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Are you going shopping on Black Friday? I asked this last year as well, but I am curious to hear what everyone’s plans are this year. And the fact that Black Friday is starting earlier and earlier on Thanksgiving Thursday every year throws a new twist in things.
If you are planning on going out, will you go out after Thanksgiving dinner? Before? Or early on Friday morning? And if you go out shopping, what’s your plan? Do you have a specific list of items you are looking for, a bunch of stores you want to hit or do you just kind of go out for the fun of it all?
I mentioned it last year, but there is no way I would like camp out in line to get my hands on one of the doorbuster deals. Not happening. In my younger / more fun days, I did camp out overnight for Final Four tickets, but that was in college and those were in high demand. But like for a giant tv or a laptop or something? No way. I do totally want to use my $200 Target Giftcard which we got from trading in our old iPad to get a new iPad, but I don’t really want to wait in line to make that happen. Hopefully I can do it online! I probably will go out and check out some of the deals mid-morning on Friday. There seems to be a lull in the action and hopefully I can pick up some winter coats and boots and some toys for L and the like.
So tell, if you are going out, what’s the plan? And what’s on your shopping list this season?
I actually don’t know my plans this year but I’m sure to do a little shopping. I usually head out about 7am and go until lunch. As far as Thanksgiving it doesn’t really bother me that stores are open that evening since most of the holiday stuff is over anyway. I probably won’t go out since I already have stuff planned but I do plan to get on Kohls.com and order some toys. They always have the best online deals and with ebates and kohls cash the deals get even better. 🙂
Maybe they will have my Elmo!!!!
We eat late – after the Lions game usually. I do like to see everyone waiting in line and all the cars in the mall parking lots driving home Thanksgiving night though!
Every year for the past 5 years a friend of mine have been making a weekend trip of it and going to Bellevue (just outside of Seattle). We stay at a hotel right across from a great mall and there are loads of great restaurants around, as well as a movie theater. We leave Vancouver early Friday morning and it’s a 3 hour drive, without various stops along the way (outlet malls and such). I have a list of things I’d like to look for… and all for myself. My Christmas shopping is done!
That sounds fun!!!! What’s the border crossing like there?
Definitely NOT going out — although I’m hoping they have some similar deals online. There is one thing at Target that I’m looking at for L, and right now they have free shipping on all their kids Christmas toy deals. So I might just wind up ordering it now and taking what I can get!
What are you eyeing at Target? I am also hoping for some great online deals!
They have a Fisher Price Little People Fire Department on sale for $35 — since L is in love with fire trucks, I thought he would love it!
My husband works for a high end retail store and they are opening at 8 PM Thanksgiving day then closing at 2 am only to reopen at 6 am.
So NO shopping for me.
I will be holding on to all my $$ for cyber Monday though! Praying some of my favorites will have some good deals that I can get my hands on before their sites crash!
I am dying to know where he works!!!
I love going out on Black Friday, I usually just go for the fun of it and that is usually when I start buying Christmas presents. I wanted to go out to the outlets looking for clothes but I think this year I will be staying in!
Are your outlets close?
They are like 20-30 minutes away, but you can always see the parking lot when we drive by on the interstate and it’s always insane on Black Friday!
Might go out mid morning – use to be a tradition in our family until all the kids grew up and moved out. Now we just give money for Christmas…which makes everyone happy. But I buy little goodies to give to neighbors, hair dresser, nail person, delivery guys…co workers stuff like that.
I like to just go out and see what’s going on!
My mom and I started our black friday tradition in 2011 since it was the first year I didn’t have to work that day! We leave our house around 2 am and have a pattern we follow: toys r us, the mall, walmart, and target we usually finish before 7 am and go to our favorite local diner then come hike and sleep. We end up missing the long lines and still getting great deals.
That’s a good plan!!!!!
And the big things on our list this year are mainly lots of monster high stuff cause my niece loves it and I always get a bath and body works black friday vip tote.
Oh I forgot about that tote! I can never resist that thing.
The girls in my family go every year. It’s just something fun to do. I sometimes have a list, but I usually don’t try to hard to get it. If I happen to then cool, if not whatever. I’ll sometimes look for stuff to donate to like toys for tots or the Salvation Army angels. We don’t go out thanksgiving. Maybe like he midnight stuff but not the 6 pm thanksgiving. I used to have to work retail, and it pissed me off I had to work holidays.
I worked in retail in college and in a Country Club in college. So many holidays on the job! And I’d get people who’d be all I hope you get to go home to your family soon as they were on their 10th glass of wine. Umm, yes, if you packed it up and went home I too could go home.
Jennifer,
I have worked in the hotel industry for 10 years, Every year at least one guest ask me why I am working on (insert holiday here) and every year I feel like saying why do you think? Its because you want to vacation. Of course I never say that, I just smile and change the subject. So I feel your annoyance about the country club guest.
LOL! I always got paid well though so I was okay with it. I was always amused they thought it was my mean bosses keeping me there. I mean if I leave, who will bring the drinks to you?..
For many years I had to work on Black Friday or I wasn’t home so I just never got into the Black Friday, get up way to early on a day off, freeze my ass off to stand in line, fight tooth and nail for the last of the only item on sale left in the store, kinda day. I was always the one who got up early and made my way to stores the day AFTER Christmas to get deals. I guess there just isn’t anything I need to put me though that much pain.
Plus these days I’d rather just order stuff online LOL.
The day after Christmas is where it’s at! I want to delay Christmas gifts like a week so we can get ALL those great sales!
I thought about going but decided against it.
Its not too late!
Did you comment on your own blog?? LOL
OH NVM! it was showing your little tag next to the name Jen.. lol ignore me!
LOL. What was?
Oh, I know what you mean now. When I reply it shows my little “picture” over the commenters picture. Does that make sense? It kind of overlays.
Yes.. i see it now LOL i just totally thought you were like trying to justify yourself like you can still go shopping! oops
seriously is it friday yet?
We will go.. but not sure what time since everythings opening while ur suppose to be being thankful for everything you already have 😉
I always get a down comforter from younkers.. but theres no rush there.. they have a bajillion of them! Im trying to get a sewing machine at walmart for $50.. and thats about it.. im the same as others.. i have an idea of what i want if id ont get it its not the end of the world.. but we do go all out.. we have walkie talkies and everything we split up.. find what each other needs.. we have a blast with it.. HOWEVER.. some people get so seriously into it..and fights break out! we watched 2 fights last year.. one at 10 pm at walmart over 3$ pajamas!! and another one at the PINK store at like 2 am.
seriously i think its still on you tube! It was horrible.. we happened to be standing in line for another store. and they had to kick everyone out, and then bring the gates down to basicaly the floor, and they were letting shoppers CRAWL into the store 3 at a time because these girls were going nuts and like pulling hair over yoga pants.. um yah no thank you!
We do however have to stand in some lines outside..last year it was 18 degrees.. hoping its warmer this year! 🙂
sorry for the book! 🙂
I actually wouldn’t mind a super cheap down comforter! I will need to check that out on Black Friday? I can’t see that being a hugely hot item…
i think they are down comforters.. thats what i consider them they arent like super fancy.. but they are super warm and work great for summer or winter.. when the air is on they are kind of chilly if that makes sense.. and i think they are only $20.
Whoops. Long time no see. My bad! Hehehe.
We like to do a chunk of our Christmas shopping on Black Friday, but I at least wait until Friday morning. I think it’s fun, and we don’t get crazy or anything. Plus, it’s nice to save some money.
But I also understand just wanting to chill with the fam, so to each their own?
Totally! Some people eat dinner earlier on Thanksgiving. We are just sitting down to dinner when some of the stores are opening!
And I just went and check out our blog. I can’t believe it all got lost. Ahhhh!
I’m over it. Sometimes it’s nice to have a clean slate!
I tend to get really uncomfortable in retail mobs so I avoid stores all together around Christmas. I do amazon.com ( with gift cards I accumulate through this survey/search engine site) , a lot on Etsy.com for unique and handmade goods, a few on eBay, thrift stores and some I make. Whatever else is left I supplement at brick and mortar stores like target and such. I rarely have to venture out to the stores during Christmas time if I start early enough. Black Friday is like the Black Plague to me. I just don’t have it in me to participate in the hysteria ( I live in Nj so it’s crowded , and lots of NY folks come over for our lower sales tax). I wish I could though because nobody loves a bargain more than me!
You have a good plan though!!!
I’ll probably go to local target or walmart thanksgiving night around 8 when they open and grab the on sale dvds and video games because I refuse to pay $60 for a video game when I can get it for like $25 and then onto the mall around 5am and just see what goodies they have, the only thing I’m on the hunt for is a Craftsman tool set that the MR. wants and its supposed to be a “great deal” lol so we shall see and after I get my hands on those things I’ll just see what I can see. And I will be participating in Cyber Monday too…love me some good deals!
I can’t wait to see what you pick up!
Thanksgiving is my all-time favorite holiday so I don’t want to miss any of it just to go shopping. We usually start at midnight but since a lot of the stores are opening earlier this year I’m guessing most of the good stuff will be gone by then. Probably makes more sense just to start the next morning.
Well some of the stores do those deals that are valid for a few hours at a time? I guess it depends on what you are hunting for?
Well the big gift this year for my son is a bearded dragon so the only place i’m going at this point is Petsmart for a tank and related items. Oh and they had a killer deal on cat litter which I stocked up on and i’m actually still working thru the pile, it was just under $3 a bucket after coupons that printed at the register! Lowe’s and Home Depot might be one of my stops but I need to look at the ads a little closer.
I cannot handle any more toys in my house so we’re going a different route with christmas this year!
Love this idea! Santa is bringing bunk beds here!
I have gone every year since I was 15…20 years in a row (ugh I gave away my age). I have it down to a science. On thanksgiving I make everyone leave me alone and I spread the entire newspaper on the floor. I go through it ad by ad and make a stack of all the ads I want/need something from. Then I put them in order of when the stores open. Each page is flagged with a post it so I know exactly what I am getting. I am a crazy chick on a mission on Black Friday!! Once I make it to all the different stores I will go park (actually valet) at the mall and do some relaxed shopping. Note that this is the only day all year I ever valet at the mall but it is well worth it because there is never any parking available and the sweet guys always take my loads of bags to the car throughout the day. Soooo will ALL that said, this will be my first year to miss the only day of the year I look forward to waking up early because we are spending Thanksgiving on a cruise. Woo to the Hoo!! 🙂
Well if I’d been going since I was 15 it’d be 21 years in a row. However, I can see your e-mail address so I think that already gives your age away (to me anyway) ;).
I will personally never shop on Black Friday again. I worked retail throughout college, and I was never able to get out of working those grueling hours. Last year, I worked two jobs, both of which needed me that day. So a midnight-8am shift was followed by a 10am-6pm shift. And the terrible customers outweighed the decent ones. I feel awful for anyone and everyone forced to work on such a God-awful day, so I do my best to be one less person making their day that much worse.
That sounds totally miserable!
Oh, it is an absolute must in my family. It started 4 or 5 years ago, maybe a few more, when a neighbor friend of mine and I decided we needed to go be pushy and annoying like everyone else in town. It started as much more of a joke than it is now. We liked to drive around and see how long the lines were, our favorite store to see was Best Buy. Their line was always the craziest. They’re opening at 6pm on Thanksgiving this year, and I highly doubt I’ll end up all the way out there to see the mayhem before it opens. Being an art student though, I usually make sure I end up at one of the craft stores and get my hands on something I normally wouldn’t allow myself to indulge in when they aren’t that discounted. Idk, we have a ton of fun. There’s a few friends of mine and my mother and sister who go out and just enjoy it.
LOL. It sounds like you all have a good time with it! I like to check out the lines as I am driving home from dinner Thanksgiving night!
I’m only going quick Thursday, there’s a cpl of tablets I’m getting for my sisters family, and they are on sale!
Does your WalMart get crazy??
My best friend and I go out at around 5-6 that night. The stores are relatively quiet because all the early morning people are knocked out. We have had great success picking up “doorbusters” at that time that have been put on hold and never picked up or returned already. There is also typically some staff around that is in the process of putting wayward items back where they belong and can also look up and go get items from the store room. They also tend to be putting things back where they would normally go instead of the special places that they usually are in the morning, so if you look in the aisle the item would typically be it might have already been restocked. One particular find was a little tikes cottage that someone had put on hold and never picked up. We weren’t prepared to actually find it so we were in my Mini convertible. We ended up putting my top down and shoving it in the backseat. We had to drive home with the top down in the frigid cold, but it was really funny and it’s a story we will tell her daughter when she gets older!
Ohh, I like this plan! I may have to test it out this year 😉
Planned out with my 20 year old daughter! As a former hospital nurse, I have NO problem with retail working on Thanksgiving. We are starting at the outlets because Kate Spade and Coach open at 8pm and I REALLY want to hit up the North Face outlet this year. We will head to Wal-Mart and Target overnight…after they restock the movies. And, JC Penney and Kohl’s had everything online last year on Thanksgiving, so that’s where I’m going with them.
Ohh, what does the North Face outlet do on BlackFriday? You are making me want to visit the outlets?..
I don’t know, but based on experience the deals should be amazing! Fingers crossed!!
I’m shopping and on thanksgiving, too… But only because I work at a mall in a store that opens at 6PM thanksgiving.
At least you’ll have your breaks!!
I like to go over all of the ads on Thursday and plan out my shopping. My only must-have is the JC Penney snowglobe, so I always hit Penney’s first. This is my first year in my new town so not sure what the crowds will be like, but hoping I don’t have to get up at 4am again!
I LOVE getting all those ads on Thursday. I know they are available online earlier, but something about having them all printed out makes it 100x better.
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