Pre-lit Christmas Trees: Why I Will Never Buy Another One
Pre-Lit Christmas Trees: The Down Side
Our pre-lit Christmas tree was also easy to set up. It came in three easy to fold up chunks. It flipped open like and umbrella and was easy to plunk into its little stand. I was very smug in my purchase. On the weekend after New Years we put it tidily back in its original box and stored it for the following Christmas. Our year went as usual, which included its usual atrocities. Ah but who doesn't love Christmas?
The following holiday season of 2008, we pulled our faithful pre-lit Christmas tree out of its original box and brought it back upstairs to its delegated spot. We tenderly assembled it and plugged it into the light socket. Lo and behold! Half of its lights didn't work. We frantically checked all of its connections, which was a chore in itself. Nada! Still half of the lights didn't work. It was a bitter disappointment. We strung some other Christmas lights on it, but it wasn't the same. It didn't glitter and twinkle in merriment like it did the previous year.
After the Christmas tree was unassembled on New Year's day,I decided that I would gently remove the old dead Christmas lights and put it away. We could buy new Christmas lights and put them on the following year. No biggie right? Ha! I spent hours watching the Twilight Zone marathon on New Year's day, cutting the old dead lights off of my pre-lit Christmas tree with wire cutters. It was no quick and easy task. Those lights were tightly wound and bound to every bough, to the tree. I finally gave up near the bottom of the tree and left the old dead lights on it. Fuming with irritation and frustration I vowed that I would never buy another pre-lit Christmas tree.
This year I bought 5 new strings of Christmas tree lights and wound them around my old pre-lit tree with as many lights as I wanted. It wasn't as nicely strung as the melded on lights of yore, but we were happy with it. I won't have to spend hours, a real marathon, getting carpal tunnel cutting off the pre-lit lights off of my Christmas tree ever again.
I warn you really think about whether you want to buy a pre-lit Christmas tree. If you want to buy a new one every year, no problem but if you want to keep it for many seasons, you really may want to think about it.
Merry Christmas everyone and God bless you.
Published by Shana Dines
Shana is an award winning artist. Her specialty is pastel portraits and watercolors. She has illustrated a children's book and has written and illustrated one now in publishing. She is a Christian but believ... View profile
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14 Comments
Post a CommentI have had three pre-lit trees through the years. 1st one sold to a friend to buy a bigger one. Lights lasted a couple of years and then whole sections died. Since I was moving to smaller place, I sold tree as is. Got 3rd pre-lit (glutten for punishment)and 3rd did the same; only this time the whole bottom section died. I spent days slowing cutting off the bulbs and wires and clips. Now I just put on my own lights! Never again!
Thanks for this helpful information - I'll be passing on the prelit Christmas tree thanks you :)
We got a prelit tree last year, and when we set it up this year, we had lights out at first, but it was nothing but a connection problem and easily fixed. If you saved the warranty, you should be able to get get some satisfaction, however.
Shana, thanks for sharing so honestly. Reading your articles feels like we're having tea and chatting in person. I'm your newest fan and will follow you. Priscilla
This is something that actually crossed my mind. Surprising, huh? *lol* If the lights happened to quit the tree would be trash. I'll keep my crappy old tree that requires assembly and added lights. If one of my light strings go out I can just throw them away. Thanks for confirming what I had thought of, and sorry this happened to you. :(
I've never had a pre-lit Christmas tree either. After reading this, I probably won't get one. Thanks for the warning. :-)
The bottom of the my super slim pre-lit tree wouldn't light and I also thought I could fix them. After a few hours of no luck I too decided to take off the broken and replace them with new. Turns out aside from the winding and knotting they used to put them on they were also not a straight sting but some form of mutiple branching icicle type lights. It took me 4 hours to unstring 3 feet high by two feet wide. I restrung and used clips to hold the new lights to the branches. Much easier and neater
I never had a pre lit tree I never knew there was such a thing but I have bought a tree in two decades
I am still doing the real tree because it is just so darn nice! I appreciate your honesty here! Merry Christmas, Shana!
I've admired the pre-lit trees but never bought one because I wasn't sure how long they'd keep lighting up1 It seems every year I end up replacing strings of lights that worked the year before but only half light up this year, and I wondered if these trees would behave any differently. Apparently not!