Start with the ceiling. A standard Australian ceiling is 2.4m, so a 1.8m tree leaves comfortable room for a star or an angel on top, and a 2.1m tree is about the largest that still looks right in most living rooms. Go to 2.4m or 2.7m only if you have raised ceilings or a stairwell void. In an apartment or a small townhouse lounge, a 1.2m or 1.5m tree on a side table gives you the same effect without taking the floor space, and it is far easier to store afterwards.

Width matters as much as height, and it is the measurement most people forget. A full-profile tree at 1.8m can spread close to a metre at the base, which is a problem in a corner next to a walkway. Slim and pencil profiles solve that, and they suit narrow hallways, entry corners and rooms where the tree has to sit beside furniture rather than in front of it. Measure the floor space first, then pick the height.

Pre-lit trees come with the lights already wired through the branches, which saves the annual untangling and gives you an even spread of light from the trunk outwards. Most of our pre-lit models use LED lights, so they run cool, use very little power and last for years of seasonal use. Choosing lights separately still has one advantage: you can change the look each year, and a single failed section does not affect the whole tree. If you are buying a pre-lit tree, check whether the lights are warm white, cool white or multicolour, because that decides the whole colour scheme of the room.

Fibre optic trees light from the tips and cycle through colours on their own, which makes them a good pick for a kids' bedroom, a playroom or a small apartment where a full display is not practical. They need no separate lights or ornaments to look finished, and most run from a low-voltage adaptor. Flocked and glittered pines give you the opposite look: a heavier, more traditional tree that carries chunky baubles well.

For the front yard, our solar LED Christmas tree displays are a different product to an indoor tree. They are light frames rather than foliage, they run from a solar panel with no cable to the house, and they range from 1.5m up to 3.6m. They suit a lawn, a driveway edge or a balcony, and because they charge during the day they cost nothing to run through December.

An Australian Christmas is a summer Christmas, which changes two things. Keep the tree out of direct afternoon sun through a west-facing window, because constant UV fades tips and tinsel over a few seasons. And if the room runs hot, avoid crowding the tree against a wall where warm air sits. When the season is over, the tree lasts far longer if you compress the branches back towards the trunk before it goes into the bag, and store it somewhere dry rather than in a hot roof space.

Once the tree is up, our Christmas decor range covers the lights, reindeer and figures that finish the room, and our Christmas inflatables handle the front yard. Browse everything festive in our full Christmas range.

Every Christmas tree in this range ships Australia-wide with fast dispatch and is available for 1-hour Click and Collect from Mitcham. All orders are covered by our 30-day returns policy.