How far can you go with €25? Conor Pope samples some festive decorative options for under €25.
Penneys €25
What you get: glass baubles, six red baubles, four red clip-on candles, 27 small gold baubles, six-metre (20ft) bell garland, two-metre (6.5ft) star garland, two-metre tinsel garland. Box of nine silver and
Highs: Tinsel has come a long way in recent years, with all manner of stars and shapes now included on each garland. It is ideal for covering up for a dearth of decorations or for wrapping around the base of a gnarly tree or a drunken uncle slumped on your couch. Penny's offers an impressive array of cheap tinsel as well as a very good range of low-cost decorations. The ceramic Santa is particularly fetching.
Lows: Santa is in a stripy blanket is something of a mystery. While the decorations sold individually are very good, the boxes offering selections of decorations are hit and miss - with some of them verging on terrible. The candles look good boxed but disappoint on the tree, as they are prone to breaking.
Why the aforementioned
Verdict: Good value and good fun
Star rating:****
Meadows & Byrne €25.95
What you get: Two clip-on bead birds, a red butterfly and a red flower, an angel with pearls, a red glass bauble, two gold and two red baubles, four small gold baubles.
Highs: Two clip-on crystal bead birds are great - elaborate without being overly fussy, easy to attach to the tree and suitably festive. Decorations from this store are a good compromise between the really expensive but high quality decorations, and the really cheap but flimsy options. The big gold and red baubles are brash, very sturdy and cost just €1 a pop. A lot of the decorations available here have an imaginative bent to them, particularly the abstract angel with pearls.
Lows: Of course, some people might find such an angel a little weird. And weird has no real place on a Christmas tree. And speaking of out of place, the flower and the butterfly decorations don't seem overly festive either.
Verdict: The classiest of the bunch.
Star rating:****
Tesco € 25.46
What you get: Pack of 53 decorations, two onion-shaped baubles; four glittery reindeer, 16 bronze baubles, three glass baubles, 12 silver baubles, one acrylic snowflake.
Highs: This is very good value; your €25 gets a vast array of glittering tat, some of which looks surprisingly expensive. There is so much on offer that not all of the decorations bought fitted on our little tree. Some of the packaging is reasonably sturdy, which will facilitate storage when the day comes to take the tree down. The gold snowflakes are nice and easy to put up and make for an interesting departure from the traditional bauble, while the heavy golden reindeers are pretty cool.
Lows: The poor deers shed their glitter very fast: before they'd even spent an evening on the tree they had worrying bald patches, and surrounding furniture and bodies had taken on a shimmery hue. Some of the baubles are very flimsy and won't make for family heirlooms.
Verdict: More bang for your buck.
Star rating:*****
Brown Thomas € 24.80
What you get: One red bauble, one bunch of plastic berries, one snowflake, one glass snowdrop, a bird box with bell and one glass bauble.
Highs: These decorations aren't just for Christmas, they're for life - or several lives. If you splash out on these, you should be able to expect your family to be hanging them from trees for generations. They're the most ornate and the most expensive-looking option by a fairly substantial margin and all the glitter has been replaced by sturdier shiny sequins. If money is no object and you buy a lot of these, then you will probably have the best tree on the block.
Lows: But at what cost? With €25 to spend, PriceWatch only came away with six decorations (compared with more than 100 from Tesco). Some of the decorations aren't even that nice and are overly fussy. They try hard not to be gaudy when gaudy is, of course, the whole point of a Christmas tree.
Verdict: Too dear by a long way.
Star rating: **
Habitat € 26.50
What you get: One big glass bauble; box of six red, gold and purple baubles, box of 15 tiny red and silver baubles, 15 silver bells.
Highs: If you're buying your decorations from Habitat, chances are you'll be more concerned with its aesthetic than its cheerful nature, so you won't be surprised by the lack of gaudy options available. The silver bells come in different sizes and chime sweetly, while the heavy glass bauble catches the light wonderfully and actually verges on the tasteful. There's a lot of classy matt finishes going on here too.
Lows: But really, where does class belong on a Christmas tree? Forget tasteful, what you want is lots of stuff hanging from the branches and, in truth, not only will Habitat's prices put many people off, the sheer weight of some of the decorations may fell your tree well before the big day. The smaller baubles are dull and have to be laced up individually.
Verdict: A little too cool.
Star rating: ***
