outnumbered

What's the age range on those? Appropriate for a kindergartener?

Better the doll than each other, LOL...my oldest gave his younger brother a haircut once. And said younger brother gave *himself* a haircut a few times, too. The scissors are locked up with one of those laser security systems now.

Yep, I started my kids' game collection that way. We have Hi-Ho Cherry-O, Don't Spill the Beans, Trouble, Uno, and a few memory games all from various game sales. I'm thinking of getting Candyland and Chutes & Ladders this time, just to have them, but I think only my oldest (almost 6) will enjoy those right now...the almost-4-year-old gets bored with games easily. Hi-Ho Cherry-O is the only one he'll play start to finish.

In the past I've used either cash or my debit card...no credit. This year, depending on what's out there, I may use credit too, but only a hundred dollars of it or so. Something I can pay right back down the next month.

I think that's likely too. The regular GBA is no longer made so the SP is now the "bottom of the line" model. Wouldn't surprise me if it dropped more. Didn't the original GBA go for like $30 or so last BF?

Yep, and when the Game Boy Advance SP came out, the Game Boy Advance dropped, and when the Nintendo DS came out, the GBA SP dropped. I think it's almost certain the xbox will drop too. Probably not much, like you said, but there'll be bundles with games for the price of the xbox itself. That seems to be how they do it--they don't put the system on sale but they throw in a few games for free.

I think it's a possibility, for sure. Prices do tend to drop on the older models of game systems once the new, "ultra cool" and ultra expensive models come out.

I know they now take gift cards online; they didn't use to. But can you use more than one? Here I've been planning to do all this BF shopping online and it just occurred to me that I might not be able to use more than one coupon and gift card at the toysrus.com website. In the store I can do a partial pay pretty much as many times as I want. If the website doesn't allow it, I may need to get things as they go on "free shipping" sales and use one coupon/card per order, rather than waiting and getting everything at once to meet the "free shipping on $75" or whatever offer they do down the road. I'd pay less overall.

Wouldn't you know, the one game I really want to get (the Letter Factory game, for Christopher and I guess Erin too--gosh, she's getting old!) isn't part of the BOGO...I can get free shipping on it, but darn it, I want a free game, too. LOL. But the others aren't really "must haves" right now.

OMG I *totally* agree! That commercial came out before dh left and I remember commenting to him about that too!

I believe I went to Sears first, then Radio Shack, then Target, and then I was done. It was the first year I didn't hit TRU at all...at least I don't think I did. I think that none of the sale stuff was anything I wanted to get my kids. I'd have to search for my old 2004 posts to be sure though.

It hooks up to the tv to play games on the TV, not just on the handheld Leapster. I bought the Leapster for my son's 5th birthday last year (12/31, close to your son's!) and he loves it. I like that it's something he can do *without* the tv being on, so I'm happy with having just the regular Leapster. It's like a Gameboy, which more and more of his friends are getting, but it teaches him something. He does the Spiderman spelling/reading one now and really likes it. So it's a great compromise for us.

How is it boycotting a store if you still purchase from them and give them your money?

I believe two were from Rio and one was from Sao Paulo. I tried to do the pen pal thing with one after she moved back...a girl named Monique from Rio...but we were in 8th grade then and not great at writing, so that didn't last. Now that these memories have been triggered it's making me want to learn Portuguese again. Or at least brush up on my Spanish--it's been years since I had a chance to use it. I am from southern CA and there are many more hispanics there than in KY, where I live right now.

I've always gone alone. Dh has stayed home with the kids. This year, if I go out, the kids will come along, but not till later in the day/weekend, so my true BF shopping will be done online (and alone, as nobody else will be online shopping with me, LOL).

Amie...you are awesome. :) That was a great reply.

She is so cute! My daughter will be 2 in November. You can see pictures of my kids on my member page. Yes, now that I see the spelling I remember. The "s" is spelled that way but pronounced "sh." Or at least that is how my friends pronounced it. I made that mistake at first myself, thinking Brazilians speak Spanish--they quickly corrected me, after laughing at me. I really enjoyed learning Portuguese and wound up taking Spanish in high school because it was the closest language to the Portuguese that I already knew some of already. I wish I could remember more. I think it's funny that the first thing two seventh-grade girls taught their American friend to say was how to swear, but it sure got me interested in the language.

LOL...the only other Portuguese I remember from 7th grade is, well, how to call them a son of a ---- and tell them to stick their finger someplace unpleasant. Well, I can say "eshto bem" (spelling????) but other than that, it's the cursing. Funny what sticks with you. I used to know 50+ words. I helped a friend learn English and she taught me Portuguese. Good luck with getting to move here...and how old is your daughter?

I would be, too, if I wasn't deluged with birthdays in the months before Christmas LOL.

Ideally I'd do all my Christmas shopping on BF, but I don't tend to have enough money for that. Plus sometimes there simply aren't deals for things various family members would want. But I do as much as I can. Well over half, that's for sure.

I think ages 7 and 10 is old enough to go along...I think "small children" that belong at home are more like kids that are my kids' ages...almost 2, 4, and 5.5. I will be getting the deals online for the most part. I may venture out later in the day or later that weekend, if there are sale items I want that might still be in the stores...but when it's a decent hour to have them out, and when the most, um, "zealous" shoppers are already done shopping.

And I appreciate that.

Oi disneytati, como vai voce? LOL that is all the portuguese I can remember. I had a few friends from Brazil in school a long, long time ago. Welcome! :) My best advice for going to multiple stores on Black Friday is to start at the store that opens earliest first. Say one store opens at 6 am and the other opens at 7 am--go to the 6 am one first, and be in and out and at the next store by 7. If both stores open at the same time, pick the one that has the item you want most, and go there first--it might be gone if you hit that store second.

I hope the toy deals are better, and online! Last year was the first year in a long time that I didn't hit TRU first. Nothing I wanted from them was part of their "early bird" sale. I'm shopping from home this year so I hope they have great deals and free shipping on a low minimum...just to be safe I'm not buying too many toys ahead of time, so I can meet a minimum of $75 or so if that's what they do.

Nope. If a store has what I want at the lowest price around, I will buy it there.