The Best Artificial Christmas Trees You Can Buy For A Perfect Tree Year After Year

Real Christmas trees are great but they’re messy and require a lot of maintenance. An artificial tree reduces the hassle, but you need to make sure you get one that looks the part. Here are the best artificial Christmas trees you can buy.

The trick is to know what you’re looking for. Much like how real trees differ depending on what type of tree they are, different artificial trees mean different things. We’ve stuck with some at the mid-range price point to the more expensive options as oftentimes, cheaper alternatives look understandably cheap in quality.

Trees with needles made from PE (polyethylene) are the most realistic looking, but you’re also good to go with needles made from PVC (polyvinyl chloride). The latter tends to be a little bushier so they look better from a distance than other artificial trees but have that classic artificial “ribbon needles” look up close; the former have needles that look like the genuine thing up close but sometimes lack the fullness the wider ribbon-needles provide. In all cases, you want to make sure you spend some time “fluffing” up and shaping the tree, so it looks how you want it to look. Artificial trees typically need a little time to expand and look at their best. If that sounds baffling to you, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered with a variety of different trees.

Here are some of our favorite artificial Christmas trees.

Balsam Hill Classic Blue Spruce Narrow Artificial Christmas Tree ($200)

Balsam Hill has a pretty great reputation for high-quality artificial Christmas trees so don’t be surprised to see them mentioned a few times here. Their Classic Blue Spruce Narrow Artificial Christmas Tree looks suitably realistic. A narrow shape, it’s 6 foot tall and 42 inches wide so it fits the majority of living spaces.

Its needles are made from 100% PVC so it has a fuller appearance than many other artificial trees, with 1,280 branch tips meaning you won’t have to worry about any obvious gaps.

For the price, you also get a tree stand, storage bag, and cotton gloves to help you put the tree up a little more safely.