npr: pre-lit Christmas tree or non prelit?

mahalo3 · November 2014

My husband and I have a debate going. I bought a pre-lit tree off a Facebook garage sale group, and half of the lights don't work. It's a pita to find the broken ones, and now I just want to go buy a new prelit tree. He thinks a prelit tree will cause more trouble down the road, and I will just want to buy a new one every year because the lights burn out. Which do you have?? Are there any benefits or issues I need to know about before I go buy a new tree?? Thanks!

HailsMom · November 2014

Real trees are the best! And it's so much fun to be able to go out as a family to the Christmas Tree Farm and pick one out to cut down.

mrsclark731 · November 2014

Non-prelit all the way!

We had a really nice (expensive) pre-lit tree. Fast forward 5 years. Some of the bulbs needed to be replaced, as always. We called GE and Home Depot...searched online....basically the technology became obsolete with the invention of LED.

So, we invested in a non-prelit tree that we will have forever. It's not that big of a hassle to hang the lights yourself.

aggiebug · November 2014

We had a pre lit tree growing up and it seemed every year my brother and I spent hours trying to find the single bulb in a strand that was out only to realize that there were multiple which are hellacious to find. (plug a good stand of lights into an outlet and put the bulb you are testing into it to see if the bulb works instead of vice versa)

They now have the prelit tree with the lights that if one bulb dies the whole strand does go unlit those are a lot easier but you still end up replacing bulbs every year.

H is set on a real tree, so this is not longer the issue. Now the problem is H sucks at putting the lights on the tree so it is my job, but I don't like doing it

Disneygeek77 · November 2014

We might get one at Costco because it switches between colored and white lights.

AnotherSun · November 2014

Pre lit is so much easier. Led lights don't die anywhere near as quickly, our tree is three years old and I have never replaced a bulb.

Mrs. Zee · November 2014

We usually do live but this year are doing a sad fake tree I have from my apartment days-it was like $20 at Walmart. So usually I would say live but this year we have Charlie Brown pre-lit. It makes me a little sad but our place we usually buy a tree from was razed and I don't have the time or energy to deal with real this year

Smyers2girls · November 2014

I have a pre lit tree, but the next one I buy I'll probably get one that I put lights on myself. They are a pain when lights go out on them, and I like the idea of being able to put whatever kind of lights I want on it. Call me a tree hugger, but I don't see the point in cutting down a living tree to keep inside for a couple weeks only to throw it out when it dies, and the needles make a mess! So I voted ss.

lizjennings81 · November 2014

Our landlord would FREAK if we put down a real Christmas and then stained the hardwood floor. So that's why we opted out of that.

But I put down SS since we do have a pre-lit tree, but we have to string the top tier with additional lights because the top tier never worked out of the box (we were too lazy to pack up and return).

The other two tiers are still going strong (five Christmases so far). If it craps out this year, we'd buy a new one instead of trying to find the burnt-out bulbs. Half-a-decade of service for a pre-lit Target tree isn't something to sneeze at.

Neesey · November 2014

I bought a prelit tree (because I loved the shape and price) and the first thing I did was to take off the crappy lights and toss them. The bulbs were every 8" and there were far too many wires showing. I'm much happier doing my own lights every year.

elephantsonpatrol · November 2014

Real trees make too much of a mess and only last a short time.

With unlit trees you end up buying new lights each year because its such a pain to untangle and string them

Get a nice prelit tree without the cheap tinsel tips

Neesey · November 2014

elephantsonpatrol said:

With unlit trees you end up buying new lights each year because its such a pain to untangle and string them

Why are you buying new lights every year? Coil them up as you take them off and tie them with a little leftover Christmas ribbon. Toss the coils in the box with the trees and you're ready to go for next year.

[Deleted User] · November 2014

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krysmill · November 2014

We have a pre-lit tree that was handed down to use from a friend! Last year one of the strands went out but DH had no problem changing out the light. I love a real tree but don't have the patients to put lights on it!

MammaWolf7 · November 2014

We use to hang our lights on the tree every year when I was younger and even though I loved it, it's so much easier with our pre lit tree the past few years. The only thing I don't like is the lack of lights on the tree. We use to use 7 sets of lights and it was very bright and this one doesn't have that many

PeaceofKia · November 2014

Ss, we used to hang our own, but we're moving to Pre lit this year and using the old tree for the other room.

mamabumkin · November 2014

SS

I wish I could have a real tree, but there is only one type of tree that my allergies can tolerate for a few days at most and it tends to be expensive and hard to find...(and it's been so long I don't even remember which type it is.)

About 6 years ago I was given a non pre-lit tree. It was very nice, full, and came apart in three sections. After two years of stringing and unstringing lights I decided to get to setting the tree up early the third year in order to rig it with the lights so I wouldn't have to keep taking them off. I personally like white lights as my base lights. I like to do different color themes each year, one year all blue, next all purple, another all gold and red...So I like my lights to coordinate with the color scheme. I used two 100ft strands on the bottom third of the tree, as it was big and bushy. I used plastic black zip ties (cut the tails off once wrapped around) to secure the wires to the branches. It took me about four days to get all three sections done, (used 100ft +50ft on the middle section and 100ft on the top section.) Once it was done all I had to do was plug the sections into each other and into the wall...I no longer had to take the lights off when I took the tree down.

I did have a burn out on the bottom section, but these were also older lights not the LED version. LED ones last a lot longer now. I ended up clipping all the zip ties (about 10 minutes work) and took the whole string of lights off and just replaced it with new ones. I hate searching for a burned bulb. Took me a few hours to put the new strand on.

When I add colored lights, I usually only put two strands of 100ft on the tree and just take them off when I take the tree down, in addition to the base white lights.

Some years when I was being lazy or didn't have time I had only the white lights and it was so much easier.

I have had pre-lit trees, and I am not found of how the lights are usually put on them. My OCD kicks in and I end up pissed off with the lights that are on there and will end up putting more strings of lights on just to make it look right to me, so it didn't save me much time and just pissed me off.

All my ornaments also had pretty ribbons tied to them for hanging rather than hooks...started doing that after I had kids. It also was far easier to have ribbons already on my ornaments so only had to hang them.

t8keepr03 · November 2014

We have a pre-lit tree that had lasted about 8 Christmas' now. I am shocked every year when we plug it in that it still lights up. Watch it won't light up this year... We do want to start a family tradition of cutting down a real tree so it won't break my heart if it doesn't light up this year.

Koukonei · November 2014

We have a pre lit tree with LED bulbs on it. This will be our 3rd Christmas with it, I love it so much more than having to put our lights on.

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