Is it possible to have an artificial Christmas tree that doesn’t look fake?  And if so, what do you give up by going with a fake tree?  These are some of the questions I was asking myself as I pondered what type of tree to get this year.

I thought long and hard about whether I should invest the money in a high quality fake tree, or stick with our tradition of getting a real Christmas tree.  When my husband was alive we always had a real tree.  I loved going out as a family to pick out the perfect tree and come home to decorate it together.

As a single-parent, the challenge of getting the tree myself poses quite a few challenges.  There’s the issue of juggling 3 young children at the tree store, plus getting the tree home and into the house.  Sure I could get someone to help, but that brings its own set of challenges and long-term I’m not sure how that would work out.  So that got me thinking about what is best for our family now, but also for years to come.  I decided that I would break down and spend the money on a nice fake tree.  It wasn’t cheap, but I haven’t regretted it for a single second.  In fact, last night I was sitting in the living room admiring our Christmas tree and I had to remind myself that this year we went with an artificial tree.  It’s so real looking that I truly forgot for a  moment!

Before I bought our new tree, I started my research by reading an article from Good Housekeeping  about the best fake Christmas trees.  They had several recommendations and I added Frontgate to the list of companies that I researched.  In the end, I went with the Balsam Hill Fraser Fir Flip Tree™.

Here is a look at the tree and my Balsam Hill Review.

The thing that makes the Balsam Hill Christmas trees so realistic looking is that they use lifelike foliage in the tree.  That means that the coloring on the needles is green on the top and a silver color on the bottom side, just like what you’d find in a real tree.  But to help fill-in the tree, they also have what they refer to as a classic needle.  If you look at the second closeup below, you can see both needles.  The classic needle is fuller and also more pliable so you can bend it to fill-in any gaps and cover-up any artificial pieces that you don’t want people to see.  When you first get the tree it takes a little “primping” to get the tree shaped perfectly, but it’s still shorter than stringing lights on the tree and this was so much easier.

Here it is with the lights on, but not decorated yet.  At this point I was working on shaping the tree and getting all of the branches where I wanted them to be.  How much time you put into this is personal preference.  For many the tree is ready to go as soon as it comes out of the box.

Here’s what it looks like all decorated, but without the lights on.  It has such a nice shape to it and the branches fall into place so beautifully.

The LED lights on this tree was another plus for me.  I love that the tree is prelit and I went with LED lights to help cut down on the electricity the tree will use.  You can tell I have kids right?  All the ornaments tend to get bunched together.

Here is my run-down of the Pros and Cons for the Balsam Hill flip-tree and artificial trees in general.

Pros:

• Easy to set-up and since the tree is on wheels it’s easy to move too
• No needles to vacuum up
• No need to water the tree daily
• Save $80 per year on buying a new tree
• Can keep the tree up longer because the needles won’t dry out and become a fire hazard
• Balsam Hill tree is very realistic looking
• Easier to get the right size for your home or apartment.  Ever had a tree that didn’t fit?  No more second guessing because when you order it you’ll know exactly how tall and how wide it is.
• No more Christmas tree shopping (this can be both a pro and a con actually)

Cons:

• Have to store the Christmas tree between seasons and the flip version that I got will be easy to wheel into the garage, but would be difficult for me to put in the attic.
• Expensive.  There is a wide range of prices for fake trees, but I truly think that this is one time you should consider spending more money.
• No scent
• You lose the ritual, or tradition, of Christmas tree shopping

In the end I think that the pros outweigh the cons for our family.  The kids love the tree and that was a huge relief.  I wasn’t sure how they would react when they saw it, but I’ve heard nothing but positive comments from them.  And although this means that we don’t have the annual tradition of going Christmas tree shopping, now we just enjoy more time decorating the tree and making ornaments for it.