page_title: Christmas in the post-war United States
section_title: Toys
hierarchical_section_title: Christmas in the post-war United States / Toys
caption_attribution_description: English: Anna A. Korn &amp; Jacob Truedson Demitz (Lars Jacob) (then Lars Ridderstedt), as released by image creator FamSACPlace: 1112 S. Batavia Avenue, Batavia, Illinois
context_page_description: Christmas in the United States during the post-war years reflected a period of peace, productivity, and prosperity. Americans staged sumptuous Christmases and enjoyed a variety of holiday foods unknown to previous generations. Several films, foods, toys, and television programs of the era have become American Christmas traditions.
  Once reliant upon Germany for its ornaments, toys, and even its Christmas customs, America became self-sufficient in the post-War years with Christmas ornaments and toys being manufactured in the United States that were considerably less expensive than their German counterparts. American Christmas customs and traditions such as visits to department store Santas and letter writing to Santa at the North Pole remained intact during America's post-War years, but the era generated contributions that have endured to become traditions.
  NORAD's tracking of Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve, for example, was initiated in 1955 and has become an annual tradition. The stop motion animated film, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer remains an annual telecast on American television—more than fifty years after its debut, and Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
context_section_description: The post-War Christmas toy extravaganza had its seed in Clement Clarke Moore's A Visit from St. Nicholas. There, Saint Nicholas is depicted not as the thin, somewhat forbidding, charity dispensing character of European lore but as a dimpled, "jolly old elf" whose stomach shakes like "a bowlful of jelly" when he laughs, and who enters a dwelling through the chimney with a pack of toys on his back.
  In the nineteenth century, Germany was the toy making capitol of the world, but high importation costs made German toys relatively expensive in America. Toy costs were lowered when German toymakers began mass-producing toys under the direction of Frank Woolworth and shipping their products to Woolworth's warehouses for packaging and distribution.
  With the loss of German toys on the American market during World War I, toy manufacturing in the United States began in earnest. The Great Depression was a temporary setback but WWII proved a catalyst. In the aftermath of the war, American couples were eager to settle down, have kids, and lavish the sumptuous Christmases they never had on their offspring.
  The post-War years saw the creation of toys that are still in production today and include Candy Land, Cootie, the hula hoop, Barbie, and Etch A Sketch.
  Television cultivated the American Christmas toy extravaganza. Manufacturers sidestepped the parent in selling a toy and went directly to the child.  Mr. Potato Head was the first toy advertised on television and retail sales topped $4 million in the toy's first year. Play-Doh's sales skyrocketed after being advertised on influential children's television programs such as Ding Dong School and Captain Kangaroo.
caption: Christmas Eve in Batavia, Illinois, 1955
exif: {"Image ExifOffset": "26"}