Real Christmas Tree Vs. Artificial Christmas Tree
Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanza, the holiday season is just around the corner! And with any holiday season comes decorations. For anyone celebrating Christmas, decorations generally include a Christmas tree. But the question is: Is it better to have a fake Christmas tree or a real Christmas tree?
Artificial Christmas Tree
According to the American Christmas Tree Association (ACTA), 79% of American households put up a Christmas tree each year. But a whole 80% of those households put up an artificial tree. The good thing about a fake tree is that it can last a very long time, sometimes even ten years! But it also costs more to buy an artificial tree. ACTA says that the average amount spent on an artificial tree is 79 dollars, while a real tree has an average of $44.11.
A lot of people use artificial trees because they are easier to take care of. “We mostly use fake trees,” Sophia Bednarz (7) said, “They are cheap in the long term and they will always be there. My parents say that real ones are harder to take care of, but I think that fake ones break more.” Some people don’t have the time to be cleaning up the mess that a real Christmas tree makes. First, you bring it into the house, and that leaves pine needles and leaves picked up from outside. Then, you put it up and that cause pine needles to come loose. So does taking of the netting that keeps the tree secure. And the water that keeps the tree alive can easily spill.
Another bonus is that if you live in an apartment or condo, you have to deal with the hassle of bringing a tree upstairs every year. You only have to do it once, and then for the next ten years, you just have to get it out of storage.
Real Christmas Tree
A lot of people enjoy the experience of going to a Christmas tree farm. They pick one out and cut the tree down. You may have seen one of those classic pictures of a tree on top of a truck or car. Overall, it’s a fun way to get the holiday season started while spending time with family!
In addition, many evergreen trees (Christmas trees) have a very nice scent. “A real tree smells nice and reminds me of Christmas,” Rebecca Clements (6) said, “They are usually very full and you get to choose. Fake ones aren’t usually as full, they don’t smell like anything, and you don’t really get a huge choice.” At a Christmas tree farm, you can pick any available tree! You can look and decide: “Is it full, will it survive very long, is it the right size?” Fake trees come in a box. Sure they have a picture on the boxes, but you don’t really know what the tree looks like until you open it. It might not be as full as you would like.
“We have real Christmas trees,” Samarveer Panag (7) said, “My mom grew up with a fake tree but she always wanted a real one, so now we have a real one.” A lot of people have family traditions of getting real trees, or they want their kids to experience a real tree because they never did as a kid. And a long time ago, they never had artificial trees. Religions like Christianity used evergreen trees for their holidays. There are many traditions that are the reason for how some people decorate for the holidays.
And as for the environment, a real tree is certainly better. According to the New York Times, real trees actually produce only one-third of the annual carbon emissions created by Christmas trees. Also, fake trees contain PVC, which produces carcinogens. Carcinogens is a substance that causes cancer in living tissue.
If you don’t have a lot of storage space, then a real tree is the tree for you! You dispose of it after the holiday season comes to an end, so you don’t have to put it in a crowded attic.
Fire Hazards
Whether you get a real or fake Christmas tree, there is a fire hazard involved. We may not put candles on the tree like a long time ago (that was dangerous), but we still put up lights. If a fake tree catches on fire, the plastic can catch on fire very easily. According to Protect America, it’s actually safer, in terms of fire, to get a real tree. But you do want to make sure you get a healthy tree. Ones that are dying are more likely to catch on fire because they are like firewood.
So this holiday season, think about the pros and cons of both kinds of trees before deciding what’s best for your family.