This is a tinsel garland for Blender Cycles that uses a hair particle system.

The tinsel can be dynamically adapted to any shape/length by simply modifying the underlying path.

If you make the tinsel significantly longer or shorter - you may need to tweak the number of hair particles to keep the density consistent. If you are a bit more adventurous you can also modify some of the hair settings to make the tinsel strands crinkled, thicker or thinner.

I have included 3 strands of tinsel, one with a simple glossy material - and another two which use the Hair info and Colour Ramp nodes to give some funky colour effects.