Distance doesn’t have to dull the magic of Christmas time! If you’re living overseas and want to send something heartfelt to family or friends in Sydney, flowers are one of the simplest, most meaningful gestures - but only if you get the details right.
How to Send Christmas Flowers from Overseas to Sydney
Sending flowers from overseas is simple when you know how Sydney florists work during the festive rush. Here’s what to keep in mind - from time zones to climate and availability - so your bouquet arrives fresh and on time.
👉 Shop our Christmas Flowers & Gifts Collection →
What Are the Best Flowers to Send for Christmas in Sydney?
Australia’s summer season means Christmas blooms are bright, bold, and different from traditional Northern Hemisphere picks. Locally grown natives, dahlias, and garden roses thrive best in the Sydney heat.
With years of experience creating Christmas bouquets, wreaths and table pieces for homes across Sydney (and guiding plenty of overseas senders along the way), we’ve summarised the most common mistakes people make when ordering Christmas flowers from overseas - how to avoid them and what to do instead.
1. Leaving Your Order Too Late
The biggest mistake? Waiting until the week before Christmas, only a couple of days before, or the worst: the morning of Christmas Day. Sydney florists book out fast: either due to being at maximum capacity, delivery drivers and/or flowers on hand.
The more custom and specific your order is, the more difficult and unrealistic a last-minute order will be well fulfilled. As florists, orders need to be placed for very specific seasonal items and quantities with growers at the flower markets, and sometimes there is very limited stock due to weather, quality, etc. When you order flowers from overseas, there is also a time-zone delay to factor in, particularly if extended communications are required to finalise and confirm an order. If you're unreachable and it takes more than a day to confirm a detail or back-up floral preference, this may mean that the florist misses a cut-off for an order with the wholesaler/grower or a market morning visit.
What to do instead:
Order ideally by mid-December, ideally before Dec 18th. That guarantees the widest flower choice and delivery before Christmas Eve - when most florists, including us, are running at full capacity.
2. Expecting a “White Christmas” Colour Palette
Northern-Hemisphere Pinterest boards don’t always translate to an Australian summer. Heavy pine cones, imported holly and cold-weather flowers often wilt the moment they hit Sydney's humidity. With it being summer in Sydney over the Christmas season, we also have the luxury of having an abundance of vibrant, hot-summer floral blooms that really shine and are truly unique. Gorgeous textural natives, scented garden roses, big seasonal (red!) dahlias, amongst a sea of other summer-only local varieties.
What to do instead:
Embrace our Southern Hemisphere "Hot-Summer" Christmas. Think fresh Australian natives, bold dahlias, garden roses, hydrangeas and forest-green foliage. These thrive in the warmth and last beautifully through the holiday week.
We often mix in preserved and dried accents - a design choice that adds texture and extra longevity while keeping the palette festive, not fussy.
💐 Explore Christmas Bouquets & Arrangements →
3. Forgetting That Sydney Summer = Heat
Sydney Christmas Day regularly climbs past 30°C. That means logistics matter more than ever: shaded placement, short travel windows, and climate-appropriate stems.
What to do instead:
Choose a florist who knows the local climate and considers that within their bouquet wrapping and delivery logistics. At Lime Tree Bower, we design with longevity & logistics in mind. What does this mean realistically?
- We use fresh seasonal flowers that have been refrigerated or correctly prepared before designing and wrapping.
- Adding sufficient water levels within the bouquet pouch or the vase, depending on the distance and time from our Sydney shop to the recipient's address, and the likelihood of whether they'll be there to receive it. We proactively confirm these details with the orderer where possible, if we're unsure too!
- We try to avoid sending out flowers at the very peak of lunch time when temperatures are at their highest and vehicles will be warm. Sometimes it cannot be prevented, but where possible, we do our best to avoid flowers sitting in a delivery van for too long in such warm weather. A small logistical tweak like this really can impact the longevity of the flowers for the recipient, as it's been in less harsh conditions.
4. Using a Global Florist Network or Flower Order Gatherer, instead of a Local Sydney Florist
Large international relay sites might look convenient, but most simply forward your order to whoever’s available - often with little design consistency or visibility on quality. They took a significant cut from the florist that actually takes up the order, which means they have very little budget to actually design the expected outcome, leading to lower-quality flowers and the recipient being gifted something that looks far from what the original photo pictured.
Sometimes it is quite difficult to even know if an online business is a flower order gatherer or a network, rather than an actual local Sydney florist business. There are quite a few tell-tale signs: they don't have a physical presence, they dominate the first page of search results for different suburbs + florist and give you the impression that they have a branch in every suburb of Sydney, and they have a generic 1300-type number.
What to do instead:
Go direct to the source! Local Sydney studios (like ours) hand-craft every piece in-house, from flower selection to ribbon choice, ensuring what you see online is what’s actually delivered. It also means your money supports a small, creative business rather than disappearing into network fees.
5. Skipping Personal Touches
The difference between a “delivery” and a gift often comes down to presentation. Overseas orders can feel impersonal when they arrive without a note or care detail.
What to do instead:
Add a short message written in your own words - we hand-write every card, including our complimentary mini notes or premium Christmas greeting cards. Include a little something extra: a locally-made candle, artisanal chocolate or champagne, or Aussie hand cream and bath salts. Those small finishing details make the overall gift experience feel significantly more considered and special!
🎁 Explore Gift Add-On Ideas to Complement Your Christmas Flowers →
6. Overlooking Wreaths and Table Flowers
Most people think “Christmas flowers” only mean bouquets. But in Sydney, wreaths and centrepieces are just as popular - and more enduring. For example, our Artistic Christmas Wreaths combine fresh and dried florals, evolving beautifully over the season. Hang them on the front door or inside as a statement piece.
Being an island, we do have quite strict quarantine laws between states in terms of shipping fresh specimens, including flowers. As we only have a single business location in Sydney, we cannot physically send Christmas flowers from our flower shop to Perth, for example. We can, however, send a non-fresh version that's made from predominantly preserved flowers, like our Everlasting Mini Christmas Wreath!
Christmas wreath workshops are also an awesome gift experience idea, particularly if they're a super hands-on crafty type! This year, we won't be offering our wreath workshop; however, we love seeing other local makers continue the craft, too - like If the Florist's Wreath Making Workshop and Little Lane's Fresh to Dried Floral Christmas Wreath Workshop.
FAQ: How do I hang a Christmas wreath without damaging my door?
Use a satin ribbon looped over the top or a removable sticky/3M hook - avoid nails in painted surfaces, and always try to keep the wreath shaded from direct sun, as that increases the speed of colour fading.
🌿 Shop Our Artistic Christmas Wreaths →
7. Forgetting Sydney’s Time Zones and Mistaking Key Delivery Details
Despite how simple this sounds, you'd be surprised at the number of mistakes made by overseas senders concerning incomplete addresses or completely wrong addresses because the recipient has moved. The difference in "3 Blue Avenue" and 3A Blue Avenue" is quite significant!
We double-check addresses before deliveries get sent out, and sometimes we can catch it early, but sometimes there's no way to know until the delivery is being attempted. The worst case is that someone has gone away and won't be home for days or weeks, or has moved!
What to do instead:
Please double-check the recipient’s full address, phone number, and delivery instructions before checkout. If you’re in the UK, US or Europe, aim to order at least 24 hours before an expected delivery day. Try to have access to your phone so that we can reach you if needed once we open for the day Sydney time; with big time zone differences, this can be tricky, so simply something to bear in mind.
Our team confirms every address manually, and if anything looks off, we’ll reach out before your flowers leave the studio.
Bonus Tip: For Overseas Corporate & Client Gifting
If you’re sending flowers to Sydney colleagues or clients from overseas, avoid generic hampers. Opt for tailored corporate pieces - think elegant floral centrepieces, potted orchids, or mini wreaths branded with ribbon colours to suit your business.
We can coordinate multiple deliveries or create bespoke designs on request.
✨ Contact us directly for Corporate Christmas Florals
FAQs
Can I send Christmas flowers from overseas to Sydney?
Absolutely. Place your order online and we’ll handle delivery locally across Sydney.
When should I order for Christmas delivery?
By mid-December, ideally - earlier the better for specific design requests. We take limited last-minute orders in the lead-up and the morning of Christmas Eve.
What flowers last best in Sydney's heat?
Natives like Christmas Bush, natives like Leucadendron and Eucalyptus, plus summer Dahlias and Hydrangeas. We also blend preserved elements for extra longevity.
How long will fresh flowers last once delivered?
Typically, 4–7 days for fresh blooms, but varieties vary due to weather and type; dried and preserved accents can last many months and years, depending on how much direct sun they get.
Why Order from a Sydney Florist
Every Lime Tree Bower arrangement is designed and made by hand in our Sydney studio - not mass-produced or outsourced. We balance colour, texture and shape to create pieces that feel authentically Australian yet timelessly elegant. So even if you’re half a world away, your flowers will arrive looking and feeling like you were here to hand them over yourself.
Sending Christmas flowers to Sydney from overseas is simple - once you know what not to do. Order early, choose heat-friendly blooms, go local and add a personal touch. Your gift will speak volumes without you having to say a word.
