Aluminum Christmas Trees

A Retro Tree Makes A Comeback

"Retro" Aluminum Tree

Aluminum Christmas trees have become quite popular as collector's items these days.
For more information on vintage aluminum Christmas trees click here.

These glitzy trees were all the rage back in the 1960's. If you're old enough you may remember having one when you were a kid. Or you may have a grandma who still puts one up for Christmas.

Most "retro" trees made in the late 1950's and 1960's were silver in color, made out of tinsel-like aluminum pieces glued to branches that were attached to a trunk.

As the trees became more popular, other colors were added such as blue, green, even pink!

What made these trees spectacular were the rotating color wheels that were placed on the floor and shined on the tree, turning it three or four different colors.

Occasionally you'd see a tree placed on a rotating platform that turned the tree and really made it glisten and sparkle.

Alas, 2012 Marks The End Of The The New "Old" Aluminum Trees

Aluminum trees are a very specialized niche. You may see 200 or so of the vintage (as in old) trees advertised for sale on Ebay at any one time. You may also be able to find them on other auction or classified sites.

You used to be able to get brand new trees made to look exactly like the vintage ones. At least one company, Yuletide Expressions, and a reseller company, Oak Tree Enterprises, sold brand new "retro" trees made to look like their older counterparts.

In addition to the regular size trees, the company made a thinner version called the "slimline" for those needing to free up some floor space.

They even sold the old-style spinning color wheels!

Unfortunately, they had to discontinue production as of the end of 2012. There's just not enough demand for them. Certainly a sad thing! But I guess you have to build what sells.

Aluminum Christmas Trees For The New Millenium

If you want to go in a completely different direction, there are many companies that sell 21st-century "aluminum trees". They're sometimes called "tinsel trees" or "tinsel Christmas trees".

The newer trees are made of the same PVC plastic used in other artificial Christmas trees, only they are colored a shiny silver- or red, blue, purple and many other colors- to create that aluminum look and feel.

Since there's no metal on the tree you can put lights on them. And many of them come prelit.

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