I Bought My Live Christmas Tree on Amazon — Here’s How It Went

As the (proud-ish) owner of a 2000 Honda Accord, I don’t have to worry about a lot of things. I can always find my car in a crowded parking lot (thanks to its hideous sun-baked, spotted paint job), and I feel fine leaving it anywhere (I don’t really care if shopping carts dent it or if someone scrapes it a bit while trying to parallel park). It runs just fine, too, so the biggest concern I have about it comes every year around this time: How to get a Christmas tree home in it?

Over the years, my husband and I have tried tying it to the roof and stuffing it into the trunk. We don’t love either option (the first leads to a horrifying drive home and the latter makes one heck of a mess), so when I heard that Amazon was selling live Christmas trees, I knew we’d be giving it a try this year.

We logged online, decided our ideal height (six to seven feet) and narrowed things down to three main options: a Fraser Fur, a Balsam Fir, and a Black Hills Spruce. Because trees obviously vary, it’s not like you get to virtually pick out the exact tree you want. You pick the height range and then pick the tree type. That’s it. And honestly, I didn’t really mind! Sure beats standing in the cold while my husband holds up a tree and we pretend to be experts on how the branches will fall. (I grew up in a Jewish household, so I only have a few years’ worth of experience to go on here!)

We picked the Balsam Fir because the pictures looked full, but not too full, and we thought it’d look the best in our space. Trees in our height range were either $100 or $110, which is considerably more expensive than the trees we’d normally get at a roadside stand in our town. But it meant we wouldn’t have to spend hours vacuuming out the car, so I was willing to spend the money.

I was hoping that Prime shipping meant it would arrive in two days, but it took longer than that. I placed the order on November 24 and it arrived, as promised, on December 4.

When I saw the box, my first thought was that I need to do something nice for my postal worker. (We weren’t home to help when it was delivered and instead, it was left on our porch.) The trees ship in a tall, skinny box that are almost mattress-in-a-box-like. It’s a bit of a jig to get the tree out of the box (I pulled the box and my husband pulled the tree) and it made a giant mess (good thing we did it on the porch).

The directions state to “cut off 1/2 to 1 inch of the trunk to allow for maximum hydration.” That’s something the folks at the tree lot usually do for us, so that was a fun bonus activity.

We got the tree in the stand (we already had one but Amazon also has the option to order a stand with your tree), took off the netting, and let it sit overnight before we gave it a critical look-over.

I must say, considering we didn’t hem or haw over it, we got a good-looking tree! It was pretty straight, didn’t have giant bare patches, and seemed super healthy. I think I honestly would have picked it out myself if I was presented with a few options! Good job, Amazon Tree Pickers!

Looking at the aftermath on our porch, my instinct was to say that the Amazon process was messier than getting the tree from a road-side stand, but then I remembered that my Honda still has a few tree needles in it from last year. And yes, we had to struggle to get the tree out of the box and cut off part of the trunk, but we didn’t have to force a tree into — or out of — our car!

The only major difference, really, was the price. Again, it was more than we’d usually spend (by about $40). But I firmly believe this is a good option for anyone who doesn’t have a car or if your vehicle is on the smaller side.

What do you think? Would you buy your Christmas tree off Amazon?