The Central Security National Bank of Lorain County was a big promoter of the seasonal savings idea, with regular ads running in the Journal beginning in November each year, and running straight through the holidays.
Here’s one from 1966. It ran on November 12th in the Journal that year.
The ad is interesting because it provides a financial snapshot of the previous season's Christmas Club deposits that were being paid out: $263,300.
That’s a nice jaunty Santa illustration. Unlike many renderings showing the jolly old elf as bald as a cue ball, this one has a nice full head of hair parted on the side.
Here’s a Central Bank ad from the following year (below), running in the paper on December 2, 1967.
The ad has another great Santa illustration. It also shows that you could sign up for a plan depositing as little as 50 cents a week. (I’ll bet that plan would be popular today, in the era of living paycheck to paycheck!)
And here’s one last Central Bank ad from December 21, 1967.
This Santa’s a little less appealing than the other too, as the message is one of worrying and he looks uncomfortable. Hey, he’s got a tassle on his cap instead of a round, white puff.
Anyway, when I did belong to a Christmas Club, I sometimes found it difficult to be setting aside dough for next year’s Christmas when I was still trying to pay for this year’s Christmas.
So are Christmas Clubs still relevant today? Here’s an article from 2017 that provides an answer.
