AN HONEST REVIEW OF MY BALSAM HILL TREE
I’ve always been a fan of real Christmas trees. The ritual of choosing one each year, the fresh smell, the feel of the branches. However when I set about recording my course, How to Style your Christmas Tree Like a Pro, it was in the middle of Summer and I needed to find the most realistic alternative I could.
After a lot of research I chose the 5.5ft Vermont White Spruce, Candlelight Easy Plug by Balsam Hill to showcase my styled trees. All the Balsam Hill trees are beautiful, but this one caught my eye due to its shape and the fullness of the branches.
Christmas tree lights & branches
It has 450 lights and a tip count of 1326+ which is nice and full. This tree has predominantly moulded tips, with a few tinsel branches deep inside the tree where you don’t see the details, as they are great at covering the trunk.
realistic appearance
I can honestly say this tree looks very realistic, and as I have mentioned before, I have always been firmly in the camp of preferring real trees so I was a tough customer to impress. In fact I now use it as my main Christmas tree at home over the holidays, and the rest of the family are equally impressed by how life-like it is.
Christmas tree size & scale
The tree is the perfect height and width for the relatively small space in the corner of my living room. 5ft was too short, and 6ft would have involved a ladder when decorating the top branches, so a 5.5ft tree was perfect. I also like a fairly wide tree, vs a skinny one, so the Vermont White Spruce ticked that box too.
pre-lit vs. unlit
Originally I had planned on buying an unlit tree as I’ve already got a lot of strings of fairy lights and a pre-lit tree is more expensive. However the unlit Vermont White Spruce wasn’t available at that time, and I had my heart set on it. So I decided to try the pre-lit version, and I’ll admit, I was a little curious about whether it could live up to the hype.
It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the ‘easy plug’ has been a game changer for me. In between filming sessions it was so easy for me to move the tree between my house and studio. Set up really is a breeze with this tree and is a great time saver. It comes in 3 parts, and you literally drop them together, plug the bottom section in and it’s lit up.
tree preparation
The only thing left to do is fluff it. This is where you open up all the branches so that the tree becomes fuller and more lifelike. Fluffing can take a little while, but I think it’s worth it. You want your tree to be the best it can.
investment
The tree was definitely a financial investment, but I managed to get it when Balsam Hill was running a promotion, which literally saved me a couple of hundred pounds, so it’s well worth keeping an eye out for their sales.
It feels like a really great quality product, from the packaging to the small extras, like spare bulbs and some handy gloves for fluffing your tree.
storage
The only thing worth pointing out, is that at first I found it quite hard to get the tree into the storage case it comes with. I just realised I had to be very disciplined to smooth out all the branches (ie unfluff it) before I tried to pack it away so that each section takes up less space. Once it was in the case it made it much easier for me to neatly store away and the handles made it easier to carry.
in summary
In conclusion, if you’re after an artificial tree and your budget allows I would definitely recommend investing in a Balsam Hill tree. I have been very impressed by the quality, how realistic it is, and how easy it is to set up. In fact, I love it so much I have invested in a pre-lit garland for my mantelpiece this year.
Love Christmas Trees?
Find out more about my masterclass How to Style Your Christmas Tree Like a Pro, and learn the art of joyful decorating for the festive season.
