Holiday Favorites By The Decade Infographic - Dissected Part 1

As our way of saying Happy Holidays to everyone we created an infographic displaying various holiday highlights and favorites, and segmented them by decade.

WeΓÇÖll be providing you with some insight into the process of creating the infographic, some interesting facts that we werenΓÇÖt able to include, and some of favorites that didnΓÇÖt make the cut.

The first step to creating the infographic was finding the information. Where did we get it?

Music ΓÇô Nielsen Company (SoundScan digital downloads 2003-2010) and RIAA certifications.

Movies ΓÇô Domestic box office sales (Box Office Mojo, By the Numbers)

Facts ΓÇô Wikipedia (verified with sources) and history.com

Toys ΓÇô Esquire, So Bad So Good

After the information had been gathered we needed to parse it down to keep the infographic from becoming too cluttered. Like selecting Key Performance Indicators for a dashboard, we had to choose the most important and interesting information to include. We decided to keep the information limited to 5-6 favorites per decade. Here are some of the potential holiday favorites that didnΓÇÖt make the cut:

ΓÇó (All decades): Popular holiday cookies by decade
ΓÇó 1937: Charles W. Howard Santa School
ΓÇó 1933-'35, ΓÇÖ65-ΓÇÖ68, ΓÇÖ98-ΓÇÖ01: Ramadan falls during December
ΓÇó 1950: Record for tallest Christmas Tree 67.36 m erected and decorated at Northgate Shopping Center, Seattle, Washington
ΓÇó 1951: Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion presented United States President Harry Truman with a Hanukkah Menorah
ΓÇó Countless songs including but not limited to: Let It Snow ('45), The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You) ('46), Santa Baby ('53), Baby It's Cold Outside ('59), Same Old Lang Syne ('80), Last Christmas ('84), The Chanukah Song ('95), Where Are You Christmas ('00).
ΓÇó 1962: First Christmas postage stamp was issued in the United States
ΓÇó 1979: Jimmy Carter is the 1st President of the United States to take part in a public Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony on the National Mall
ΓÇó 1982: Canada Post starts responding to letters to Santa and establishes postal code H0H 0H0
ΓÇó 1986: First depiction of Hanukkah in a mainstream animated movie: American Tail
ΓÇó Movies including but not limited to: Ernest Saves Christmas ('88), The Muppet Christmas Carol ('91), The Nightmare Before Christmas ('93), The Santa Clause (ΓÇÖ94), Jingle All The Way (ΓÇÖ96), Polar Express (ΓÇÖ04).
ΓÇó 1996: First Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony in the White House
ΓÇó Toys, toys, and more toys: Mr. Potato Head (ΓÇÖ52), Slime (ΓÇÖ77), BMX Bikes, Cabbage Patch Kids, Care Bears, Transformers, Beanie Babies, Gamegear, xBox 360, Beyblades, Playstation 3, and more.

A lot right? And thatΓÇÖs not even half of it.

Stay tuned for our next blog post to find out what other information was left off, why it didnΓÇÖt make the cut, and how it could have been included.

Check out the full version of the infographic here