8ft Real Christmas Trees

Free UK delivery on the date you choose. British grown, cut to order.

An 8ft Christmas tree is a big tree. In a house with high ceilings it is magnificent. In a house with a standard 8ft ceiling it is a mistake.

This is the size people most often regret, and it is always for the same reason. They measured the wall and forgot the stand and the star.

Do you have the ceiling for an 8ft tree?

You want 9ft or more. Be honest about this before you order.

Measure floor to ceiling in the exact spot the tree is going. Then take off a foot. The stand lifts the trunk three to six inches off the floor, and the topper needs six to nine inches above the leader.

Under a standard 8ft ceiling, an 8ft tree does not fit. The star bends sideways against the plaster and the top of the tree gets squashed. It looks wrong and it cannot be fixed.

Period houses, Victorian and Georgian conversions, barn conversions, double-height rooms and commercial spaces are where an 8ft tree belongs. In those, a 6ft tree looks undersized and an 8ft looks right.

How wide is an 8ft Christmas tree?

About 5ft across at the base.

That is a large footprint, and it is the second thing people get wrong. A tree is roughly two thirds as wide as it is tall, so an 8ft tree needs five feet of clear floor, and it will not tuck into an alcove.

Mark it out on the floor with masking tape before you order. Five feet is more than it sounds.

Getting an 8ft tree into the house

Netted, it will go through a standard door. Unnetted, it will not.

Carry it in netted, get it into the stand while someone holds it steady, and only then cut the netting, from the bottom upwards. Do that in the room where the tree is staying, because once the branches drop it is not going back through the doorway.

Then leave it a few hours before decorating so the branches can settle. At this size that matters, because gaps appearing overnight on an 8ft tree are very visible.

This is a two-person job. Do not attempt an 8ft tree alone.

Which 8ft tree should you buy?

8ft Nordmann Fir

At this size the Nordmann is the sensible choice, and not only for the needles.

Its branches are strong and grow in well-spaced tiers. On a big tree that structure is what stops it looking like a solid green mass, and it means the branches carry heavy glass baubles without bowing.

The needles are thick and waxy, so they hold moisture. Watered, an 8ft Nordmann holds four to five weeks. That matters, because taking down a dying 8ft tree in mid December is not a small job.

The needles are soft and blunt, which you will appreciate when you are reaching deep into it to fix a light.

8ft Norway Spruce

The traditional tree, and at 8ft the scent is considerable. If you want a house that smells of pine, this will do it.

It drops sooner than a Nordmann, so put it up in mid December and be disciplined about water. It is also cheaper.

What an 8ft tree needs

Around 800 lights, and probably more. That is 100 per foot. An under-lit 8ft tree looks worse than a well-lit 5ft one, and it is an expensive way to be disappointed.

A serious stand. An 8ft trunk can be five inches across or more, and a stand made for a smaller tree simply will not close around it. A stand that does not grip is how big trees fall over.

Water capacity matters too. Work on a litre for every inch of trunk diameter, so an 8ft tree wants a stand holding five or six litres. It will drink hard in its first days indoors.

Our Christmas tree stand has a low, wide reservoir designed for real trees.

A proper ladder. Not a chair.

Bigger than 8ft?

We supply trees well beyond 8ft, up to 60ft, for hotels, offices, schools, churches, shopping centres and town squares. We deliver, install and decorate them, then take them away and recycle them in January.

At that scale it becomes a logistics job rather than a shopping one. Trees over 20ft need machinery and often a steel frame to hold them. Contact us for a quote.

Looking after an 8ft real tree

Saw an inch off the bottom of the trunk before it goes in the stand, right before it goes into water. Sap seals the cut end within hours of harvest, and without a fresh cut the tree cannot drink at all.

Check the water every single day. An 8ft tree drinks a lot, and if the reservoir runs dry the trunk seals over permanently. On a tree this size that is a disaster you cannot quietly undo.

Keep it away from radiators, wood burners and sunny windows.

More in our guides to keeping your tree fresh and putting your tree up.

Delivery

Free, anywhere on the UK mainland, on the date you choose. We cut and pack the working day before it travels, netted and inside a heavy-duty carrier with a cane to protect the shape.

Deliveries run 8am to 6pm. If a tree arrives damaged, tell us and we will replace it free of charge. More on Christmas tree delivery.

8ft Christmas tree FAQs

Will an 8ft tree fit under an 8ft ceiling?

No. You need 9ft or more once you allow for the stand and the star.

How wide is an 8ft Christmas tree?

About 5ft at the base. Measure your floor space carefully.

How many lights for an 8ft tree?

At least 800, working on 100 per foot.

Can one person put up an 8ft tree?

Not comfortably. Get a second pair of hands.

Do you sell trees bigger than 8ft?

Yes, up to 13ft delivered, and up to 60ft through our installation service.

Not sure 8ft is right? See our Christmas tree size guide, or compare the 6ft, 7ft and 9ft trees.