How much is a Christmas tree in 2025?

How much is a Christmas tree in 2025? The real question is: how much would you like to spend?

You can buy a real Christmas tree for under $50 in most regions, or you can push the boat out and spend $1,000-plus having a professionally decorated tree installed.

How much is a real Christmas tree?

It’s surprising how little the price of a Christmas tree has changed over the years. Ten years ago, a freshly cut tree cost around $40. And if you shop around, you can still buy one today for the same price.

The most affordable option for a real tree is visiting a Christmas tree farm, choosing a tree, and taking it home in your ute or trailer. Sometimes you get the option of cutting it down yourself. A standard 1.7 to 1.85m (5ft 6 to 6ft) pine will typically cost between $35 and $65. The bigger the tree, the more you’ll pay. There aren’t many Christmas tree farms in New Zealand, so prices don’t vary as much as you might expect.

You can also buy a freshly cut tree from a roadside stall, which usually adds $5 or $10 to the price, or more as you get into the city centres. Prices in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington are higher on average, around $65 to $85, with prices in the South Island around $45 to $65.

If you really want to push the boat out, Auckland’s Misa Christmas Tree Farm in Mount Eden offers a range that goes up to their “Dancer” size tree at 3.5-4m tall (even bigger than the Dasher, Massive, or Huge sizes). The Dancer costs $750 and they’ll even come and decorate it for you for $450.

While Auckland has some of the most expensive trees, they also appear to have some of the cheapest - Mt Gabriel Christmas Tree Farm in Mangere Bridge sells a 5ft tree for $25, although you have to cut it down yourself. Outstanding value in our opinion, but a bit of an outlier; in general trees are cheaper in the South Island. 

Christmas tree delivery and pick up

For an extra cost, you can have your tree delivered before Christmas and then picked up in January for disposal. In Auckland and Wellington, delivery and removal (including the tree) starts from $200, or from $100 in Christchurch.

Delivery isn’t always available in the regions, and pick-up services are rare. However, enterprising individuals sometimes offer a pickup service, so it might be worth checking Neighbourly or Facebook in your area.

Choose a fake Christmas tree you can live with for 10 years

Artificial Christmas trees are cheap, starting from $29 for a 1.8m tree from a big box hardware store. Or splash out on a premium tree, possibly with LED lighting built in, priced at around $300 to $1,000.

From a sustainability perspective, you need to use your fake tree for at least a decade. This puts it on par, environmentally speaking, with buying a real tree every Christmas. So pick a fake one that you can live with for the next 10 years.

Or you could rent a professionally decorated artificial tree, on a theme of your choice, starting from around $950 (including installation and removal).

Potted Christmas trees: the sustainable option

The top Christmas tree choice for sustainability is a potted tree. You can buy one for around $130, keep it outdoors for most of the year, then bring it indoors for Christmas.

If that sounds like too much maintenance, you can rent a potted tree for $50 or $60. You’ll also pay a security deposit of $30 or $40, which you’ll get back when you return the tree in healthy condition.

Potted trees tend to be much smaller than the ones you’ll find at a Christmas tree farm, but you can rent the same tree every year and see it grow.