Black Friday
Yes, it’s that time of year again. Shopping, shopping, shopping. And it all begins today. Driving back from my sister’s house (where I celebrated Thankgiving 2.0) at 2 am, I noticed the cars lining up in the parking lot for the local Best Buy. 2 am! *gasp* I don’t know what I would do if I had to wait in a parking lot for hours before a store opened on the off chance I might be able to buy a sale item. And I dare not even set foot in the local Wal-Mart! I fear the trampling! 
Don’t get me wrong. I have done the 2 am thing. In the past. (Again, please note past tense.) I just haven’t found great cause to park myself outside a department or electronics store at 5 am, 4 am, 3 am, or even 2 am to shop in recent years. Perhaps it is the conspicuous absence of my former shopping buddy, perhaps it is a lack of need of any of the items, or perhaps it is even the sheer unwillingness to get up at 2 am to begin the biggest shopping day of the year.
Actually, thoughts about Black Friday (and the 2 am Best Buy shoppers) had me thinking about how much it has changed throughout the years. I remember the first year my mom and I ventured out to test the ritual experience on our own. We thought waking up at 5 am was acceptable to decide to go shopping. Mind you, we got the 2 or 3 items we were interested in finding and then blew off the rest of the shopping to have an easy breakfast and then head back home from the shopping frenzy to sleep!
But the online universe has changed everything. Ah, sweet, sweet Internet. Economists now even have coined the phrase Black Monday to identify the Monday following Thanksgiving as the largest online retail shopping day of the year. Interestingly, I had a conversation with a Best Buy employee (I don’t remember his name, so I don’t feel I’ll be breaking his confidence or ruining his job) last year who even told me that shopping on Black Friday was no big deal, as most of the deals presented that morning often resurface in the weeks approaching Christmas.
And so, once again, I partake of my new Black Friday ritual. I sleep in. On Black Friday. Of course, there are a few interesting items that I’ve seen in the ads that I might venture out to the Target or Best Buy to purchase much later than the “doorbuster” frenzy, but these items are of little interest to the folks lined up outside that Best Buy. They’re on sale most of the weekend, anyway. I just might even go on Saturday. And if they run out, meh…I’ll find it later. 
So, pray, what are your Black Friday rituals? Do you do the fantastic fun insanity of the early morning shopping? Are you checking the blog this very instant from your Blackberry while waiting in the car for the local Best Buy to open? Or do you sleep as late as you like and then get up and read the funny pages over your coffee? Have you abandoned the world of real shopping for that of virtual shopping to avoid all of the Christmas frenzy? What’s your funniest shopping experience? Go on, admit it, you’ve fought over the Tickle Me, Elmo doll… 
And here’s a fun little Black Friday treat for you Vagabondettes out there…I was searching through my 2007 RWA conference piles recently and discovered a variety of fun signed books from authors to share. One lucky commenter will receive one of these many tomes. And the funniest shopping experience story will win both an autographed romance novel from the pile and a fun little treat, as well! And for those of you shoppers out there, have a fun day and stay safe!
any winner from lacey alexander
I’m still putting away the good dishes and digesting. I may not even get dressed today. So unless I want to go out in sleety weather in my green nightgown, I’m going to stay home and write. We talked over Thanksgiving dinner yesterday about drawing names and just buying for just one person. In a family as big as ours, it makes sense. We pretty much have what we need, so stores will not like the Robinsons very much; the economic recovery is going to have to get started w/o us. After spending half an hour in the grocery store Wednesday buying emergency champagne, I’ve seen enough of crazy crowds for the year.
I can’t think of anything I want to buy badly enough to lure me out into today’s frenzy. I slept until after 9:00. I did change my pjs for jeans and a shirt because one of the boys called to see if we were having turkey sandwiches for lunch. We are, so he and two of the grands are joining us. Except for their visit, I plan to spend today being as lazy as I want to be. I’ll fight crowds in December to finish Christmas shopping, but by then perhaps the crowds will be thinner and I’ll be more energetic. I can always hope.
I don’t do it. And I probably never will. Can’t imagine getting up at the butt crack of dawn just to save 20% on something that I likely don’t need anyway. Or as you mention, will be on sale for the same price or better before the big day. I’m lucky that this is one of the years kiddo is with her dad for the actual day. Don’t get me wrong, that part sucks, but it means I can hit the day after Christmas sales before she gets home. Yippee!
kh, the winner was Stacy A, but hmm… maybe I forgot to post it. HOWEVER, that was not my only copy, so there will be another chance to win in the next couple of weeks. I’ll keep you posted.
I’m not into fighting shopping crowds either, so I usually just stay home. Today I did some online shopping – I couldn’t resist a 40% off B&N coupon. I have to do my part to support the publishing industry, right?
We stayed over at my parents house so we didn’t get back until noon but we wanted a new TV and have been getting Best Buy gift cards as presents for some months and my husband went over to Best Buy and found a good deal so now we have an HDTV even though I have no idea what that means. We have found many great deals on Thanksgiving weekends over the years even though the crowds can be annoying.
I did the black friday thing a few years ago…. i will never do it again… i dragged my sister along and thought, “oh, this will be so much fun!”…. that was the year i figured out i don’t like crowds…. and i mean in a claustrophobic kind of way… yikes! never again! what was i thinking?!
As for what my ritual is for the day after Thanksgiving (now adays) I just take the day to sit back, relax, even get some extra reading done
Did anyone else hear today about the Wal-Mart employee in New York that got trampled by shoppers and died? It’s just horrible… that’s another reason why I won’t do the Black Friday thing… who wants to get hurt/killed over some good deals? The whole reason for Christmas is to spend time with family and friends and just celebrate the holidays… it’s not about presents and gifts…
No more Black Friday shopping for me. Last year we headed out to the outlets right after dinner because the stores were opening at midnight. We got stuck in traffic and by the time we got there all the outlet stores had lines just go into them. I didn’t get any good deals. I’m relaxing and getting ready for Cyber Monday.
I forgot to mention my funniest shopping experience… if doesn’t have anything to deal with black friday but I thought it would be fun to share it anyway…
a few years ago my best friend and i (we were both about 17) were in walmart doing some shopping… when we randomly decided to go to the kids toy section… we found these plastic batman masks and put them on… we walked around walmart with them on the whole time while we were shopping… it was so funny
…. everyone kept staring at us and laughed… what a fun memory lol 
We usually don’t brave the crowds to find deals. I do most of my shopping on line now. I am looking forward to Cyber Monday.
We don’t celebrate thanksgiving in the UK so I’m still sober and able to eat turkey sandwiches!
Prime minister Brown is urging us all to ’shop till we drop’ for the sake of the nation’s economy so as a patriotic citizen,while looking after my grand daughter this afternoon, I took her to a local toy shop to see if there was anything she would like for Christmas.
What an idiot! She wanted nearly everything in the shop that had wheels. Then… I know this will strain credulity… the enterprising shop had brought Santa complete with grotto to spruce up sales..and its still only November!
Of course my Grand had to pay him a visit so I duly forked out the necessary. It was worth it to see her sitting in Santa’s lap grinning at me and waving a small parcel. Then she started to stroke his beard and in a loud voice said ‘My Grandpa shaves all this off each day’
Oh to be young and innocent again!
I used to go to the Black Friday sales. I was in walmart by about 3 in the morning. I quit going the last couple of year. I got tired of fighting to get the item I was going to get. This year, I slept in and then watched tv.
Maggie–our family does the same thing with Christmas for the kids. We’re up to 15 nieces and nephews now (with one more on the way in early January–maybe even on my birthday) and it keeps the cost down. Since I’m the only one childless, I kind of do a private gift exchange with the Pork Chop’s family, but any other way is just too expensive when the numbers of kids begin to outnumber the adults 2 to 1!
Janga–I dragged my hiney out of bed at the late hour of 11:15 this morning! Ah, it was sheer bliss! Plus, we were hiding from the little ones (the grandkids visiting from Austin) that have invaded the house for Thanksgiving. I did venture out today b/c I needed to get the car inspected, since I’m in TX for the holiday and made a brief run to Target for those few DVDs I wanted to find. I will admit to stopping at a 2nd one, but I didn’t feel like it was too much of a burden as the crowds weren’t too heavy and the 2nd shop was on the way to the dealership to have my car inspected. As it turns out, I learned I have a bad Intake Manifold Gasket on my car (be proud I actually can remember that one…) and ended up at the auto repair shop. My bro’s going to replace it for me before I make the trek back to Abq on Sunday.
Terrio–I’m huge on the after Christmas sales. It’s the same stuff from 2 days before and at 1/4 of the price! Way worth it!
Lindsey–I got that coupon too! Whoot! Gotta love B&N!
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Danielle–My SIL and I were talking about the Walmart incident this morning! *gasp* It is so horrific! Can you imagine being the family members of that individual?? My SIL said that there also was a 28-yr old pregnant woman who lost her baby in the trample. How horrifying! If that’s not enough to convince you not to venture out into the shops on Black Friday, I don’t know what is! Talk about a really Black Friday!
And your shopping experience sounds hilarious! It’s the kind of thing the SIL and I would do! When you put the 2 of us together, there’s very little trouble we can’t find! LOL!
Good luck with your Cyber Monday shopping, Jane & CrystalB! There’s something absolutely delightful about being able to shop in your PJs!
Q–That story is priceless!
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Oh my gosh really?! I heard that her and the baby were “OKAY” …. if your story is true then thats just horrible and very sad… 2 lives lost… i can’t believe it….
Ya my best friend and I can be pretty wierd… and funny… hehe
The DH and I were up this morning at 3:45 am and back in bed at 6:03 am. I am a horrible shopper. Not my thing at all and I usually put it off as long as possible. The DH however is always up for doing something different. So, for the first time ever, I shopped on Black Friday (at 4 am). I didn’t even get Xmas gifts. The real reason I went out was to get a mattress top for our bed. We were given a king size mattress several years ago and love the size but it’s too hard. So, I figured instead of buying a new mattress (which we can’t afford right now), I’d look for deals on those memory foam mattress pads. I found one I wanted at Kohls. The store is about 5 minutes from my house and I got a really good deal. So, my big foray into Black Friday shopping was pretty uneventful and I probably won’t do it again. It was pretty calm. No pushing or shoving and we didn’t even wait in a line – all registers were open.
My best shopping story was getting the Wii last year for the kids. I wrote about it in Janga’s Xmas blog last week. That was fun. It was the search for the Holy Grail of Xmas presents last year and I kind of had fun with it. After getting turned down and missing it by thatmuch so many times, to finally get my hands on the most desirable gift of the season was a bit of a rush.
My family has been doing the grab bag thing for years, Maggie. It works out well. The older we all get the more we just want to get together, eat and play games. The gifts aren’t as important anymore.
wtg stacy
Eek, no shopping for me either–I don’t mind a deal, but I do mind crowds, so I’d rather spend a little more
I do remember getting up relatively early years ago to hit the stores with my sister (we weren’t married then, and no kids, so it wasn’t quite as much of a chore). These days we’re trying to keep the focus off getting presents and just about being together and about celebrating Christ’s birth. But of course, we always get more books 
My Horoscope – November 28, 2008
“Don’t think that your life is not interesting enough to share. You may keep your thoughts and feelings secret from others simply because you don’t think that anyone one else really cares. Think again.”
Think again? I Tthink not! I got this scope the other day. The day Elodie was asking about shopping adventures. Oh I remembered one all right. But I sure wasn’t gonna “share” how … and why … I had A Near Death Experiance when I tried to try on a shirt.