The Commercial Christmas

The joy and peace of the post-war years saw the rise of the commercial Christmas season in both Britain and the United States. Relative prosperity, and a new light-heartedness sparked the desire for more lavish and exciting celebrations.

Between the two World Wars, Christmas was becoming ever more commercialized, and more and more secular in nature. Quite a few firsts of Christmas history were made at this time, though!

Macy's Department Store in New York was among the first to realize that America's children were also a quite lucrative consumer market.

In 1924 they again made Christmas history, when they held the first "Christmas Day Parade" (Later re-named as the Macy's "Thanksgiving Day Parade"). There were floats and balloons, and of course Santa Claus arrived with the end of the parade!

This first parade was the marketing ploy of the century so far as commercial Christmas history is concerned. The balloons, floats and many other of the parade entrants showcased everything new and wonderful in Christmas gifts - but were especially geared to the much younger crowd. Toys and all of the favorite characters associated with Christmas were and continue to be a major part of Macy's parade.

The idea caught on quickly, and by the end of WWII, most major and many minor cities hosted their own Christmas parades. The window displays were slowly becoming less religious in nature as well, and more geared to Santa and the festive side of the holiday. Christmas history was again made, as everyone began to jump on the bandwagon.

All of the major trade magazines touted Christmas as the best time of the year to move merchandise, and offered advice on everything from store displays to hosting office parties.

Commercial Christmas was well on its way due to the new prosperity created by women remaining in the workforce after the return of their men from the front. Women's magazines were beginning to expound on the luxury of purchasing rather than making gifts - although they continued to offer patterns and instructions for crafts of this nature.

Coca-Cola began a major national advertising campaign in 1931, featuring Santa Claus drinking a bottle of Coke. The image has become ingrained in our collective imaginations, and many published images of Santa are fairly close to this, even today.

The 1931 Coca-Cola Santa was created by Haddon Sundblum. This picture was featured in every holiday ad in many, many magazines. He has evolved very little from the original, and even today, the Coca-cola company employs Santa every year. In fact, they employ him all year! The Coca-Cola*reg; Santa has made Christmas history books many times.

There is a "Coca Cola Santa Store" on the web! Until I receive specific permission from the company to post a link, you'll have to do a google search to find it, though.

In 1936 Disney made commercial Christmas history as character Christmas lights were first licensed, manufactured and distributed by the NOMA company. In the late 1930's, a man named Carl Otis designed what in 1945 would become the ever-popular Christmas bubble lights. Christmas history contains many firsts, in many fields - not just in retail!

Just prior to the start of World War II, Hollywood helped to make Christmas the commercial, secular holiday it is today. Several movies came out just prior to and during the war.