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The five best artificial Christmas trees to pine after this year, tried, tested and decorated
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a glorious, joyful tree. After all, isn't one of the core moments of the festive season lugging an enormous Scott's Pine or Norway Spruce through the snowy doorway only to find out it's several inches too tall for your living room? Or getting yourself frustrated because you can't find the one broken bulb that's stopping your LED lights from working? The thing is, it doesn't have to be quite like that. Whilst the smell of a real tree simply cannot be replicated, (though The White Company are giving it their best shot with their scented candles) there is something to be said for the no mess, no fuss option that an artificial tree brings.
Many of us may find the idea of a pine artificial Christmas tree, adorned with PVC needles and pretend pine cones akin to decorating with tinsel. However, these days the reality is that the faux offering is much more stylish and aligned with the real thing than ever before. Yes, the idea of a realistic artificial Christmas tree may seem a little oxymoronic but they really do exist. Plus, with a faux tree you are guaranteed a symmetrical, satisfyingly neat look, no smashed Christmas decorations as a result of droopy branches and no need to hoover up hundreds of pine needles every morning.
Narrowing our list down from last year's 24 best trees, we tested, reviewed (and decorated) the five best artificial Christmas trees on the market for 2024. Our findings are below. To shop all the delightful decorations seen in our shoot, head over to our piece on the best Christmas tree decorations for this year.
How we tested the best artificial Christmas trees
Over the course of three days in October, the commerce team, together with decoration editor Rémy Mishon, tested, reviewed and decorated artificial Christmas trees across a variety of price points. We considered size, cost, colour, lighting, fullness, fluffing (artificial Christmas trees are delivered flat), stands, skirts and storage. Each of these five trees has been chosen because they excel in one or all of these categories.
As with all things, the more you spend the better the quality will be. You can spend £25 on a cheap tree but it will reflect that in its quality. We recommend thinking of this as an investment as you will be wheeling out year after year. For a fabulous looking tree, check whether it has PVC or PE needle tips. PE branch tips are a little more expensive but look much more realistic as they are 3D moulded rather than cut from sheets. Aside from that, opt for one with a high 'tip count'. This is in reference to the number of branch tips; the higher the count, the bushier the tree.
How to choose the right size Christmas tree for your space
Before anything else: measure your space. You may want a large tree that makes a big impact, but a squashed tree will look much worse than a well sized one. The average size tree is 7 feet, as this fits into the average living room. However, you can find trees anywhere between 4 and 12 feet tall.
The experts at Balsam Hill trees have been paving the way for excellent, high quality faux trees since 2006 in the US and 2011 in the UK. Their CEO, Mac Harman, has the following advice:
‘It’s important to decide where and how the tree will be displayed. Will it be the centrepiece of your living room, or tucked into the corner of your dining room? Once you've decided this, you can think about how much space you have to play with. You should opt for a tree that's around six inches lower than the ceiling height. A 7'5" tree is best for a standard 8' or 9' ceiling. This ensures the tip of the Christmas tree does not hug the ceiling, whilst also allowing space for a tree topper.'
When it comes to diameter, check the very widest point of the tree. The true space occupied by the tree will be about six inches less than the stated diameter. For narrow spaces, opt for slim trees. They will fit better, whilst maintaining a natural shape.'
How to choose the best Christmas tree variety
According to Mac Harman, founder and CEO of Balsam Hill the best Christmas tree variety ultimately comes down to preference and taste. It's not an exact science.
‘Different tree varieties offer different silhouettes. Some trees will offer denser foliage, or a fuller shape than others. You'll also need to consider the footprint of the tree variety and think about the space you have available. The European Fir, for example, is much wider at the bottom and tapers towards the top of the tree.'
‘The Nordmann Fir is perhaps the tree the UK is most familiar with. It’s the most popular Christmas tree in Western Europe, with what you might think of as the ‘traditional’ shape. The Nordmann Fir is a great option if you're looking for a timeless classic.'
‘However, a trend we are seeing crop up is the move towards sparser trees with less dense foliage, such as the Alpine Balsam Fir. Bare branches with warm lighting can add a festive feel without overwhelming the space and give breathing room for the various decorations you’ve collected over the years.’
Is an artificial Christmas tree more sustainable than a real one?
The short answer is no. There are pros and cons to both options. Artificial trees are mostly made outside of the UK, so the environmental cost of importing them is high. They're made from PVC, metal and other plastics meaning they will not biodegrade and many end up in landfill. However, real Christmas trees are also brought over land and sea to arrive here, having been farmed for years only to be used for a short season. Where a real tree has to be re-grown, re-transported and disposed of every year, the longer you look after and hold onto your artificial tree, the smaller its carbon footprint becomes. Experts suggest that ten years is the golden number here: the age when an artificial tree becomes more sustainable than a real one. This is why we strongly recommend investing in a beautiful, well-crafted tree that you'll love for a full decade.
What artificial Christmas trees are already available to buy?
Many of the staple Christmas tree retailers like John Lewis and Balsam Hill have artificial options available to buy all year round. Our favourites to buy can be found in the gallery below. Other retailers who only sell trees seasonally, like The White Company or Marks and Spencer, normally release their stock in September. There’s a huge range of looks and styles to choose from, from lighting options that include pre-lit, as well as minimalist, tabletop, frosted tips and snowy Christmas trees that will help you create a little wonderland in your living room.
When should you put up your Christmas tree?
Traditionally, Christmas trees should be put up at the beginning of Advent to mark the official countdown to Christmas. This year, Advent begins on Sunday 1st December. However, you should feel free to put up your tree whenever works best for you and your household. If you love Christmas, you might want to get your tree up sooner. If you're a bit of a reluctant grinch, then perhaps the later the better.
What maintenance does an artificial Christmas tree require?
Unlike a real Christmas tree, an artificial tree does not require much assistance to stay looking its best. However, we recommend purchasing a storage bag for the rest of the year, to protect the tree from any damage or breakages.
Best artificial Christmas tree overall: The White Company Symons Nordmann Fir Christmas Tree
| Information | The White Company Symons Nordmann Fir Christmas Tree |
|---|---|
| Dimensions: | 7.5ft |
| Pre-lit: | No |
| Material: | Mix of PE, PVC |
| Tip count: | 1,754, 234 per foot |
The White Company's 'Symons’ is our top pick for 2024. Having tried a number of Christmas trees, we determined The White Company's ‘Symons Nordmann Fir’ to be the best of the bunch. With its hyper-realistic branches, natural shade of green and fluffy looking tips, the overall effect is festive without feeling faux. The seven and a half foot tree is over four feet wide, and is comprised of over 1,754 hand painted (yes, really) tips for a bushy and bright effect. Plus, The White Company have a pre-lit version of the same tree for a hassle free Christmas decorating session.
Extra points are allocated to this tree because it comes with a stylish wicker basket tree skirt that covers up the tree's base and means you don't have to buy anything extra. Our favourite part is that The White Company has designed a coordinating scent, aptly named fir tree, so you can spray the tree and it'll capture the fragrance so you won’t miss that real ‘Christmas tree’ smell.
My first impression of The White Company Symons Nordmann Fir were strong. This is an incredibly malleable tree, where every single branch can be tweaked, turned and fluffed for a hyper-realistic finish. However, it's worth noting that this does mean it comes out of the box needing a bit of work, as the branches get quite flattened under its own heft whilst in transit. The colour is great, with some tips hand painted in a slightly grey hue to balance out the greener ones. This prevents the tree from looking too artificial, and keeps it from looking too ‘plastic’.
When I looked closely, I noted that the tips are made of two different materials, with the end of the branches covered in hard plastic tips, which gradually turn into more paper-y ones as you get closer to the trunk. This works really well as you get the full, bushy look closer into the trunk and a more realistic finish on the more visible parts of the tree.
Assembly-wise, The White Company recommend that two people put the tree together as it is incredibly heavy. I managed to put it together alone, but it was unwieldy and quite cumbersome, so I think their suggestion is the sensible choice. It comes in three sections which slot together neatly. The stand is easy to screw into place, and the basket is a nice touch. One thing to note is that it is a little harder to get the tree into the base with the basket around it as you have to lean over the top of it.
When it comes to decoration, thanks to its size and bushiness, this tree can handle a lot of decorations. We chose to keep this relatively pared back, as it's already such an impactful tree. However, we think it would look brilliant in full glamour. We have deducted one point as the top spike isn't sturdy enough to hold up a heavy star or angel, so if you want a tree topper, you'll have to attach it to the top in another way, as we did when shooting the tree.
Best affordable artificial Christmas tree: John Lewis Pre-lit Grand Pine Christmas Tree
| Information | John Lewis Pre-lit Grand Pine Christmas Tree |
|---|---|
| Dimensions: | 7ft |
| Pre-lit: | Yes |
| Material: | Mix of PE, PVC |
| Tip count: | 1,234, 176 per foot |
| Bulb count: | 320 |
John Lewis has a huge array of trees to choose from but the Grand Pine stood out for value for money–a seven foot tree for under £250 puts it well on the more affordable end of the spectrum. It has more than 1778 tips and the colour of the branches range from a deep emerald green near the trunk to a lighter tone at the tip, which helps add depth. The John Lewis Grand Pine artificial Christmas tree also has slight variations to the branch lengths, with some slightly overhanging others, giving it a very realistic look.
Overall, this tree is a slightly more conical, upright looking artificial Christmas tree, particularly when compared to The White Company Grand Spruce (the closest in price and size of the trees we tested). It has mixed textured bristles, like The White Company Symons, with the same graduation from realistic tips at the end, to more paper-y tips in the middle. The colour is great. It's not too silver and not too blue, and definitely reads on the more emerald side.
This is an easy tree to put up, with three sections that slot into one another. The only minus points the John Lewis Grand Pine gets is that I had to connect the lights together on all three sections, rather than an ‘automated’ connection like the one you get on The White Company's Grand Spruce and Symons Nordmann Fir, though really that is a tiny gripe and didn't take me more than two minutes to do. It does, however, mean that you have a wire running the length of the trunk–no different to any un-lit tree, but worth pointing out.
I found it light enough for single person assembly, and it didn't take long to get the branches looking good. Most of them are hinged, so you just pull them down into place, before tweaking them into your desired position. It's worth noting that this tree is very malleable because every branch has a wire centre, which means every single one can be manoeuvred into place. That is not standard with every single artificial Christmas tree we tested, especially given the price point of this tree. It also comes with a metal stand that can be screwed into place to ensure a more stable final product.
When we were decorating the tree we found it was definitely more sturdy than a real tree by quite a margin: less droop, less chance of broken baubles. Its dense structure did mean the baubles had less space to ‘hang’ but overall it took decorations really well.
Best rainbow light artificial Christmas tree: Selfridges Winter Pine Colour-Changing Pre-Lit Christmas Tree
| Information | Selfridges Winter Pine Colour-Changing Pre-Lit Christmas Tree |
|---|---|
| Dimensions: | 5ft, also available in 6ft |
| Pre-lit: | Yes, warm white and rainbow available |
| Material: | Mix of PE, PVC |
| Tip count: | 1,160, 232 per foot |
| Bulb count: | 250 |
Between the 19 artificial Christmas trees that Selfridges has on offer, we found their Winter Pine range the most appealing. It's a little wider than their ‘Sierra Nevada’ trees and a little wilder than the very conical ‘Shadowfall Fir’–the Goldilocks of their trees, if you will. The Winter Pine comes in a 5ft and a 6ft size option, but we wanted to road test the smaller of the two because of its impressive ‘tip per foot’ ratio.
This tree definitely had the lowest quality packaging, which was worse than I would have expected from a Selfridges delivery. However, once I had it out of the box, there was no discernible difference in quality between this tree and the other top four in our edit.
Like the John Lewis tree, the branches of this one were super flexible and could all be moulded and tweaked to create a fluffy, realistic, organic shape. The tips are well defined at the end of the branches and are nicely detailed, so the tree looks just as good up close as it does from far away. For the smallest tree in our top five, the tree punches well above its weight in terms of bulb and tip count.
This is also the only tree in our edit that offers two different colour lighting settings, which means you could opt for a fun, kitsch tree with rainbow lights one year and a more timeless, elegant look the next year.
When we began decorating, we did note that the branches were a little less sturdy than the other trees'. They drooped a little bit more and, if you compare the two images above, you can see that the branches have been really pulled down under the weight of the decorations. This is definitely something I would recommend you take into consideration if you have any really precious, breakable baubles. Our final note on the tree, is that the top is pretty flimsy, so if you want a heavy topper, you'll need to use fishing wire or similar to secure it to the top of the tree.
Best realistic artificial Christmas tree: The White Company Pre-Lit Grand Spruce Artificial Christmas Tree
| Information | The White Company Pre-Lit Grand Spruce Artificial Christmas Tree |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 6ft |
| Pre-lit: | Yes |
| Material: | Mix of PE, PVC |
| Tip count: | 1,559, 259 per foot |
| Bulb count: | 390 |
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From realistic, bushy foliage to memory foam flex technology, The White Company's artificial Christmas trees are a cut above the rest. This was the second of their offering that made our cut, but this time it's a more squat, less even structure. The ‘Grand Spruce’ is very easy to assemble, with a stand that can take the weight of the tree and plenty of Christmas decorations (you'd be surprised at how many can't do that). Plus, this artificial Christmas tree is pre lit, which means you don't need to faff around with string lights. The only downside to this tree is that it doesn't come with a seagrass or rattan tree skirt like the ‘Symons’ model does. However, The White Company offer some very smart tree skirts, made to fit their models, from just £50 (we particularly like this one). Overall, the ‘Grand Spruce’, plus a tree skirt works out cheaper than the ‘Symons’.
It's clear from the first moment you pull the sections out of the box that this is a totally different tree to The White Company's Symons Nordmann Fir. And that's because it's designed to look like a totally different species. Both trees are phenomenally realistic given they're made from plastic, with hand painted tips and exacting shade of green.
Again, I managed to put this tree up alone. It feels slightly heavier than the John Lewis tree, but that's mostly because it's wider, which makes it more cumbersome to handle. There are no wires between sections, which does contribute to a neater overall appearance and their ‘in-stem’ technology is really clever. Just slot the pieces together and the lights connect up.
It's definitely less malleable than the John Lewis tree because some of the branches have plastic centres, which meant I couldn't bend every one into the desired place. It's not an issue when you step back but decoration perfectionists might find it a mild issue. As with the other trees, The White Company Pre Lit Grand Spruce has mixed texture bristles.
The last thing to note is that this tree has the highest bulb and tip count per foot.
Best artificial Christmas tree for decorating: Marks and Spencer Pre-Lit Grand Fir Christmas Tree
| Information | Marks and Spencer Pre-Lit Grand Fir Christmas Tree |
|---|---|
| Dimensions: | 6ft |
| Pre-lit: | Yes |
| Material: | Mixed materials |
| Tip count: | Not declared |
| Bulb count: | 350 |
Just one of Marks and Spencer's impressive faux tree offering, the Pre-Lit Grand Fir Christmas Tree is a triumph. It has three different lighting settings, and 350 bulbs, which is a fair amount for the size and price point (note that The White Company tree of the same size has 40 bulbs more and the slightly taller John Lewis tree has 30 fewer.)
The most silver-coloured of our top five trees, the Marks and Spencer Pre Lit Grand Fir looks incredibly elegant. Instead of a super saturated, deep green, it has a more muted hue that's perfect for more classic decorations.
It was easy to assemble, with three sections slotting neatly together and a sturdy stand. Once up, I found it appeared a little less structured than the other trees, with branches of varying lengths and thickness. However, this contributed to a more ‘real feel’ as it had a more organic shape. Like The White Company trees, this faux number has a ‘power pole’ which means the lights are connected simply by erecting the tree. Much like The White Company, Marks and Spencer claim their trees have ‘memory flex’ branches, which would mean the branches ‘spring’ back into place, however I didn't see this really happen on any of the trees. They all need manual fluffing.
Our decoration editor, Rémy Mishon, declared this tree her favourite to decorate. As she put it, the Marks and Spencer Pre Lit Grand Spruce was just the right level of “bushy-ness” with good gaps between the branches so that the baubles had room for a proper dangle. With some trees, the baubles don't have enough space to drop down and they end up awkwardly sitting on the branch below with a loop of redundant string above them. Thanks to its shape, this tree ended up being the fastest to decorate of the ones we tested. A final note on decoration, this tree has the sturdiest top spike, which could handle an impressive, heavy tree topper.
The best artificial Christmas trees, at a glance
Left to right, clockwise:
- Best artificial Christmas tree for decorating: Marks and Spencer Pre-Lit Grand Fir Christmas Tree
- Best artificial Christmas tree overall: The White Company Symons Nordmann Fir Christmas Tree, £595
- Best artificial Christmas tree under £300:John Lewis Pre-lit Grand Pine Christmas Tree
- Best realistic artificial Christmas tree: The White Company Pre-Lit Grand Spruce Artificial Christmas Tree
- Best rainbow light artificial Christmas tree: Selfridges Winter Pine Colour-Changing Pre-Lit Christmas Tree
With enormous thanks to CC Moulton. Shop the backdrop moire here.
