Tinsel can get messy around my house and I have 3 dogs who will eat it up.

Years ago, many years ago, it was my privilege to put the finishing touches on the tree with the tinsel. Carefully, one strand at a time, I would work the pretty silver strands on the tree. I loved that part of Christmas and thought it was beautiful. Just don't use it anymore - maybe I should change that.

We use tinsel and love the old fashioned look it gives the tree. We are trying to achieve a mid-century look so tinsel fits in perfectly. It does have to be put on slowly or gets messy looking very quickly.

Ever since I found slightly used tinsel in the kitty litter box I don't do tinsel anymore! Gross!

Couldn't stand the stuff when I was a kid (but I LOVED bubble lights) My mother was a "tree nazi" and would stand over us directing every strand! I have never used it on my own trees. When we were first married, my husband and I would use "tinsel garland" and then when our children were small, we went to using bead garland--and that is what I use still. We use the kind made of 1/2 " gold-look balls. It catches the light and looks very festive wrapped around the tree with all of my keepsake ornaments. The ornaments were all gifts from family and friends and tinsel would just distract from them. The grandchildren love to examine each and every ornament. A few of the more fragile ones have, unfortunately, not made it past the examination. But the look of pure delight on the faces of little ones, when they see the tree is worth all the ornaments in the world.

bungalowmo I HAVE seen a cat pooping out tinsel and skinny ribbon! She liked to eat all of that stuff. Birthdays were fun too with all that skinny ribbon on gifts and balloons! Poor kitty.... No Tinsel!!! Still hard when gifts show up with all that skinny ribbon festooning off the of the gift. Kitty can't resist. She can't seem to remember...?

Grew up with tinsel and garland. We used to pull 3 or 4 strands at a time and lay them perfectly on the ends of a select few branches. I love the memories, but now I don't use tinsel or garland at all. My Mother still uses the old shiny garland, but over the years it loses 'poof' and she does not like the new stuff so that will be coming to an end soon.

I bet I am the oldest commentator on this post...Tinsel is still on the market? Ralph Nader did get rid of it?

Tinsel is magical shimmering on the tree! Sure do miss the old tinsel though.

Truly it's beautiful and I use to tinsel the tree from top to bottom. It was the worst to clean up because it would make it's way down to the carpet. So going from kids at home to expecting a visit from the kids and grands, no more tinsel, ever. But it's still beautiful.

My thrifty mother, having survived the Great Depression, carefully ironed each piece of tinsel which was recycled yearly. As a young mother, I loved tinsel until it had to be cleaned up and became intertwined in the roller of the vacuum. So, on to garlands, which were festive but quite as shimmering. At this point in my life as a grandmother, I still use garlands but also add crystal icycles, which truly reflect the lights on the tree.

Love tinsel, but have not used it ovr the last few years...just too much work! But...maybe this year?

I love tinsel, and live by the 'single strand at a time' decorating approach my mother taught us. Everyone I know my age used the same packages of tinsel our entire childhoods. Each piece taken off the tree carefully and stored in the original package for the next year. "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." I grew up with Christmas trees decorated with ornaments old and new, store bought and homemade and colored lights that got hot to the touch. I still love the glow that colored lights give the room, and since finding the new LED lights inside the old fashioned looking 'bulbs' (that don't get hot) last year, I was so happy to replace those tiny lights.

Loved the look of tinsel on the tree when I was growing up. Had it on our tree for a few years after getting married, and put up with the dog pooping it out. We stopped when our oldest daughter (about 3 at the time) came to me complaining that her finger hurt. When I looked at it, she had wound a piece of tinsel around her finger so tight that she had cut off the circulation. I asked her why she did this and she said she wanted a pretty ring like mommy's. We stopped using tinsel after that while the kids were little, and to tell you the truth I don't miss it. I love the way my tree looks without it.

LOVE tinsel...but the new stuff has too much static in it. We too saved the tinsel from year to year. In the end my father must have gotten bored with the tediousness (word?) and changed to garland. I hate garland. I don't use it. Now I use clear plastic icicles on the tree and LOTS of lights...I mean LOTS! Then the icicles pick up the light from the tiny bulbs and it looks awesome. Can't put up a pic...it's not up yet...or bought! Gotta get out and do that!

Absolutely NOT!!! We had it when I was growing up! If it fell off the tree, it tracked everywhere and was a PAIN to clean up!! If I never see another strand of the stuff, I'm happy!

I haven't used it since my kids were born over 35 years ago. My ex and I alternated years before they were born using tinsel and angel hair but little fingers and angel hair didn't mix.

When I was growing up, we did use it, tossing it on when I was young and then placing it more carefully as I got older. My dad took us to see the tree a friend of his had done with thousands of what we called "icicles" dripping from it. I remember it being the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

I haven't thought about it in years until I saw an old pic that someone posted somewhere with branches loaded. I guess mercury glass has replaced tinsel in my decorations now.

Carefully draped only if appropriate for my decorations this year; otherwise it can look taaaaacky.

I remember one year for Christmas my Grandmother visiting,painstakingly smoothing out each strand nice and shiny and my Dad hanging them to perfection. We would get to help but only one or two strands at a time. :) when it was done it shone and shimmered. Magical.

Love all the memories shared here! Seems like the Christmas tree is the ultimate in personalized decorating, involving all in its wonderful spell.

I'm not a tinsil fan. I would love to see a pic of it done "tastefully:.

I'm not sure what "tasetefully" means to you, exactly, but here are some pics that remind me of ways I saw tinsel used as a child growing up in the 1950s.

I would like to share this video of the Glade commercial for the holiday season. I get goosebumps when I listen. ;))

My poor Mom ( rest in peace ) use to put tinsel on the tree oh so carefully. It was always so pretty. One Christmas when we were small we were playing and spilled something, can remember what on the carpet and my Mom spot cleaned it. My Dad ( rest in peace ) thought he would help her by drying it a bit faster and set a fan down on floor and turned it on high and do I need to go any further. All my Mom's tinsel was blown into twisted mess on the tree. Mom was not happy :)

Sorry for laughing Mark, but I got a visual;))

Love that story, Mark! I hope you're smiling as much as I am about it. It brings so many memories of my own parents back.

All this talk of tinsel has flooded my memory bank with childhood memories that had been sitting on some dusty shelf in my brain. Thanks to everyone for helping me get them down and dust them off. "God bless us--every one!"

Yes whynottryit I do laugh about it. It's those memories of my Mom and Dad that and help me make it through each and every day. I am grateful that we were blessed with such loving wonderful parents.

Tinsel talk brings 2 memories - all the time we spent carefully draping 1 strand at a time, although beautiful. The other is the memory of a cat with a shiny butt caused by one strand of tinsel just hanging out abt 3 inches. Yuch. Kitty was fine, we fell on floor with laughter and stopped the tinsel tradition.

NO TINSEL! Why not? Because when people don't use tinsel or spray I'm able to invite them to drop their tree off at our community garden where our goats feast on the plants. What they don't eat can then go to our compost and bonfire.

whynottryit, thank you for finding those - #2 is exactly what I remember - a waterfall of silver, over glass ornaments, and a blanket of snow around the base. Now that is how you do tinsel!
Mark, you make a great Santa!

Most welcome, studio10001. Icicle tinsel has definitely fallen out of favor but nothing else really matches its sparkle. It's nice to reminisce about it though.

Sorry, can't do it. I find trying to shake the stuff off of me.

Me, I like christmas decoration but not too much glitter and glamour! Plus, I have 5 cats who love to show me what their idea of decorating is... Nope, no dangerous tinsel for us because of the cats. I prefer natural decoration more...

My Mom used to save the tinsel too. No thanks.

Love tinsel. It is a pain, but at least our cat has no interest in it. Miss the old tinsel that draped so well. For us, it needs to be straight and vertical with no kinks, not curved over the branches. Otherwise, it just looks messy.

I love the look of tinsel, but it's not safe for the kitties, so instead I have some old-fashioned tin icicles that I got from Vermont Country Store. They are gorgeous and give the tree a vintage look.

Plastic tinsel hack for longer straighter tinsel: This usually comes in a pack that is stapled at the top with the strands to be cut off of a solid end. Leave 1/8" or so uncut and separate into clusters of 4 or 6, then pull the strands straight down through the needles on the branch to bury the uncut end. Now your tinsel is twice as long. ( hard to focus a photo of this last part on my phone)

I've never been a fan of tinsel, we stick with a garland and TONS of ornaments

Studio 10001, here is a better pic of the finished tree

dangerous to pets, messy to clean up and in MHO downgrades the appearance of the tree....looks trashy. Sorry if I offended anyone.

Gorgeous Christmas Kryptonite, chutiger!

Growing up our tree looked like the first one in whynottryit. plastered in perfectly placed tinsel. All blue lights and all blue and silver ornaments on the biggest tree that almost fit in our living room-think Chevy Chase LOL. We would turn the other lights off in the room and it had the most beautiful blue hue. Then when the tree came down, every strand was was carefully placed in a handful and each bunch was layered carefully between tissue paper for next year. We had 3-4 huge boxes stored for next year. But no tinsel for me.

I grew up using tinsel every year. Needless to say, we took it off the tree before it got taken down and saved it for the following year. I wonder what year it was actually bought.

I also think it is kind of fun - there is always one family member that finds a spot with too little tinsel, too much, or a neglected spot. At the end, you feel like you achieved a masterpiece; I think it finishes off the tree.

And it is exciting to find tinsel lying around at the weirdest places long after the holidays are over.

The Cat loves it. Humans not so much, lol.

With a real Christmas tree I think it needs tinsel it gives it that extra sparkle when the Christmas lights are twinkling and helps out in those bare areas near the tree stem. I've had two different types of lights and decorations and back to the more traditional red gold and green which reminds me of home

No, because of our cat! I had a cat ingest tinsel and found it mixed with waste in the litter box. It can strangle a cat's intestines.

Tinsel takes too long to hang it right! My husband and I used it when we first got married. I got rid of it years ago.

Can't use it, I have a dog and 8 cats who would rip it off and eat it. I actually have had a cat come home a few years ago very sick. After a thorough exam by the vet we found out that she had eaten tinsel from somewhere (not my house, maybe a neighbor had some) and re1uired surgery to get it out of her intestines. She's just fine now but it was cutting off blood circulation and she could have died....so no on tinsel for me. I don't miss it too much, though. Gets annoying after a few days, I find it all over the house. I don't let my cats outside unattended anymore, either. They stay in the yard where I can see what they're getting into :/

🥲 guess I need find something different put on my tree this year I had tinsel even with the cats but they more like to climb up my tree than eat it.