Where to Buy Christmas Trees in NYC (Without Spending a Million Bucks)
Christmas is the season of giving, family togetherness, and freezing your butt off in a poorly lit parking lot, unsuccessfully trying to haggle the price of a Fraser fir (ugh, we’re the worst hagglers) and ending up with a $300 lopsided tree that was supposed to be seven feet tall, but is actually five feet with a long, spindly stick at the top. Not this year. Here’s where to buy Christmas Trees in NYC that look great and don’t cost a million dollars. (Just go early and remember to tip, OK?)
The Definitive Best Time to Buy a Christmas Tree This Year
1. Tree Riders NYC
Best for the Environment
We’re used to doling out our whole paycheck for a Christmas tree in New York, so we were pleasantly surprised by the reasonably priced trees at this East Village institution. But the real perk is these guys deliver anywhere in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn…by bike. No carbon footprint, no tying the tree to the roof, no dragging it back to your apartment. They’ll even come back to pick it up once you’re ready to toss it and mulch it for you.
131 E. 10th St., New York, NY; 646-470-6326 or treeridersnyc.com
2. Old First Nursery School
Best for the Environment
Trees that Give Back
Old First Nursery School
Want a tree that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? 100 percent of the proceeds from the Christmas trees sold at this Park Slope stand benefit Old First Nursery School, the oldest cooperative preschool in New York City. Pre-order a tree online, then stop by to enter an exclusive raffle with more than $2,000 in prizes, including tickets to Wicked on Broadway.
729 Carroll St. Brooklyn, NY; 347-460-6367 or oldfirstnurseryschool.org/tree-sale
3. Urban Garden Center
Best for the Environment
Where the Pros Go
Urban Garden Center
Calling all plant ladies: If you’re still getting your planters and soil at a big-box store, Urban Garden Center is about to blow your minds. Tucked under the elevated train tracks on Park Ave. in East Harlem, this urban oasis is where all the urban gardening experts go. Pick up a quality Christmas tree and toss in some kiln-dried firewood for added cheer. Best of all? Urban Garden Center delivers throughout the tri-state area.
1640 Park Ave., New York, NY; 646-872-3991 or urbangardencenter.com
4. Fairview Tree Farm
Best Place for a Field Trip
Got a car and the day off? Take a pilgrimage to the vast woodlands of Connecticut, where you’ll be greeted with hot chocolate, horse-drawn hayrides and goats! There are thousands of trees available from 6 to 13 feet tall at this quaint, family-owned tree farm less than two hours from NYC.
2 Sawmill City Rd. Shelton, CT; 203-944-9090 or fairviewtreefarm.com
5. Solvang Tree Farm
Best Place for a Field Trip
Best Place to Cut Your Own Tree
Solvang Tree Farm
If you’re handy with a hacksaw (we’re jealous), drive up north to Poughkeepsie to try your hand at cutting your own tree. The farm only grows spruce trees (blue, white, Norway and Engelman), but any tree you cut down is $75, regardless of size. For those of us who aren’t natural lumberjacks or would like another variety of tree, fresh-cut Fraser Fir, Douglas Fir and Concolor Fir trees are also available.
80 Bedell Rd., Poughkeepsie, NY; 845-743-0224 or solvangfarm.com
6. Whole Foods
Best Place for a Field Trip
Most Convenient
Noam Galai/Getty Images
You won’t get to wander through a lush evergreen forest (or even a whole aisle) to search for the best tree at the high-end grocery chain, but most Whole Foods locations in the city have at least a small display of nice, decently priced Fraser Firs out front that you can nab on your way in to pick up a wheel of Brie. (Fine, two wheels of Brie.)
Multiple locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn; wholefoods.com
7. NYC Tree Shop
Best Place for a Field Trip
Yeah, But I Really Don’t Want to Leave My House
NYC Tree Shop
We get it. It’s 22 degrees, your neighborhood is swarming with holiday tourists and you’re so cranky you think you just saw the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come peering through the window. Ordering a tree online has never been easier, thanks to NYC Tree Shop, a New York-based company that delivers and installs the tree for you. Just a few clicks and you can move on to the 500 other things on your to-do list (or, let’s be real, watching Hallmark movies).
Online only; nyctreeshop.com
