Kylie Drunasky | Student Life Editor
December 17, 2025
The holiday season comes with many fun traditions, with the Christmas tree being the main attraction. This brings up the dilemma for many families, on whether a fake or real Christmas tree is the right choice. Although both are capable of creating the festive spirit, their differences reach beyond tradition. It is important to consider environmental factors, cost, and safety before making a choice on your Christmas tree this year.
Producing a Christmas tree, real or fake, takes up a lot of resources and time. Most real Christmas trees are grown on farms and can take up to 12 years to get to their desired height of 6 and a half feet. Starting as seeds in nurseries and then being moved to fields. Christmas trees are not naturally coned-shaped as you see them, but are cut and sheared as they grow. After serving their festive purpose between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, they can be disposed of multiple ways.
It is easy to dispose of your Christmas tree, but very important to do it the right way. They can be broken down into mulch, composted, or picked up and taken to be recycled. Some interesting ways that are positive for the environment include using old trees for animal enclosures in zoos. They can even be replanted. With fake trees, disposal is not a worry for 5-10 years.
When making this decision, considering the pros and cons of each is critical. Junior Daliah Shin’s family uses a fake Christmas tree every year as “they are easier and cheaper to manage.” A fake Christmas tree can be very convenient, with a quick set up and lights already installed perfectly. This saves time for trimming, watering, and the demands of a real tree. The holiday season is known to be busy. With that, junior Chloe Devries’ family chooses to use a fake tree “because [they] always travel and can’t deal with the maintenance of a real one.”
Although it is a hefty upfront cost, the benefits and reusability of an artificial tree are worth it, giving yourself one less purchase to worry about in the following years. However, a large amount of these artificial trees being shipped from China release a lot of carbon emissions and other toxins. Paige Wojtkiewicz, a junior at SCHS, prefers real trees and she argues that “the plastic that makes up fake trees is bad for the environment.” Chopping a real tree down may seem damaging to the environment, but it will keep the tree farms in business allowing their land of healthy forest habitat to thrive. Every tree purchased means 1-3 more trees planted, improving air quality and the fight against climate change. Fake trees are unable to do this, as they are made of plastic and metal.
Junior Addie Ortega believed that real Christmas trees add to the holiday spirit and claimed that they “are better because they smell good.” The joy of picking out the tree and the scent it leaves throughout the house is something only achievable during the Christmas season. However, this may not make up for the amount of care and effort a real tree requires.
Whether your Christmas tree this year is made out of wood or plastic, each option comes with its own benefits and drawbacks.
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