How ugly are your branches.
For many of us, Christmas trees draped liberally in shiny silver tinsel are the stuff of long-ago memories, perhaps experienced yearly by thumbing through fading snapshots in an ancestral photo album.
But with Gen Z officially leaning into gaudy holiday nostalgia, those Cousin It-esque, shimmering centerpieces — quietly growing in popularity lately — are absolutely, definitely, back in real life.
And, as with every current trend, rehashed or otherwise, the return of the metallic lounge menaces has been accompanied by the sound of a raging debate on TikTok.
User Julia Arceri from Texas inadvertently sparked a confrontation by posting a video to the favored social media channel, promising a “mess-free tinsel tree tutorial” which she claimed works “flawlessly.”
She instructed viewers to start by cutting off a lot of the band stringing the tinsel together after which cutting the strip into little sections that “seem like long fake lashes.”
The professional then demonstrated how she pulled the pieces through individual branches “so it’s nestled securely,” repeating the method until the tree was completely covered.
TikTok / @arceriinteriors
The Tannenbaum was already wrapped in string lights and decorated with hanging ornaments, however the added layer of sparkling tinsel took over because the star of the show.
Lots of of individuals commented on the video, with many complimenting the decorating technique and asking follow-up questions, while others were strongly against the new-old look.
“The worst tree trend yet,” @anon_1123456 commented adding “Yours looks decent though, most of them seem like Christmas vomit!”
TikTok user @wtspopinslime222 claimed that the decoration made the tree look “prefer it’s covered in cobwebs,” while TikToker user @missbellscc suggested the style was outdated writing “Welcome to 1990.”
“Not a fan of it an excessive amount of,” @dianed842 simply stated.
Others identified that the stringy decor wouldn’t work well in a house with cats.
Several people also noted, in English and Russian, that the trees reminded them of how holiday trees were decorated through the years of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) when all religious holidays were abolished under the atheist Communist government.
