While I was a child, i loved nothing more than when the tinsel came out of the huge box stored in the cellar and my parents draped every possible surface with the stuff.

That was the 80's!

Now, in my home, tinsel is limited to strictly high quality tincel, and even then, it's used very sparingly.

I have some draped over two doors in simple gold, with some pretty large bourbles hanging from each end. This is all.

On my tree there is a tinsel ban. I use lovely wide ribbon instead, and it's looks 100 time more classy and traditional. 

The effect of different ribbons swirling around your tree, much the same as tinsel usualy would, looks lovely. Push some parks deep into the tree before it comes out to the front again to create depth, and use the wire inside to make it ripple and drape.

The finished product looks so much better, and more expencive, than tinsel. But it really isn't! You can pick up a roll of decrotive ribbon for a few pounds each and you'll get a good few meters out of the roll. 

Bows like the ones above compliment ribbon perfectly, and keep within the traditional look. Tying these on the ends of branches also fills in spaces where bourbles are too large or heavy to hang.

When it comes to christmas lights, stick to white or gold. Coloured lights will not work well with this effect.