Cutting your own Christmas tree with the kids – legally, and so it lasts until Saint Knut's Day

Going out into the snow to choose your own Christmas tree is one of the loveliest Christmas traditions with children. The tree becomes theirs – they helped choose it, saw it down and pull it home on the sledge. But there is one thing many people miss: you cannot just walk into the nearest forest and cut one. Here we go through where you can legally cut your own, how to choose the right tree and what makes it last all the way to Saint Knut's Day.

Can you cut a Christmas tree in the forest?

No. The right of public access lets you walk in the forest, pick berries and mushrooms and take dry twigs lying on the ground – but it gives no right to fell trees. The tree belongs to the landowner, and cutting a tree without permission is illegal and can also be expensive. The same goes for the top of a tree that has already been felled during logging, and for spruce boughs: breaking branches off living trees requires permission.

More about what applies in nature is in the guide to the the Right of Public Access.

Two legal ways to cut your own

1. A Christmas tree farm. Many tree farms and smallholdings open for cut-your-own in December. You walk around among the trees, choose one and saw it down yourselves – sometimes there are saws to borrow, mulled wine and a fire. A Christmas tree takes between five and twelve years to grow, so a tree farm has plenty of trees in every size. Search for “julgransodling” and your town in November, when the farms usually post their opening times.

2. Ask a forest owner. If you live near a forest, you can simply call the landowner and ask whether you can buy a tree. Many say yes, and then it becomes a proper forest outing. Agree on the price and where you may cut – and say thank you.

Tips: Make a day trip of it. Bring a flask, gingerbread biscuits and perhaps Christmas sausage on skewers – a fire where it is allowed turns the tree-cutting into a memory the children will talk about for a long time.

Norway spruce or Nordmann fir?

Norway spruce is the ordinary Swedish spruce and the most common Christmas tree. It smells the most, costs the least and is the tree many people remember from childhood – but it drops its needles faster in the warmth indoors.

Nordmann fir, called kungsgran in Swedish, grows wild in the Caucasus. It is grown because it is even, full and keeps its needles, and if you look after it, it can stand long after Christmas. It is heavier and has a thicker trunk, so it needs a sturdy Christmas tree stand.

How to choose the tree outdoors

1. Measure at home first. Write down the ceiling height and subtract the stand and the star – a tree easily looks small out in the forest.
2. Check the trunk. It should be straight, and at the bottom there needs to be a section without branches that fits in the stand.
3. Do the needle test. Gently run your hand along a branch. If lots of needles fall off, the tree is dry.
4. Let the children choose between two or three you have already approved – then everyone is happy.
5. Saw low and straight, and let an adult handle the saw for the last bit.

Pull the tree home on a sledge, or tie it securely to the car roof with the top facing backwards.

At home: how to make the tree last all Christmas

A freshly cut tree lasts a long time – if it gets water. This is what matters:

• Keep it cool first. Leave the tree outside or in a garage until you bring it in, ideally a day in a stairwell or shed before it comes into the warmth.
• Saw a fresh cut. Just before the tree goes into the stand, saw a couple of centimetres off the trunk so it can draw up water.
• Water every day. A fresh tree can drink several litres in the first few days. Top up every day and never let the water drop below the cut.
• Not by the radiator. Heat, underfloor heating, an open fire and direct sunlight dry the tree out quickly.

For lights in the tree: use electric fairy lights. A dry tree burns very fast.

After Christmas

On Saint Knut's Day the tree is danced out. Then you can lay it in the garden and hang suet balls and seeds in the branches – it becomes a good shelter for small birds. We show how to make a bird feeder for the winter step by step. Many municipalities also collect Christmas trees after the holidays.

More Christmas outdoors

More ideas for a Christmas that happens outdoors are in the Christmas guide, from ice ornaments in the garden trees to a snow lantern in the yard. And if you are baking anyway: build a gingerbread house with gingerbread biscuits as the base.