6ft Christmas trees

Why 6ft is the default

A new-build ceiling is 2.4m. A 6ft tree with a 20cm star reaches 2m, which leaves a gap that looks deliberate rather than squeezed. The width, around 1.2m for a full tree, fits the corner of a 4m by 4m room with the sofa still in place. It is also the height at which a hinged tree still ships in one box and goes up in ten minutes: two or three sections dropped onto the pole, branches fluffed outward, done.

Reading the tip count at 6ft

This is the height where the tip count matters most, because the range at 6ft is wide. Around 500 tips is a standard tree that relies on decorations to look full. A thousand to twelve hundred tips is full enough that the trunk disappears. The fullest 6ft trees in the shop go well past 1,500. Within one price band, pick the higher count; across bands, the dearer tree is usually fuller or has lights fitted.

Pre-lit or unlit at this size

Eight of the pre-lit trees are 6ft, with LED counts from about 300 to 600; a 6ft tree with 500 or more LEDs reads as bright from the street. Five of the unlit trees are 6ft, including the Ben Nevis Pine with pinecones and red berries at £159 and the Midnight Blue Fir at £99. An unlit tree plus a 600-LED set is usually £40 to £80 cheaper than the equivalent pre-lit tree, and the lights are replaceable on their own.

Styles

Besides the plain green pines, the 6ft group has a white spruce with 280 multi coloured LEDs, a flocked pencil pine for a narrow corner, an upside-down frosted tree for a shop or a talking-point, and the white and black microdot trees that are lit frames rather than foliage. The colour pages split these out.

Lights and decorations

Six hundred LEDs is the guide for an unlit 6ft tree, or a 720 cluster set. Sixty to ninety baubles in two or three sizes, a 20 to 25cm topper and a 9m garland or ribbon complete it. A slim 6ft tree takes about half of each.