American Made Christmas Trees

As early as late October, retail stores begin to set up Christmas tree displays. Look at the boxes from which these artificial Christmas trees come and you will see most of the trees are made in China. If you are as fed up with Chinese imports as I am and want to find an artificial Christmas tree which has been made in the USA, this shopping guide will help you with that choice.

Mountain King
The plastic material composing the needles and other parts of a Mountain King artificial Christmas tree is guaranteed lead-free. The site uschristmastree.com sells the Mountain King brand without lights. They offer trees from three to twelve feet in different types like fir, spruce, or Smokey Mountain pine. You will not find trees in unnatural shades like white, pink, or blue. The trees are made to look as close in hue to a forest cut tree as possible. The price for a three foot fir tree was about $30 in 2010. Twelve foot Douglas fir Christmas trees were about $800. Trees are shipped with no additional shipping and handling charges.

JC Penney offers Mountain King brand trees with lights made in China. The Christmas trees are of the balsam fir type and stand between 4 1/2 to 9 1/2 feet tall. They come with a two year warranty. Because there are no American companies manufacturing Christmas tree lights in the United States, only the Mountain King tree without lights is totally made in the USA.

Hudson Valley Tree Company
Another American company which produces artificial Christmas trees is Hudson Valley Tree Company. They have been crafting trees for over forty years. The company showroom and factory are in Newburgh, New York. Christmasinamerica.com is the online sales site for these American made trees. Each artificial Christmas tree carries a limited five year warranty. If the tree is covered under the warranty, replacement parts can be purchased. The artificial Christmas trees manufactured by this company are for indoor use only. Among the tree styles they offer are Douglas fir, Monroe pine, Frasier fir, Whitney fir, Aberdeen pine, Columbia fir, and Alberta pine. A 4 1/2 foot Aberdeen pine was $133.50 in 2010. Note that the Christmas tree stand which comes with the tree is made in China and the wire used in the tree itself is imported from Mexico. The website also sells 2 foot novelty seedlings in foil and ribbon bags and 5 foot novelty trees. The novelty seedlings come in green, silver, white, white/silver, or blue/silver and cost about $28 in 2010. The novelty trees are colored blue/silver, white, or white/silver and cost about $50.

Holiday Tree and Trim Co.
Holiday Tree and Trim Co. has been in business since 1948. Their factory is located in Bayonne, New Jersey, and their artificial Christmas trees are offered with a fifty year warranty. The artificial Christmas trees feature branches which are secured to the wrapped "trunk" and are not removable. The wrap around the metal trunk resembles bark. Larger trees come in sections, and trees over five feet in height have electrical sockets in the trunk in which to plug tree lights. Christmasdepot.com sells these American made Christmas trees. Trees produced by Holiday Tree and Trim Co. should be ordered well before the holidays. At the time I checked the christmasdepot.com site, the only trees still in stock were silver trees fom 4 to 7 feet tall and costing $50 to $170 and Mountain King brand trees. These did not carry the fifty year warranty.

If you are serious about limiting your purchase of products made outside of the United States, please consider starting by buying American made artificial Christmas trees.

Sources:
http://www.thedailygreen.com/going-green/tips/artificial-christmas-trees-buy-american American artificial versus Chinese made artificial trees
http://www.uschristmastree.com/ Mountain King artificial Christmas trees
http://www.christmasinamerica.com/index.html Artificial Christmas trees and greenery
http://mdpromote.com/letter.html Holiday Tree and Trim Co. Christmas trees
http://ww8.christmasdepot.com/s-roomad.html Holiday Tree and Trim Co. Showroom