We Had Real Interior Designers Pick the Best Fake Christmas Trees

WIRED brought 10 of the most popular artificial Christmas trees into a studio and got three interior designers to pick the best through blind judging. For extra trimming, we checked in on how those trees fared once they were taken home and decorated.

Shopping for an artificial Christmas tree can be overwhelming, especially when you’re doing it online. You’ll find yourself staring at product photos, wondering: How realistic does it actually look? Will it shed all over my living room? Can you see daylight through the branches? Are the branches strong enough to hold that lopsided homemade macaroni ornament you’ve hung on your tree since 2004?

We got tired of guessing, so we did a little experiment. We brought 10 of the most popular artificial trees from three top brands (Balsam Hill, King of Christmas, and National Tree Company) and hauled them to a photo studio in ...