outnumbered

Oooh, now that would be nice! But I'm about to get a $55 toy for about $23, so I can afford full price on the car if there's no deals.

Thanks! :) I'm thinking Tyco is the way to go for now--the Stunster probably. Great-looking little car at a decent price. And if he treats it well and likes it enough, he can get a bigger-ticket one later on.

I want to get my oldest an r/c vehicle, either for Christmas or his bday (a week after Christmas). There are SO many out there it's unbelievable! I need one that's easy for him to control (he'll be turning 5) and won't get destroyed easily. He's rough on toys, even when he doesn't mean to be. My other boy got a Little Tikes r/c car for his 3rd birthday and it seems to be well-made, but I wanted to avoid them having the same car. Plus some of the other models have the "cool factor" more than the Little Tikes one. Anyway...any suggestions? Once I know what I'm looking for I can keep my eye on sales, etc.

LOL! Do you do that with the boxes or with the actual gifts? I will show dh his wrapped presents, saying "Look, it's your present!" and then after he shows interest in unwrapping it on the spot I'll hide it well. I honestly don't mean to torture him, I'm just so excited that I got him a gift that I just have to show him--but then I want him surprised, too. Poor guy. So you're actually showing him the stuff as it arrives? Or just that a box came?

Ooh, now that's convenient! I wound up wrapping the huge box, twice actually, to get it covered enough so that the type on the side of the box wouldn't show through, and then I set it to the side of our stairway. It's the only place in the entire apartment that it will fit--too heavy to lug upstairs or out to the shed. And then I didn't put a "to" tag on it or tell anyone who it is for. So now dh is assuming it's for one of the children. I even wrapped up a smaller gift for him and put it on top of the box to throw him off--he thinks that is his gift and has been after me about what I got him...he hasn't even asked about the huge box! Not sure if that will continue till Christmas, but it's a good start at least.

Heh. My dh thought I was insane to go out that early and wait for a store to open, to then be mobbed by other shoppers. But when he sees what I was able to get him for Christmas because of the 50% off sale and $10 gift card...he will see it my way! He calls me crazy, but I think deep down he's just really happy that I'm taking care of all the shopping so he doesn't have to. Although I do have to remember to tell him what I buy as I get it, so that he doesn't see a pile of boxes and think I did it all at once, LOL. And I agree, it's going to be neat to see this site grow!

I'm here, but broke, LOL...so no more deal-hunting till payday for me. Still reading and responding if I have anything valuable to add, but BF cleaned out our bank account (and I didn't even buy that much!) so I won't be posting any more "look what I bought!" threads for a bit. I think it's going to quiet down some, but a bunch of us will still be here checking in and participating. Just not all day long anymore.

No trouble at all here. Obviously being first at Sears, the parking lot was wide open. When I drove around back to merchandise pickup, the area was almost full, but there was space along a curb. And then after that, I drove back to the mall parking lot so I could hit Radio Shack, and found a spot without any trouble. Much farther away, of course, but it was in the first aisle I drove up. But then I was done and on my way home at 7:30 am; I am sure it got worse as the morning went on.

They'd send a receipt with your order, right? Those usually list the date you placed your order. Everything I've bought at amazon does that, anyway; I'd assume other stores are the same. So provided you get your items within the rebate timeframe, you ought to be ok--you should have a packing slip/receipt showing the date you ordered as the date of purchase.

I bought their Little People royal gift set (kingdom castle and two accessory sets) when it was on sale for 40% off. I was afraid it might sell out and didn't think I'd be online during the BF sale hours anyway. Well, about 9:30 am on BF, I was indeed online and saw that it was still in stock, on sale for the 50% off. So I emailed their customer service and said that I'd bought it for $26.99 and it was on sale for $22.49 at the moment, and asked if it was possible to get a price adjustment. I just got an email back, and they are giving me the $4.50! Woohoo! So I got it at the BF price after all! I'm quite happy now. Walmart sells just the castle alone for $20, so this is like getting free accessory sets. This was my first order from kohls.com and I must say, they've made a good impression on me.

Ok, even those of us who have done this before might still have picked up some new tips...mine is...next year, wear two pairs of socks! I was bundled up well, but my poor feet were freezing! And gloves would have helped too. I had to put the gameboy away after about an hour...my fingers were just too cold to play.

I arrived at Sears at 3:55 am and there was not a single person there. Stayed in the van till about 4:10 when another car pulled up. It then drove away, but I stayed put. A few people showed up in the next half hour; the major crowd didn't arrive till just before 5 am.

Not me...I'll be decorating the house for Christmas and wrapping any gifts that haven't been wrapped yet.

ITA. We had more money when he was deployed, which was nice, but I prefer being broke with him home. And yeah, cost of living in the TN area is nice and cheap. I'm looking forward to moving home and dreading it all at the same time.

Yeah, I might not call that a "horror story" but I think something similar happened at our Sears. Signs were posted indicating which door to use for the gift card. I was first in line at that particular entrance. When I got in, the tool section was mobbed by the people who'd been waiting by that door, and as I was using my $10 card at checkout, several people were asking me where I got it--apparently headed in that direction to try to get one. I don't know if they had any success though. I would hope that management would have only given cards to those entering the store, not those already inside coming up to that entrance. On a semi-related note, I'd like to know why every last employee at Sears felt compelled to walk by the door, look out at all of us lined up in that "looking at the zoo animals" way, and then walk away.

Our connection isn't great either. Dialup, and anytime I've ever tried to download a movie clip, it would have to stop mid-playing to continue downloading...it's a mess. I'm doubtful I could get a song to download properly if a movie clip doesn't work. Whatever it is that causes the problem...it's just slow. Oh well. We won't be broke forever.

Heh. I like how they call it a "success" when their program doesn't work as it should. Hopefully they'll get some good tech people to get busy this weekend so they can handle their "success" better.

Wow. I would have been sooooo upset if I waited in the cold all that time and then couldn't even get in the store! I hope they had security cameras and will be able to catch whoever did it.

I hope this isn't the same lady who constantly gets "trampled", LOL... But assuming it's legit--wow! Poor lady! But depending on how it went down, maybe she deserved it? Who fights over $10? Whatever happened, it's a shame. People in my area were all so civil, it was nice. I pushed my way through the crowds but did it with a smile on my face, saying "Excuse me please," as I shoved...LOL...nobody seemed to mind and most tried to move out of my way so I didn't have to get too physical.

Whew! I was very happy to get the advice. I felt much more confident going in there, knowing I was asking the right questions and the player would at least work with the right files. I'm *almost* wishing I got one for myself, too, but I think I'll hold out until I can afford a better model that will last me many years. I don't think my computer is good enough for downloading songs anyway--I will have to wait till we can upgrade to join the whole digital music phenomenon. Thanks very much for the advice! :)

Here is a better pic, w/stats, of the mp3 player Radio Shack was selling today: http://datavisioncomputer.com/webapp/commerce/command/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=1244659&prmenbr=2000 Please tell me this is a great starter mp3 player, since I bought it. It plays the .wma and mp3 files, has no software needed, etc., so it looked right to me--I just want reassurance.

Adding my thanks as well! I am still blown away at how smoothly this BF went for me. I got every single item I was after in only 1.5 hours total and got some incredible deals. It is definitely this site that made all the difference. Thanks guys! And if you can do for the rest of my Christmas shopping next month, and grocery shopping throughout the year, what you did for BF...I will be one very happy person. I'm already looking forward to the next great deal I can take advantage of!

I only have one rebate, for $10. And my mom is going to have to mail it in for me, LOL. They want the UPC code, of course...and this is a Christmas gift, with a mail-in deadline of Dec 28th. So I'm going to have to send all paperwork to my mom and have her drop it in the mail with the UPC. I'm glad it's only a $10 rebate; I wouldn't want to have to wait an extra month (on top of the 10-12 week processing time) for a big chunk of money. Sales are so much easier than rebates!

And also for the parents, LOL. I had plenty of coffee when I got home, but by 2 pm, it was still verrrrrry nice to leave the sick, cranky 1-year-old and the two very wild boys with Daddy for a few hours and go hide in bed. Maybe I could've toughed it out, but...why? No mother turns down the chance for a nap

I got home and took over with the kids till about 1 pm, when dh finally rolled back out of bed...then at 2 pm I crashed and just woke up a bit ago--so I guess about 3 hours! Nice!