do people buy special jars/containers for this? And why do some leak? I'd just grab a small vase (it's proven to hold water without leaking) and if it's ugly, just put it out of view. It's all about the scent, right?

Here's our Hayden pine out of the box. I miss the hunt for a real tree, tromping through snow, freezing my fanny off, as my family trudged ahead in search of the elusive perfect tree. For us this is a good choice now:

1929Spanish and Linelle, do your trees have incandescent or LED lights? I was checking TreeClassics today and see they offer both. Originally wanted an unlit tree, but now I'm reconsidering.

Cindy, I answered on the other thread, but it might be more helpful to answer here too.

My tree has incandescents (it offers both kinds) because I like all clear that have a warm temperature. I'm leery of LEDs that I can't see first lest they be too cool a light.

I've always been my family's light-stringer and I do a good job, but it's a pain. I had planned on adding another string of old lights wrapped around the trunk, but there's already too much going on with the pre-strung lights and I didn't want to mess it up. It turned out fine. There is a good amount of lights on these trees.

Tree Classics' photos make the clear LED look whiter than the incandescent. I called and the rep said they're more of a warm yellow. Love the way your tree looks. I don't know what to do. Guess I have a year to think about it.

http://www.treeclassics.com/Pre-Lit-Lighted-Artificial-Christmas-Trees-s/230.htm

I missed this...I got incandescent. Cheaper and I like the color better. We have LED in the patio string lights so we run 60 of them @ 1.1 watts each. I don't feel guilty running more wattage for a few weeks. AND I like cheaper.

Here's my tree decorated.

Ok, guess I'm leaning toward clear incandescent. Dh bought one of those Lightkeeper Pro guns today to use on his lighted deer. Would do double duty on a tree.

How well do the branches handle heavy ornaments? I have a couple dozen mercury glass ornaments that are pretty heavy.

Cindy, I had no problem with the tree holding heavier ornaments. The issue I did have was with the new ornament hangers which are very soft and bendy. I had to twist them a bit to hold them in place. The tree itself is pretty sturdy. 1929 and I have the same tree except hers is 6” taller than mine.

I replaced my hooks with these from Hallmark a few years ago. Much stronger!

https://www.hallmark.com/ornaments/keepsake-ornaments/ornament-hooks-150QX2275.html