You Get Everything Else Delivered—Now You Can Add Christmas Trees, Too
Heading to a Christmas tree farm to find the perfect evergreen to decorate is a time-honored tradition for many people. However, it can turn into quite the time commitment just when our holiday to-do lists already seem endless. If you want a real Christmas tree but would rather skip driving a long way, braving the cold, loading up a heavy tree, and hauling it back home, there are now several options for ordering one online. Some even include free shipping! Then you can get right to the tree-trimming and merry-making with a lot less hassle—and we promise, Santa won't mind.
Kim Cornelison
Last year, Amazon announced that it would be offering real, fresh Christmas trees to order among its millions of other items. It looks like they're offering a few again this year, and other major retailers will now ship a live evergreen to your door. Some smaller, family-owned Christmas tree farms also offer delivery. So if you'd prefer to shop from the comfort of your home, here's where you can order a real Christmas tree online this year.
Courtesy of Amazon
Amazon
Of course, the online retail giant known for stocking absolutely everything has fresh Christmas trees, though you'll have to dig a bit to find them. Most of the fresh-cut Christmas tree listings on the site are new and don't have any reviews, so they tend to appear after a bunch of highly-rated artificial trees. We found a few different options to choose from—you can snag a cute tabletop tree, a 6-foot Fraser fir, or a 7-foot Basalm fir. Fresh trees on Amazon take over a week to ship and come from fresh-cut from the farm.
Buy It: Fresh Cut Real Christmas Tree 7 Foot Balsam Fir Delivered ($175, Amazon)
Courtesy of Lowe's
Lowe's
Lowe's has a wide selection of trees they offer, with mostly Fraser and Douglas firs available, and some Scotch pines and noble firs in the mix. You can pick out an itty-bitty 3-footer or a towering 12-foot Christmas tree that'll take over your living room, and anything in between. A 5- to 6-foot Douglas fir runs about $100, and their most expensive tree, a 10-to-12-foot Fraser fir, rings up at just $169.
Buy It: 5 to 6-ft Fresh Grand fir Christmas Tree ($100, Lowe's)
Courtesy of The Home Depot
The Home Depot
The Home Depot's real tree selection includes nearly 30 different types, heights, and prices to choose from. You can find classic Douglas and Fraser firs, along with Scotch pines, blue spruce, and noble firs, too. All of their real Christmas trees include free delivery, too, though they're freshly cut and shipped from Oregon or California, so you'll need to allow at least a week for it to arrive.
Buy It: 7 ft. to 7.5 ft. Freshly Cut Fraser Fir Live Christmas Tree ($150, The Home Depot)
Courtesy of Walmart
Walmart
If you want a traditional, fresh Christmas tree, Walmart will deliver one to your door for free. These real trees are cut and shipped from family-owned U.S. farms. They're a little pricey at about $150 each, but shipping is free. According to Walmart's website, it should take a day or two to process your order, and then your tree will arrive in two to five days, depending on your location.
Buy It:5'-6' Real Fraser Fir Christmas Tree($150, Walmart)
Wayfair
Yep, the popular furniture site is delivering live Christmas trees this holiday season (and they're on sale right now, too). You can browse through Fraser firs, spruces, and balsam firs, in small sizes from 1-1/2 feet tall up to 4 feet (their 7- and 9-foot live trees are currently out of stock). Wayfair offers free shipping on orders over $49, and most of its trees are priced above that threshold, so you shouldn't have to pay for delivery unless you're ordering a mini tree for a tabletop. It looks like you can expect to wait about a week for your order to show up on your porch.
Buy It: 4' Green Fir Fresh Cut Christmas Tree ($94, Wayfair)
Family-Owned Christmas Tree Farms
Lots of Christmas tree farms offer shipping and delivery, so if you want to know exactly where your tree is coming from, you can go that route. Websites like Christmas Farms, A Tree to Your Door, and Walddie Christmas Trees all allow you to pick out your tree online, then get it shipped to your door. Since they're usually shipped through FedEx and UPS, don't expect free delivery—we tried adding a few to our carts, and delivery usually cost at least $60, and sometimes over $100. Still, a lot of Christmas tree farms can have a wider selection of types and sizes, so if you're on the hunt for something that the big box stores don't carry, it can be worth checking out their stock.
Related: How to Pick the Best Christmas Tree Ever
While you can get fresh evergreens delivered to most places in the U.S., some of the sites we checked won't ship them to Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands, so just make sure your state isn't excluded before placing your order. Plus, a few states require shipping permits for Christmas trees (like Arizona, California, and Delaware), but that's usually taken care of on the grower's end, so you shouldn't have to worry about it.
As with any real Christmas tree, even delivered ones, make sure to get your tree in water as soon as possible. First, cut an inch off the base of the trunk with a saw to remove any sap that may have sealed over the previous cut. Then place it into your stand and fill the basin with water. Fresh trees usually have their branches tied close to the trunk while being transported, so after you cut away the cords, give your tree a day or two to settle in before you start decorating. By then, the branches will have returned to their natural position.
If you're planning to deck your halls with a beautiful, fresh tree this year, go ahead and order one up online this year along with your other holiday shopping. You expect to pay a little more than you might for one you'd have to pick up at a tree lot or farm, but if you ask us, the extra cost is well worth the convenience of not having to transport it yourself. And you can consider it an early gift to yourself not to have to clean tree needles and sap off your car.
