Rockin’ around the Christmas (faux) tree

In the Christmas tree world, there are two branches: the people who insist on real trees and the people who prefer artificial. We are not here to debate the evergreen issue, because America is divided enough as it is and this is the season of goodwill.

But artificial trees have been gaining popularity – especially among baby boomers – giving millennials another grievance to add to the list. And, because boomers gotta boom, some of those artificial trees are big, high-tech and very expensive.

“The tree is the place where people put all these precious things they bring out once a year that have amazing sentimental memories,” says Mac Harman, founder of Balsam Hill, the leading seller of luxury artificial trees. “At the end of the day, the tree is the centerpiece of Christmas. It’s such an important part of the holiday experience that people are willing to pay for the best canvas they can to display these cherished and important things.”

Nearly 100 million U.S. households put up a tree every year – and not just one tree: One in 5 homes put up two. Thirty million are real, according to the National Christmas Tree Association, but Americans prefer fake by 2 to 1. According to a PBS NewsHour poll last year, 63 percent of Republicans said they planned to buy an artificial tree compared with 44 percent of Democrats.

Americans are festive, and we are also lazy.

We like fake trees because there’s no sap, no watering and no needles to sweep up. Experts warn a real tree can stay up for four weeks before becoming a fire hazard. Since Thanksgiving was so late, that’s less of an issue this year, but for those who put up trees early and keep them up into the new year, safety is a huge selling point.

But there are artificial trees and there are designer artificial trees. And there are customers willing to pay big bucks for a fake that, like a knockoff Picasso, looks real on close inspection.

Harman founded Balsam Hill in 2006 after seeing an ugly artificial tree at his in-laws’. His brother-in-law is allergic to real trees, so the family set up what Harman described as a really bad fake – the kind with shredded green paper on stick branches. There had to be a way to make a more realistic version, he thought. And so the Stanford Business School grad created faux trees designed to look like Fraser firs, blue spruce and other popular varieties. Today, his business sells “hundreds of thousands” a year and dominates the high end of the artificial tree market that generates about $1.2 billion in annual sales.

The vast majority of artificial trees are sold in big-box and home-improvement stores: People pay $100 to $400 for a tree they expect to use for about a decade. A live tree costs about $75 – from a purely economic standpoint, buying a fake tree is cheaper than buying a real tree every year. According to the Commerce Department, about 15 million artificial trees were purchased last year.

But if you’re singing, “Santa Baby, slip a sable under the faux tree for me” – well, some Christmas fanatics want nothing but the best.

Frontgate, a home decor and lifestyle catalogue, rolls out its trees in the end of August. “I thought it was terribly early,” says Christopher Christie, senior director of merchandising. “But we have such a dedicated fan base when it comes to Christmas that our customer is willing to buy early, making sure they can get what they want.”

Frontgate trees start at $999 and go up - the 7½-foot Starry Night is sold out this year, but the 9-foot tree is still available for $2,474.