Best & Worst Christmas Trees, Artificial & Live

The holiday season is upon us, which means it time to get your decorations up! Just like with other products, Christmas trees can bring unintended contaminants into your home. So which trees, plastic or alive, are the safest for the air quality in your home? You’ve trusted Mamavation to bring you topics like our 2020 non-toxic gift guide, best & worst cookware, & best & worst air purifiers, now join us as we bring you the best (and worst) parts of real versus artificial tress for you this holiday season. And stick around for the very end where we rate the best & worst artificial trees available today.

Researched and fact-checked by Rebecca Elizabeth Sherrick Harks, RN, BSN.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. 

Live Christmas Trees–That Is, Once Alive

Taking a family outing to pick out a live Christmas tree is so ingrained in many of us as a part of the holiday season that we simply can’t bear the thought of buying an artificial tree. But surely, there must be some problems with live Christmas trees or we wouldn’t be having a discussion about real versus fake holiday trees.

Personally, I still purchase a live holiday tree every year. You may choose differently than me based on the positives and negatives below.

The Benefits of Having a Live Christmas Tree

• Pleasant Smells— first and foremost, the smell of a freshly cut tree in your home is something that most fragrance companies have been trying, in vain, to replicate for decades. It’s a heavenly scent for most and gets a lot of us in a festive mood.
• Tradition–the whole process of picking out and purchasing a live tree is a dearly loved family tradition for so many of us, and in uncertain times, it’s highly important to stick to as many traditions as possible, especially for kids.
• Small Business Support–You’re supporting a small business that, especially in this economy, really need our help. The whole Christmas tree industry provides at least 100,000 jobs per season.
• It’s Not Plastic–Right now, most plastics are not recycled and end up in landfills, so purchasing a live tree avoids adding plastic to landfills.
• Sustainable Farming–Considering Christmas trees are grown in types of soil that other plants cannot grow in and are replaced after every tree is cut down, the sustainability of the system is similar to bamboo. They can regenerate quickly.
• Low Carbon Footprint to Aquire–Providing you go to a local tree farm or booth, your carbon footprint is relatively small.
• Recycling Programs–Most cities do have a Christmas tree recycling program that will take care of your tree after the holidays. Here is a searchable list of tree recycling options in your area (in the US).

The Drawbacks of Having a Live Christmas Tree

• Expense–Christmas trees can be extremely expensive – especially buying them year after year – depending upon your area.
• Real Trees are Fussier–They drop needles, creating a mess, especially as they age. Plus, real trees do require frequent watering to keep the tree fresh-looking.
• Chemicals–Conventionally grown trees are often sprayed with chemicals that can be toxic to children and pets. These chemicals may include pesticides, like glyphosate (Round-Up) which is classified by the WHO as being a probable carcinogen. Other pesticides that may be used that are linked to allergies, cancer and/or birth defects, including benomyl, captan, captofol, chlordane, lindane, and/or methoxyclor may be used on real trees. These chemicals can also lead to environmental problems as they end up in our rivers and bodies of water and can disrupt our ecosystem.
• Safety Around Animals—Animal dangers include animals who are apt to drink the water from the tree which may contain the chemicals listed above which may cause anything from stomach upset to death. Additionally, some pets may eat the needles of the tree which may lead to intestinal perforation and death.
• Safety Hazard for Children–It can be a safety hazard for small children or animals who may play with or chew the lights on the tree, which can cause anything from a major shock to burns.
• Fire Hazard–As live trees age, they dry out and can cause a fire if something around them sparks.
• Allergy Sufferers–Some people notice that they are allergic to the trees in their homes, which is thought to be caused by oleoresins of the tree balsam, which is the scent that most fir trees can give off.
• May Contain Mold–People with mold allergies may also notice symptoms, though of the studies of mold on Christmas trees, none showed the ability for the mold spores to be made airborne.

Mamavation’s Solutions

Mamavation is most concerned with the chemical applications that can off-gas from your live holiday tree. So we recommend you either purchase an organic tree, a smaller live tree that you keep alive year-round, or pick up a professional air purifier to clean the air in the room around the tree.

Organic Christmas Trees

Given that most people who prefer real Christmas trees are still going to be obtaining real trees, Mamavation has a solution for you: organic Christmas tree farms. Though these types of Christmas trees may be hard to find, it’s worth a look to see if you have any organic Christmas tree farms in your area as they tend to sell out more quickly than standard Christmas trees.

• If you don’t live near an organic Christmas tree farm, you can order from Silvertip Tree Farm, which will ship organic Christmas trees to you. They are currently working to obtain their organic status but are currently grown organically.
• Local Harvest is a great resource and website that helps you to determine if you have any organic tree farms (and other delicious goodies) in your area.
• This website may help you search for organic Christmas trees, but a word of warning: this site hasn’t been updated in 4 years and many of the links appear to be dead.
• This list from Naturalbabymama.com will help you easily navigate to find out if your state has an organic tree farm.

Smaller, Live, Year-Round Christmas Tree

Buy a fully-alive Christmas tree, not one that’s been cut, but one that you can enjoy year-round.

These come in all sizes and shapes, and while some may look like the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, there are plenty that are fuller and bigger – providing that your home has the room.

You can easily find living Christmas trees wherever you find regular and artificial trees: Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s and just about any big box store should have these, as well as the smaller, mom-and-pop shops that pop up.

Here’s some information about selecting and caring for your living Christmas tree, year-round.

All About Artificial Christmas Trees

Had enough needles from your Christmas tree making a mess of your home over the holiday season? Are you totally over mucking through the cold, wet tundra to find your perfect tree? Maybe you’ve hit the time to abandon the real-deal cedar, fir, pine, or spruce and buy an artificial Christmas tree.

You certainly won’t be alone. More than 80 percent of American households with Christmas trees are celebrating with an artificial tree, according to the American Christmas Tree Association.

The Dangers Of Artificial Christmas Trees:

Recently, artificial trees have made headlines for all the bad reasons: namely being made of toxic materials.

Most artificial trees are made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC), an extremely widely used plastic that often contains dangerous chemical additives including phthalates, lead, cadmium, and/or organotins.

Per the National Institutes For Health (NIH) and the World Health Organization (WHO), vinyl chloride, the chemical used to make PVC, is a known human carcinogen and is a major source of phthalates, a hormone-disrupting chemical.

These chemicals are released into the air, which exposes us to inhalation, ingesting, or touching of these particulates. The state of California has a Prop 65 ordinance for all types of PVC, which often contains lead.

What’s Up With PVC & Christmas Trees?

While most artificial trees were once (and some still are) made with 100% PVC, nowadays, most trees now use a combination of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene (PE), which is a less toxic form of plastic.

Most people who are concerned with these nasty chemicals are opting for a tree that has the least amount of PVC or is made from 100% polyethylene (PE). However, and this is important, PE trees are not toxin-free, though they are considered to be a safer plastic.

A word of warning: it is nearly impossible to find a 100% PE tree. Do NOT believe online claims that their trees are PVC-free – contact them and make sure you’re talking to someone who actually knows information about their trees, not just a customer service representative.

Most of the trees we looked at headed under the PVC-free category still contain some amounts of PVC, and often these ratios are not provided. In addition, all of the trees we found contained fire retardant chemicals.

We also discovered that all of the Christmas trees we looked at are made in China, where regulatory standards are a bit more lax.

Flame Retardants and Artificial Christmas Trees

Flame retardants are chemicals that are applied to many materials (including Christmas trees) to prevent the start or slow the growth of a fire. While many flame retardants have been taken off the market, we could find no artificial trees that didn’t include flame retardants of some kind.

While flame retardants can offer benefits for certain things, there is a growing body of evidence showing many of these chemicals are associated with health problems in humans and animals, including:

• Endocrine and thyroid disruption
• Impacts upon the immune system
• Reproductive toxicity
• Cancer
• Adverse effects on fetal and child development
• Damage to neurological function – most notably in infants and children.

There are hundreds of different flame retardants available today, and they are grouped together based upon whether they contain bromine, chlorine, phosphorus, nitrogen, metals, or boron.

Balsam Hill, one of the manufacturers we contacted, carries Christmas trees with a PE or PE/PVC combination material. You should know though, that Balsam Hill informed Mamavation that they do use antimony trioxide (a common type of fire retardants that can lead to major lung damage) for all their trees to make trees flame retardant.

Safety Measures For Artificial Christmas Trees

Mamavation’s Investigation of Artificial Christmas Trees

Mamavation searched far and wide for the largest and most well distributed artificial Christmas trees we could find. There was only ONE brand we found that didn’t use any polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and that was Ikea.

Not Our Favorite Holiday Trees

These trees contain primarily polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and other nasty contaminants. They are either not transparent with consumers about what their trees are made from OR are almost exclusively PVC.

• Alightup Fiber Optic Artificial Christmas Trees
• Best Choice Products Premium Artificial Spruce Christmas Tree
• Beachcraft Home Norwood Fir Green Spruce
• Bed Bath & Beyond Branded Pre-lit Artificial Tree
• Birch Lane Caroline Pine Green Artificial Tree
• Birch Lane Dunhill Fir Green Artificial Tree
• Birch Lane Nordic Spruce Green Spruce Artificial Tree
• Birch Lane North Valley Blue Spruce Artificial Tree
• Brylane Home Artificial Christmas Trees
• Christmas Time Artificial Christmas Trees
• Evergreen Classics Artificial Christmas Trees
• GE Prelit Artificial Christmas Trees with Energy Smart LED Lights (at Lowes)
• Giantex Artificial Christmas Trees
• Goplus 5′ Green PVC Artificial Christmas Tree
• Gymax Artificial Christmas Trees
• Haute Decor Artificial Christmas Trees
• Hobby Lobby Artificial Christmas Trees
• Holiday Living Fairmont Pine Pre-Lit Traditional Artificial Tree (at Lowes)
• Home Depot Home Accents Sparkling Amelia Holiday Trees
• Hammacher Schlemmer The World’s Best Prelit Noble Fir (with LED Lights)
• KI Store Christmas Trees
• Ktaxon Artificial Christmas Trees
• Pottery Barn Artificial Christmas Trees (mostly PVC)
• Segmart Outdoor Spruce Artificial Christmas Tree
• Target Brand Wondershop Artificial Christmas Trees

Better Holiday Trees

These trees are better than the list above in terms of materials used, but these trees contain an unknown ratio of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to polyethylene (PE). This concerns us because the trend is to have more PVC, which is more potential disruption for hormones. Unfortunately, most Christmas trees use a combination of both PVC & PE.

• Bee & Willow Artificial Trees
• Birch Lane Tiffany Fir Green Artificial Christmas Tree
• National Tree Company Downswept Douglas Fir
• Puleo International Inc Unlit Fir Tree
• Wayfair Laurel Foundry Modern Farmhouse Christmas Tree 
• Wayfair The Holiday Aisle 4 Green Artificial Pine Tree with 150 Lights

Best Holiday Trees

These trees have the least amount of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) inside them. They are either composed of 64% or more polyethylene (PE) OR they don’t have polyvinyl chloride (PVC) at all. Ikea was the only product we could verify that did not have PVC. We have linked up all options for you to choose from.

• Always Green Christmas Tree Co. Artificial Christmas Trees (make in Ukraine) (Use discount code “MAMAVATION” for 10% off products!) (100% PE foliage)
• Birch Lane Prelit Aspen Green Fir Artificial Tree (82% PE)
• IKEA – Vinter 2020 (NO PVC at all)
• Tree Time Trees 65% PE trees
• Tree Time Trees 72% PE Trees