Christmas Tree Trade-In Program Brightens Holiday Season

A Christmas tree is the center of most families' holiday decor. But for households who can't afford a holiday tree, many simply go without. A Lake Barrington business has partnered with the Salvation Army to help make Christmas dreams a reality for families in need. 

Treetime Christmas Creations and the Salvation Army are teaming up for the second year in a row to gather donated artificial Christmas trees that will go to the less fortunate. Anyone who donates their old tree will receive a 15 percent discount on a new one from Treetime from now until Oct. 31.

Treetime owners Laurie and Joe Kane came up with the idea last year as a way to help those in need.

“A lot of customers were coming in and they wanted to replace their tree, but they didn’t necessarily want to just throw away their old tree. They wanted to find a good home for it,” Laurie said. “We figured it was a great way to help people who might need a tree and help customers feel good about doing something for others.”

In 2011, more than 200 trees were donated to the cause. The Salvation Army and Treetime understand that it can be a hassle to get larger trees to the store for donation, so they’ve set up a process where your tree will be picked up free of charge.

“They can call 1-800-SATRUCK and tell them that they’re doing the trade-in program. They [Salvation Army] will come up and pick up the tree and give them a receipt for it,” Joe said. 

Some common reasons for trading in a tree could be moving to a smaller or larger home, or simply desiring the advanced technology newer trees provide.

“A lot of the old trees that come back are the stab style where you have to build your tree. The new trees are on hinges and just fold up,” Joe said. “It’s like an umbrella,” Laurie added.

Another perk to a new tree is the ProTime lighting system many offer. With ProTime, you don’t need to worry about replacing lights when one bulb breaks.

“A lot of the trees you see are the classic lights where if a bulb burns out, the rest will stay lit. But if a bulb becomes broken or anything like that, the rest of the strands end up gone,” Joe said. “On ProTime lights it protects against all of that stuff.”

The Treetime Christmas Creations showroom has dozens of new trees to choose from in varities from Silverbell Fir to Woodlands Pine.

Those interested in participating in the tree trade-in can either bring their artificial tree to the Lake Barrington showroom, or call 1-(800)- SATRUCK to pick it up. All trees must be purchased at the Lake Barrington location, 22N102 Pepper Road.