Collecting an ungainly, 10 ft tree in a Nissan Micra, erecting the darned thing, scrawny and unsatisfactory, and then trying to get rid of it a fortnight later . . . it's no surprise some people swear by artificial Christmas trees, particularly now some of them look so darn real. Alternatively, some go for something completely different and opt for a Christmas tree that is a tree of fantasy - in plastic, wood or lights.

Gold wicker tree with lights

£70, Mad Flowers, Dame Street, Dublin and other good florists nationwide

A 3D, tree-shaped affair, woven out of willow sticks sprayed gold and bedecked with small white lights, this is a thoroughly charming alternative to a real Christmas tree. Standing approximately 5 ft, it's good for those in apartments or small houses but then, storage from year to year might be a problem - it's too pretty and too pricey to just use once.

Spiral plywood "tree"

£120, Foko, South Great Georges Street, Dublin

This is the ultimate designer Christmas tree - a spiral of pale wood, which is suspended from the ceiling. It comes complete with small, round weights, an attractive feature in themselves. There's plenty of room to suspend tastefully minimal Christmas decorations as well as builtin candle holders - one for Yule snobs.

Fibre-optic tree by Christmas Trimmings

£30, Roches Stores, branches nationwide

These are the big hit this year - a 32 in tree with tiny bundles of fibre optics at the end of each branch. Plug it in and rotating filters and a bulb in the base will make the optics glow in every colour under the sun. Hardly subtle, they are great fun and more twinkly and pretty than they sound.

Variegated holly tree

£110, The Plant Store, Harcourt Street, Dublin

Clustered with berries and sculpted into a round, lollipop shape, these are the greenest alternative to an evergreen tree - they come in a pot and, with the right care, will last long after the decorations come down. They would look great decked out with small coloured baubles or wispy bows of ribbon; the only problem is that they shouldn't really be brought indoors for any length of time.

Swiss pine artificial tree

£75, Penneys branches nationwide

One of the most sly and cunning fake trees around, this one from Penneys clocks in at seven and a half feet, and looks astonishingly realistic. This is probably thanks to the 45 pine cones that are thrown in for free, rather than the "fully wrapped trunk" or the hinged branches; either way, it's fully flame-resistant and comes with a stand.

Inflatable tree

£29, SKK, Urbana, Temple Bar, Dublin

This is the student prank of the fake tree world - 1.8 metres in height, the SKK tree comes in green, blue, purple or white translucent plastic and is inflated through one of those valves you haven't seen since beach-ball days. The ones in SKK are decked out with tiny fairy lights but real candles, pointy stars and young animals are probably no-nos. Smaller sizes also available.

IF these sound too fake by half, maybe you should opt for a real tree but use a service called Dial-A-Tree - for £30, someone will bring you a six-foot tree, erect it for you and then take it away come January. Each extra foot costs another £5 and you can also order stands, barrels, mistletoe, holly and wreaths. To order, call Kevin on 086 8052286.