The Shadow
If tinsel is not used appropriately for Christmas decorations, it can pose a choking threat for babies, toddlers and indoor pets.
Many families in the U.S. have abandoned the use of tinsel for decorating their Christmas trees, but for those who do use tinsel often apply it on mantles, above doorways, on stairway railings and around Christmas trees, hopefully out of reach of all but older children and adults.
The use of tinsel for Christmas decorations can be traced back to Freiburg in 1419 when a man decorated a Christmas tree with tinsel, apples and cookies.
Tinsel symbolizes light, and it was first made from silver, hammered flat into thin pieces that were then cut into silver strips.
The manufacturing of tinsel began in 1610 where the thin strands of silver were being used in Nuremberg, Germany, and it was the German immigrants who brought the custom to the U.S. in 1825 along with the practice of decorating Christmas trees.
Before the invention of electric lights for Christmas trees that was first employed by Edward H. Johnson in the U.S. in 1882, the custom was to hang strands of tinsel to reflect the candlelight from candles attached to Christmas trees.
With the invention of plastic tinsel, the lower cost of tinsel increased its use as decorations to mimic ice by wrapping lampposts, decorating statues and winding around Christmas trees.
During the 1950s in the U.S., tinsel and tinsel garlands were often used in place of electric lights to reduce the risk of electrical fires.
Another use of tinsel is to mimic the sky over Nativity scenes, and for decades the use of tinsel made from lead was in vogue because the lead tinsel would hold its shine better than silver.
However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned that lead tinsel could cause lead poisoning in children, and by 1971 the FDA managed to convince those manufacturing lead tinsel to stop production.
By Jan. 1, 1972, the FDA had convinced importers and manufacturing firms in the U.S. to no longer deal with lead tinsel. No ban was imposed, but the use of lead tinsel is no longer an option.
Modern tinsel in the U.S. is currently being made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) film coated with a metallic coating. Also, coated Mylar film is being used to make tinsel, but none of the modern tinsel hangs as well as heavier silver and lead tinsel.
Sparkling material attached to a thin strand of thread forms tinsel that can cause babies, toddlers and pets to choke unless it remains out of their reach. The shiny material without the string is used to mimic icicles, and it is called “lametta.”
