The best Christmas table decorations for an Australian summer can sit outside in 32 degrees from eleven until pudding and still look good. Think fruit you'll eat, greenery from the garden, a bon bon on every plate and drinkware in one colourway. The snow can stay in the northern hemisphere.

You know the photo. A long table by a fireplace, tall candles, pine cones, a dusting of something white, and not a single fly.

Then there's Christmas lunch at your place. It's 34 degrees under the pergola and the kids have been in the pool since nine. Somebody's uncle is asleep in a camp chair, and the breeze keeps posting serviettes into the hedge.

We love that lunch, and it deserves decorations of its own. Below are ten Christmas table decoration ideas that can take the heat and a table full of children, plus a Christmas Eve plan that leaves your morning free for presents.

Why most Christmas table decorations wilt by lunchtime

Most Christmas table ideas online come from places where December is dark by four in the afternoon. They're lovely, and they were made for a dining room with the heater on.

Carry them outside here and the day picks them off one at a time. Taper candles go soft in the sun and start to lean. Fake snow sticks to sunscreened arms. Chocolate coins melt inside their foil. A paper tablecloth leaves at the first gust and takes the salt with it.

So we use one test. If a decoration can't sit in the shade at 32 degrees for three hours, it stays in the box. Every idea in this post passes.

Pick two colourways before you buy a thing

Red, green, gold, silver, tartan and a reindeer on one table looks like the Christmas aisle at the shops. Two colourways and one neutral look planned, even if you planned them in the car park.

Put that colour in the pieces people hold. A table of eight has eight drinks on it all afternoon, so your drinkware is the biggest block of colour you've got.

Four palettes we'd set for Christmas lunch:

Cream linen or bare timber is your neutral for all four. Our Sweetheart Stemmed Goblets and Bubble Goblets are $54.95 for a set of two. We designed every colourway to sit beside the others, so you can mix two without a clash.

10 Christmas table decoration ideas that can take the heat

1. A bowl of cherries in the middle

Most of Australia's cherry crop comes off the trees in December and January, so the reddest thing on your table can also be dessert. Pile them into a low bowl where everyone can reach.

By three o'clock your centrepiece will be a bowl of stalks and pips. It's the edible centrepiece from our three object table, dressed for December.

2. Greenery from the garden

Leave the pine for the tree. Gum leaves, rosemary, bottlebrush and a few stems of Christmas bush from the florist all cope with the heat, and most of them are free. Lay them down the centre of the table in a loose line.

Give each branch a good shake over the lawn first. Something has been living in it, and it would rather skip lunch.

3. Drinkware in one colourway

Set a goblet at each place, all in the same colourway, and the table looks finished before any food arrives.

Our Sweetheart Stemmed Goblets are silicone, so they're unbreakable. That matters on pavers, and anywhere near a cousin with a new cricket bat. The sculpted heart inside marks a 150ml and a 300ml pour, so whoever's on drinks duty can pour an even serve without measuring.

For the toast, the Sweetheart Celebration Flutes come in the same six colourways.

4. A bon bon on every plate

A bon bon brings colour to each place, and a paper hat and a terrible joke come free inside. Rest it on a folded serviette and the serviette stays on the table too.

We owe them to Tom Smith, a London confectioner who patented his first cracker in 1847. He borrowed the twist of paper from a French sweet called the bon bon, and Australians kept the name.

5. Name tags the kids make

Hand the children a pile of gum leaves and a white paint pen on Christmas Eve, when they're too excited to do anything useful. One leaf per guest, one name per leaf.

Somebody's name will be spelled wrong. That leaf is the one that gets taken home.

6. A tub of ice, dressed up

Fill your biggest bowl with ice, push the bottles in, and tuck rosemary and a handful of cherries around them. It looks generous, and it keeps the drinks at the table so nobody queues at the fridge.

Alfresco, our Baby, Let's Go Outside™ Cooler Bag holds 9 litres and sits beside the table with the second round. It's $89.95.

7. Boards that bring their own colour

Serving boards take up more of a Christmas table than anything else, so let them carry some colour. STYLD.Chop™ boards come as one solid and one swirl in Fairy Floss, Pistachio, Lemonchello and Azure. They measure 37cm by 24cm, and the spill-capture rim keeps mango juice and ham glaze off your runner. A set of two is $79.95.

Keep the pavlova in the fridge until the plates are cleared, then carry it out whole. Nothing else you put on the table will get a bigger cheer.

8. Mesh food covers (sorry)

The least glamorous thing on the table, and by two o'clock the most loved. Flies arrive with the prawns and stay for the pavlova. Buy the white ones or the cane ones and they'll look like you meant it.

Covers keep the flies off, but the clock keeps running underneath them. Under the 2-hour/4-hour rule from Food Standards Australia New Zealand, chilled food that's been out for less than two hours can go back in the fridge, food out for two to four hours should be eaten, and anything past four hours goes in the bin. Bring the seafood out in two smaller rounds and you'll stay well inside it.

9. A kids' table they decorate themselves

Tape butcher's paper over the kids' table and stand a jar of crayons in the middle. Every child draws their own placemat, and the table gets decorated while you finish the salads.

Give them Bubble Gin Cups, the ones we put on the kids' table because they bounce. They're $39.95 for a set of two. There's more in how to host a kid-friendly party.

10. Lights for the long evening

Christmas lunch here tends to run into leftovers at seven. String warm fairy lights or hang solar lanterns before lunch, while you can see what you're doing.

Hold the candles back until the sun's off the table and they'll stand up straight. Tea lights in jars cope with a breeze. Our outdoor entertaining ideas has more on lighting a table after dark.

Set your Christmas table on Christmas Eve

Set the whole Christmas table the night before. Silicone and melamine don't mind sitting out, so the only jobs left for Christmas Day are the fresh ones. If the table's outside, throw a clean sheet over it until breakfast.

Our melamine plate sets come as four 22.5cm plates and go in the dishwasher afterwards.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best Christmas table decorations for an Australian Christmas?

The best Christmas table decorations for an Australian Christmas cope with heat and wind. Use a low bowl of cherries, native greenery such as gum leaves and bottlebrush, a bon bon at each place and unbreakable drinkware in one colourway. Leave tall candles, fake snow and paper tablecloths for a cooler climate.

How do you decorate a Christmas table on a budget?

Decorate with things you'll eat or already have. Fruit in a bowl, greenery cut from the garden and name tags made by the kids cost next to nothing. Put your money into pieces you'll use all year, like drinkware and serving boards.

How do you decorate an outdoor Christmas table?

Keep outdoor Christmas table decorations low and heavy so the breeze can't move them. Use a runner in place of a tablecloth, rest a bon bon on each serviette, set the table in the shade you'll have at one o'clock, and choose unbreakable drinkware for hard surfaces.

What colours work on a Christmas table besides red and green?

Pink with soft green and blue with white both suit a summer Christmas, and so does butter yellow with blush. Choose two colourways and one neutral, such as cream linen or timber.

When should you set the Christmas table?

Set it on Christmas Eve. Lay the runner, boards, plates, drinkware and bon bons the night before, then add fruit, greenery and ice an hour before lunch.

What is a simple Christmas table centrepiece?

A low bowl of cherries with a line of gum leaves or rosemary on either side. Guests can see over it, and most of it gets eaten.

Reusable. Unbreakable. Made for every LifeSTYLD.®