Choosing a pencil Christmas tree can mean the difference between your space looking festive or simply looking cluttered. Christmas trees always take up more space than we expect so let’s take a look at the best pencil Christmas trees of 2021 that are built to fit into tight spaces.
If you don’t like this skinny look, you can still save space with a half Christmas tree.
Just like real trees, it has some floppier branches that stick out apart from the main tree and interrupt the cone-shape silhouette which gives it that realistic imperfect feel. For some that’s a plus, and for others, it’s not a traditional shape. Like with all realistic trees, you won’t want to hang ornaments right on the tip of branches.
At 7.5 feet tall, this is a perfect height for eight to 10-foot ceilings. It has a width of 35 inches, so make sure you block that out before you buy. It has a very nice fullness with 973 branch tips and, like most realistic trees, has traditional needle branches at the center of the tree since they give better coverage to hide the pole. This tree comes pre-lit with 350 clear lights. In my opinion, pre-lit is the best thing to happen to Christmas trees since ornaments.
Skipping the classic, dense triangle shape of groomed Christmas trees, this one gets its inspiration directly from pine trees growing in the wilderness, brought down to a scale that can fit in your living room.
The real wood trunk is a huge upgrade from the metal poles you’re used to trying to hide. The branches are sparse and flat like you’d see in the forest, and they’re pre-lit so you’re good to go. This six-foot tree is 34 inches across at its widest, but most of the tree is much skinnier than that. This is a perfect tree for a cozy cabin or rustic aesthetic.
This Nine-Foot Home Heritage Pre-Lit Stanley Tree sports a combination of branches. Some are your standard bottle-brush type and others have a longer, skinnier needles that are a lighter color and have these sort of fluffy bits on the ends that give it a more realistic look and even a frosted effect from a distance.
They aren’t the injection-molded branches, but they’re certainly a step up from traditional. It’s pre-lit with 500 clear lights and has 505 bushy branch tips. It’s also available as a seven-foot pre-light tree with artificial pine cones and berries as well as pre-lit with colored lights. This tree is definitely going to need some fluffing once you get it out of the box. The included metal stand is collapsible.
If you’re looking for something that will stand out, go for a downswept-style tree like this Five-Foot Pre-Lit Skinny Forestree by National Tree. The intentionally sloping angle of the branches is much more eye-catching than a traditional triangle-shaped tree.
Downswept trees have a more realistic look and seem like they’ve been plucked right out of a snowy forest. This one is five-feet tall with a diameter of only 19-inches so this is a very skinny tree.
It has 486 branch tips and is pre-lit with 200 clear lights. You can also buy it in height of two feet, three feet, and four feet.
For those looking for a unique and modern tree silhouette that’s eye-catching but takes up almost no space, Treetopia is the brand for you.
Treetopia’s trees have clean, topiary-like lines for a tree that’s skinny all the way down. It’s a less traditional shape for a tree but that can make for a show-stopping effect once it’s decorated.
Despite being one of the thinnest trees on the list, Treetopia’s trees are very dense and full. This isn’t the kind of tree that you have to worry about it looking cheap because you can see the pole.
It’s also a nice choice if you simply don’t have much space to fit a tree. Their six-foot Christmas tree has a diameter of only 18 inches but is packed with 406 branch tips. If you choose a pre-lit tree, it comes with 250 clear lights.
Their 7.5-foot Christmas tree is 20 inches in diameter and has 650 branch tips. The pre-lit version comes with 400 white lights.
Treetopia’s towering nine-foot Christmas tree is dense with 816 branch tips and a whopping 600 white lights on the pre-lit version.
If you’re looking for something a little nontraditional and ultra-slender, try this Collapsible Gold Tinsel Tree.
At only 14.5 inches in diameter, this skinny tree can fit into some truly tight spaces. It’s 65 inches tall, so it’s about five and a half feet in height. This tree is actually collapsible. The “branches” are arranged in a spiral pattern so when you’re done for the season it folds flat for easy storage.
The ultra-skinny topiary style is eye-catching, like something out of a painting. Because of the design, this isn’t the best tree for hanging ornaments on. The metallic gold tinsel has a bright shine to it and is dotted by gold sequins and lit with 35 warm white LED lights. Another neat perk is that you don’t have to plug this in so you can put this tree anywhere without having to worry about wires. It takes three AA batteries (not included) and runs on a timer of six hours on then 18 hours off.
If you love that faux snow look, this 6.5-Foot Portland Pine Tree is the best flocked skinny tree out there.
The Portland Pine tree has long, realistic needles. This gives the flocking more surface area to hang onto so it doesn’t end up looking clumped on. The long needles also create a more realistic and rustic feel.
This one is 6.5 feet tall and 24 inches in diameter so it’s a good medium size for a pencil tree. It’s pre-lit with 300 lights to save you time and frustration and it has 410branch tips for a dense, full tree.
I like that it has a five-year warranty on the tree and a three-year warranty on the lights.
The neat thing about this Vickerman Bixley Skinny Tree is that it has a mix of bottle-brush and molded plastic branches or a combination of realistic and traditional.
The traditional bottle-brush needles at the center of the tree, filling it out and hiding the pole, but it also has more highly realistic branches (made by taking molds of actual pine trees) that stretch to the edges of the tree to give it a more lifelike silhouette. It’s the best of both worlds.
This one is so pointy! I sort of like that it’s embracing the narrow triangle shape of Christmas trees you drew as a kid. This one is 8.5 feet tall and is pre-lit with 550 white lights.
This style is also available in colored lights and in heights from 3.5 feet to 10 feet tall.
If you’d ideally love a slim tree that comes pre-decorated to create holiday cheer with minimal effort or use of your rare free-time, these Brylane Pop-Up Trees may be perfect for you.
These trees are pre-lit and fully decorated with ribbons with ornaments. There isn’t even any time needed for fluffing the branches since it’s a pop-up tree that collapses into a flat disc that’s easy to store. Think of it like a cone-shaped slinky that unfolds into a Christmas tree. It’s pretty brilliant.
They’re available in a range of ribbon and ornament colors from gold, red plaid, and red and white. These aren’t the skinniest on the list at 30 inches in diameter for a six-foot tree but they still fall under the pencil category.
It’s a nice choice for a quick and easy tree decoration.
The Montclair by National Tree is a six-foot-tall tree with a gentle triangle shape and a decorative urn at the base. This is also a big plus if you don’t exchange gifts because this tree won’t look unfinished all on its own without presents.
It has decent volume with 284 branch tips and is sized to fit nearly anywhere at 26 inches in diameter. This one also comes pre-lit with 150 clear lights and when you combine that with the more elegant base, this tree doesn’t need decorating. It can certainly take it and would lovely covered in ribbons and ornaments, but it doesn’t need it.
It’s rated for indoor and outdoor display. A pair of these would look lovely on either side of your door.
This Iridescent Skinny Tree has a color-shifting, magical look to it that reminds me of sunlight on fresh snow. It’s is definitely a tree to stand out from the crowd.
The photo doesn’t do it justice as it’s difficult to photograph iridescence, but you know that translucent plastic that changes color depending on how you look at it and that makes you think about unicorns and fairies–this is an entire Christmas tree made out of that stuff. Sign me up.
It’s made by National Tree, a trusted company, and comes in two different sizes.
If all you want is a traditional artificial tree but in pencil shape, this Best Choice Fir Tree the one.
It’s 7.5 feet tall, 26 inches wide, and made with traditional flat needles with fully posable branches. This is a very full tree with 1075 branch tips that, with the proper fluffing, provide very good coverage.
The needles are a classic pine green with some short brown needles up against the branches which give the tree a more realistic look. This tree is unlit, so you can have some fun picking out your perfect lights. It’s easy to assemble, won’t take up much space, and has a truly nostalgic look to it.
These Sparkling Tinsel Trees from Vickerman have all the traditional bottlebrush branches and pencil tree shape but in fun and unexpected colors to wow your guests with something new.
At 27 inches across on the 6.5-foot trees, they’re slightly wider than some of the others on here, but still a slim tree in comparison to regular trees.
This 7.5-Foot Tacoma Slim Tree is tall enough to work even in rooms with high ceilings, yet slim enough at 30 inches wide to save you plenty of space. The long needle style branches helps keep this tree looking full and with 787 branch tips, it didn’t need much help in the first place.
It’s pre-lit with clear lights, but some feel like a tree of this height really needs more, so if you’re looking for a heavily lit tree, but are in love with the long needles of this one, just be aware that you may end up wanting to pick up an extra string of lights to add to it–or you might not. This tree comes with a collapsible metal tree stands, extra bulbs, and a two year warranty on lights.
This tree is available in heights of 4.5 feet, 6.5 feet, and 7.5 feet. At 6.5 feet, the tree is around 28 inches wide. It’s a good size to fit in tight spaces without sacrificing the traditional triangle Christmas tree shape completely.
The branches are made with the traditional flat needles so they’re strong enough to hold lots of ornaments. This tree comes pre-lit with 250 clear lights to enhance the twinkle effect.
You can have a fantastic looking Christmas tree even in small spaces. Enjoy the season with these slim pencil Christmas trees that won't take up too much room.
