Christmas Trees: Real or Fake?

Christmas trees are a staple for having any house Christmas ready. These trees are almost always adorned with lights and ornaments, but often the only real debate lies in if we set up real or fake trees. 

A fake tree is easy to set up but a real tree requires more work.  However there are local places Christmas tree trimmers can go to get the real pre-cut ones.

In the United States alone, roughly 40 million Christmas trees are sold every year. Among that, 10 million artificial ones are bought at stores like Home Depot, Target, or Costco. This leaves 30 million real trees chopped down and sold. 

Plastic trees are typically a one time buy, and allow purchasers to skip the messy assembly. Today, they look almost identical to the real ones and are helpful to people with allergies. 

“Christmas tree syndrome" affects 7% of the American population. People that have this allergy get a reaction when exposed to the mold, dust, pollen, or scent of a pine tree.

Although on paper the best tree seems to be plastic, lots of people agree that picking a tree is part of their Christmas tradition.

“I get a real tree because it's more fun to actually pick one and it's just more christmassy. I think it's better because you get the real experience. And it’s really fun having a competition with my family to pick the best tree.” said Addie Kopp, a freshman at Newtown High School.

In Newtown, there are a few places that sell pre-cut Christmas trees. Paproski’s Tree Farm (5 Hattertown Rd, Newtown) is one of them. They also have corn mazes in the fall. 

Another is the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire Department, found in front of Sandy Hook Elementary School.  Each year, the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire Department sells the trees to raise money for other events and for new equipment. The pre-cut Christmas trees cost around $90 to $150, depending on height.

“I think it’s something that people look forward to. We appreciate the public and the local residents that come out to support us because everything we sell goes right back to our company. The fact that it has been selling out in three weekends for the past couple of years is very important to us. It shows us that people are happy and it helps us serve the community.” said Shannon Will, the company secretary and a member of the Christmas tree sale committee. 

When asked if the sale of fake trees has affected the event, she said: “We haven't felt a challenge with our sales because of artificial trees.”

They will start selling the trees the day after Thanksgiving until December 24th. They are selling trees on Fridays, 3-9 pm; Saturdays, 9 am - 9 pm; and Sundays 9 am - 6 pm. Additionally, on December 13th there will be Santa Sleigh Rides for the public. Rides will start by 12:30 pm, more information on prices will be available closer to the date.

“The Santa sleigh rides is a separate event that is presented one afternoon during the tree sales and that is very much a popular community event. We see people of all ages enjoying that,” Will said.

Cutting down trees actually benefits the environment more. Numbers show that while 30 million trees are cut down, 350-500 million trees are left standing. Unfortunately, when real trees are found in a land fill, they release methane.

Overall, scientists confirmed that having a real tree is the better choice for the environment. Fake trees cause more pollution and more plastic to be manufactured. Furthermore, shipping them requires carbon being released into the air.

Based on studies done on the American population, it’s clear that having a real tree is the more popular opinion but that doesn’t mean there's anything wrong with choosing the latter. 

“It’s less money. The good thing about getting a fake tree is [that] you have the same tree every single christmas. If you set it up perfectly it’s beautiful,” NHS freshman Elise Ansman said.