The Benefits of Choosing Artificial Trees for Your Decor
The quality of an artificial Christmas tree should take precedence over its appearance. The buyer of trees and lights at Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, Noah Johnson, says that with proper care, a tree can endure for 20 years or more. A tree’s effectiveness may depend on its composition and construction.
According to Christmas Lights’ director of marketing, Frank Skinner: “There are many alternatives, and many Christmas tree elements may be unique to a person’s display demands, such as their budget, the tree size, the lighting, and any particular features that help with quicker installation or storage.”
What to look for in an artificial Christmas tree.
Material
Johnson claims that it was much simpler to recognize a fake tree a decade or two ago. These days, it takes a trained eye to detect the difference between a real and an artificial tree from as little as five feet away.
The magic is in polyethylene, or PE, a thermoplastic that immediately softens at moderate temperatures. As Johnson explains, polyethylene (PE) is pumped into a mold designed to seem like a genuine tree’s needles in order to create artificial Christmas trees. This creates a strikingly lifelike effect.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a flexible plastic used for a wide variety of applications, from pipe manufacturing to wire and cable insulation, and was widely utilized in the production of elder trees.
Polyethylene is used to manufacture 3D needles, while PVC is used to make thin rectangular strips that are wrapped around a wire. Johnson explains that the branches and needles on a Christmas tree eventually fall off because the wire holding them loosens with time. Artificial Christmas trees constructed entirely of PVC are more cost-effective than those made of polyethylene.
Nowadays, you can buy trees that are either made entirely of PVC or PE, or a combination of the two materials. If you want your trees to look more lifelike, according to Johnson, you should get ones made out of at least 45% polyethylene.
Size
An artificial Christmas tree’s ideal height is determined in part by the room’s ceiling height. A 10-foot-tall pencil tree can fit in a 12-foot-high ceiling room, but a 6-foot-wide tree won’t fit at all. What can and cannot be done is totally dependent on the available floor space.
Lighting
Putting up Christmas tree lights can be a real pain, as anyone who has tried knows. Attempting it on your own runs the risk of broken bulbs and twisted threads. The ease of a pre-lit artificial tree is appealing to some people.
Johnson explains that pre-lit trees typically cost more than their unlit counterparts due to the additional labor, materials, and energy required in their production.
Sturdy Base
Warner recommends opting for an artificial tree that already comes with a robust metal stand.
Tip Count
One common selling point is the number of included tips. The quantity of needles on a tree is commonly used as a proxy for the level of realism it will convey.