Why You Should Buy an Artificial Christmas Tree This Christmas

With Christmas just around the corner, families across the country are beginning to put up their Christmas trees. This year thousands will be using an artificial Christmas tree instead of a real Christmas tree, and for good reason. Five reasons to buy an artificial Christmas tree are: they look real, cost less, are safer, easier to use, and help the environment.

Artificial Christmas Trees Look Real

A few years ago, it was easy to spot a fake Christmas tree. Artificial Christmas trees have come a long way since then, and look like the real thing. Having a good looking Christmas tree is one of the Five Important Christmas Party Dos, and the quality of an artificial Christmas tree has also risen enough so that one can use them year after year. For those who are upset than an artificial Christmas tree may not smell like the real thing, that's what Glade Plug-Ins are for.

Artificial Christmas Trees Cost Less

When I looked for a Christmas tree this year, I was flabbergasted by the price. The average five foot tall Christmas tree costs $40. Taller eight foot trees were $60. Artificial Christmas trees cost $30 and up, depending on the size, and features.

Even if your family decided to buy a tall and expensive artificial Christmas tree that cost $150, it would only take three years of use to save money. Every year after that would be $60 in your family's pockets that could be spent on more important things, such as presents to put underneath the Christmas tree.

I personally recommend reading Cheap Holiday Gifts: Five Great Holiday Gifts for $10 for several great Christmas presents you will be able to buy with the money you save each year by using an artificial Christmas tree.

Artificial Christmas Trees are Safer

According to the NFPA, there is "an average of 250 home fires that started with Christmas trees per year," and while "Christmas tree fires are not common, but when they occur, they are likely to be serious. On average, one of every 18 reported fires that began with a Christmas tree resulted in death." Protect your family and home from tragedy by using an artificial Christmas tree. The risk to your loved ones and home is simply not worth it.

Artificial Christmas Trees are Easier to Use

Anyone who has ever had a Christmas tree knows how much of a mess it can be to clean up. An artificial Christmas tree will not shed any pine needles in your home, and you will not have to water it. Most artificial Christmas trees come with lights already attached to them, meaning that there is no need to untangle hundreds of feet of lights. They are also easier to fit in the door, and fold down easily for storage.

Artificial Christmas Trees Help the Environment

Using an artificial Christmas tree helps the environment because your family isn't contributing to deforestation. While it may "only be one tree" that your family will save, over the course of a lifetime the number of trees that would be cut down by your family will add up - especially if done all over the nation.

There are over three hundred and eight million people in the United States. If only one quarter of the population used an artificial Christmas tree this year, then we would save seventy seven million trees. Seventy Seven Million!

The average Christmas tree has a diameter of four feet, giving it an area of thirteen square feet. If we times thirteen by seventy seven million, we end up with a space of one billion and one million square feet (or 35.9 square miles) of trees. This isn't taking into consideration the space between the trees.

Although 35.9 square miles is number not to scoff over. Add in some time, and over ten years some 359 square miles of pine forest will have been saved. That's a lot of trees. It's also a lot of carbon dioxide that the trees will be able to absorb.

What Are You Waiting For?

Artificial Christmas trees look real, will save you money, are safer to use, easier to clean up after, and are environmentally friendly. I will be using an artificial Christmas tree this year, and so should you.

Sources:
"Christmas Tree Fires," NFPA.Org. Retrieved December 9, 2009, from http://www.nfpa.org/categoryList.asp?categoryID=296&URL=Safety%20Information/For%20consumers/Seasonal%20safety/Christmas%20tree%20fires