pickinghours

When to put up a Christmas tree — and when to take it down

Work backwards, not forwards. A fresh tree lasts 3–4 weeks, which means the most popular plan of all — up at Thanksgiving, down at Twelfth Night — is 5.7 weeks and does not work.

A fresh tree lasts
3–4 weeks
Thanksgiving to Twelfth Night
5.7 wks
Up before December
46%
First farm opens
14 November

The short answer

Work backwards, not forwards. A fresh tree lasts 3–4 weeks, so if you want it standing on Twelfth Night, put it up in the first week of December. If you want it up for Thanksgiving, plan to take it down before New Year. Those are the two honest plans, and you have to pick one.

Almost every article on this subject answers with tradition. The useful answer is arithmetic, and it is slightly uncomfortable: the most popular way of doing Christmas does not work with a real tree.

The subtraction nobody does

Three numbers, two of them from a national survey and one from our own care page:

46% of people put the tree up before 1 December YouGov, Dec 2025
71% take it down in January or later YouGov, Dec 2025
A fresh-cut tree lasts3–4 weeks
Thanksgiving 26 November to Twelfth Night 5 January 5.7 weeks

Put plainly: the single most common plan asks a cut tree for close to double its working life. That is why so many people conclude that real trees “don’t last” — they are not being kept badly, they are being asked for 5.7 weeks of a 3-to-4 week tree.

Two of those three numbers come from how people behave and one from how the tree behaves. Only the tree’s is negotiable, and only slightly — see how long a Christmas tree lasts for the watering that buys you the top of that range rather than the bottom.

So pick a plan

When you can actually buy one

This is the part the national articles cannot tell you, because it depends on real farms rather than on custom. Across the 17 farms on this site with confirmed 2026 dates:

First farm to open — Clawson’s Choose & Cut14 November
Farms open before Thanksgiving14 of 17
Last farm to close — Miller’s Christmas Tree Farm24 December

Mid-November is a hard floor. Before then almost nobody is cutting, so an early-November tree was cut somewhere else weeks earlier and trucked — which is the biggest single reason one tree outlasts another. And the closing dates are the trap at the other end: several farms here close in the first week of December, not at Christmas, because they sell out. Check the farm’s own dates on its listing before you drive out.

Every farm page on this site carries its 2026 opening and closing dates and the day we checked them.

The 2026–2027 dates

Which day of the week each one falls on, because that is what people actually plan around.

DateWhat it is
Thursday 26 November2026Thanksgiving
most farms open this weekend or the one before
Friday 27 November2026Black Friday
the single most popular day to put the tree up
Sunday 29 November2026Advent Sunday
the traditional start of the Christmas season
Tuesday 1 December2026December begins
the line 46% of people are already past
Friday 25 December2026Christmas Day
Friday 1 January2027New Year’s Day
20% have taken the tree down by now
Tuesday 5 January2027Twelfth Night
the traditional night to undecorate
Wednesday 6 January2027Epiphany
the twelfth day; the other traditional date
Tuesday 2 February2027Candlemas
the older English custom, now rare

What the traditions actually say

Advent Sunday — Sunday 29 November this year — is the traditional start of the Christmas season, being the fourth Sunday before Christmas. It usually lands within a few days of Thanksgiving, which is why the American habit and the church calendar sit together so comfortably.

At the other end, the traditions genuinely disagree, and anyone telling you there is one correct date is picking a side. The twelve days of Christmas run from Christmas Day, which puts Twelfth Night on the evening of 5 January; count from Boxing Day instead and it falls on 6 January, which is Epiphany itself. An older English custom kept greenery up until Candlemas on 2 February. The superstition that decorations left up past Twelfth Night bring bad luck is folklore rather than rule — and in any case, with a real tree the dryness is the deadline, not the date.

The one deadline that is not negotiable

Whatever date you have chosen, a real tree sets its own. 35% of home fires that begin with a Christmas tree happen in January, after the tree has dried out, and New Jersey’s Division of Fire Safety puts it bluntly: a dried-out tree “can become engulfed in flames in a matter of seconds.”

The three signs, in order of how early they appear: the stand stops emptying, the needles come away when you run a branch through your hand, and the limbs go stiff instead of springy. The first one is the useful one, because it happens weeks before the others. When it does, the tree has stopped drinking and nothing you add to the water will restart it.

Then see what to do with it — in most of the cities we cover, collection is free.

Timing: questions

When should you put up a Christmas tree?

If it is a real tree, work backwards from when you want it to come down. A fresh tree lasts 3–4 weeks, so the date that matters is not the tradition but the subtraction. Counting back from Twelfth Night, Tuesday 5 January, that puts it up in the first week of December. Counting back from Christmas Day it is the end of November. The one plan that does not work is the most popular one: Thanksgiving to Twelfth Night is 5.7 weeks, which is close to double what a cut tree gives you.

When should you take a Christmas tree down?

Traditionally Twelfth Night or Epiphany — 5 January or 6 January — and in practice, when the tree tells you. Most people are in that window anyway: 47% take it down in the first week of January. But with a real tree the deciding factor should be the needles, not the date. If a branch run through your hand sheds, if the limbs have gone stiff, or if the stand has stopped emptying, it is dry, and a dry tree is a fire risk rather than a decoration — 35% of home fires that start with a Christmas tree happen in January. Our disposal page covers what to do with it next.

Is it bad luck to leave a Christmas tree up after Twelfth Night?

There is an old superstition that decorations left up past Twelfth Night bring bad luck for the year, sometimes explained as tree spirits needing to be released back outdoors. It is folklore, not a rule, and the traditions do not even agree on the date: some count the twelve days from Christmas Day and land on the evening of 5 January, others count from Boxing Day and land on 6 January. An older English custom left greenery up until Candlemas on 2 February. If you like a late Christmas, you have precedent. With a real tree the fire risk is the real deadline, not the folklore.

When can you actually buy a real Christmas tree?

From about the middle of November, and that is a hard floor — it is set by when the farms open, not by when you feel ready. Of the 17 farms on this site with confirmed 2026 dates, the earliest, Clawson’s Choose & Cut, opens on 14 November, and 14 open before Thanksgiving. The last to close is Miller’s Christmas Tree Farm on 24 December. If you want the tree standing in the first week of December, the weekend of 28 November is the obvious trip.

Is it too early to put up a Christmas tree before Thanksgiving?

For an artificial tree that is a taste question; for a real one it is a supply question. Hardly any farm is cutting before mid-November, so a tree bought in early November was cut weeks earlier and trucked — which is the single biggest difference in how long it lasts. 18% of people do put a tree up before Thanksgiving. If that is you and you want it real, buy from a farm that cuts to order rather than a lot, and read our how long a tree lasts page before you do, because you are starting the clock early.

What is Advent Sunday, and does it matter for the tree?

Advent Sunday is the fourth Sunday before Christmas — 29 November 2026 this year — and is the traditional start of the Christmas season in most of western Christianity. It is a tidy compromise date: late enough that a real tree put up then is still drinking at Christmas, early enough to feel like the season has started. It usually falls within a few days of Thanksgiving, which is why the two habits coexist so comfortably in the US.

When do Christmas tree farms close?

Earlier than people expect, and that is the mistake worth avoiding. Several farms we list close in the first week of December, not at Christmas, because they sell out. The last on this site to close is Miller’s Christmas Tree Farm on 24 December, but planning around that date is planning around the exception. Check the farm’s own closing date on its listing before you drive — every farm page here carries it, with the day we checked.

Does putting the tree up later make it last to Twelfth Night?

Yes, and it is the only thing that reliably does. From 1 December to Twelfth Night is 5.0 weeks, which is still asking a lot of a tree that gives you 3–4 weeks — but it is within reach if the tree was cut fresh and never runs dry. From Thanksgiving it is 5.7 weeks, which is not. The other lever is the stand: a tree that is allowed to run out of water even once seals its own trunk and stops drinking, whatever you do afterwards.

Where the facts come from

The behaviour figures are YouGov’s, from a survey of 1,114 US adults conducted 1–3 December 2025, with a margin of error of about four points: 18% put the tree up before Thanksgiving and 28% between Thanksgiving and 1 December; 47% take it down in the first week of January and 24% later in January. The fire figures are the NFPA’s (2020–2024 average) and the warning is the New Jersey Division of Fire Safety’s. How long a tree lasts is taken from our own tree-care page, and the farm opening and closing dates from the listings on this site, each of which carries the date we checked it with the farm. Every calendar date above is calculated rather than typed.

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