Which is the most realistic? This question always makes me smile, if you want a real, fresh Christmas tree, then buy one. Real Christmas trees are awesome; my uncle sells thousands of fresh Christmas trees a year.

If you wish to reduce the hassle of Christmas then let’s discuss the “realism” of artificial versus realistic.

Artificial The PVC-style tree is rarely mistaken for a real Christmas tree. That said, in American culture, fake trees are widely accepted. People come in your house and say “Wow, what a nice artificial Christmas tree”. The branches are one of three types, single, dual or triple-tipped.

Single tip means all of the branch tips are nearly identical in shape, size and color. A dual tip has two types of branch tips; often one type is larger and darker in color to represent a mature branch with the other tip being smaller and lighter in color to represent younger growth. A triple or even quadruple tip is similar to the dual tip but also may include “blooming” cashmere style tips to add an elegant dimension.

As one would expect, the more branch types, the high cost associated with the tree.

Realistic The PE style of tree stands a much better chance of successfully imitating a real Christmas tree. In most cases, the branches are modeled after real trees in nature. There are few trees on the market constructed solely of PE because a 100% PE tree is very expensive to manufacture. Therefore, most PE trees are actually a mix of PE and PVC. The PE (realistic) tips are used on the outer portion of the tree while the inner tree is filled with PVC (bottle brush) tips.