areno79

Does anyone know if the $178 Dell laptop is considered a doorbuster? It currently says "In store only" at the regular $399 price, but I wasn't sure if it was worth waiting up for if it's not going to be online. I kinda hate playing these games, but it's part of the deal, I guess. And no way will I go to BB on Thanksgiving so that's out.

Had a very successful Black Friday! I woke up Thursday morning to put the turkey in the oven, and just for kicks and giggles, checked the Target site to see if any of the big items I wanted were available online at the BF price. (I'd seen on GD that the Target items had gone on sale much earlier that morning so didn't expect much.) Amazingly, the GPS and the Nikon camera were still available, and it was free shipping for both items! I ordered those before I had a chance to second guess, and was so relieved to have my 2 "big" items crossed off my list! A bit later I looked at Target again, and the Nintendo 3DS my SIL (aka, my shopping partner) wanted was available as well. I ordered that, and she too was relieved since that was only her real "must-have" item. Went to Walgreens, got an ihome alarm clock, and a couple of the small Christmas inflatables. After Thanksgiving dinner my SIL and I used to lay out the ads, look through them and determine our lists and game plan. This year that didn't really happen because of the earlier opening times, so we rushed through some of the bigger ads so she could bring her kids home and come back to meet me to go out. Got to WM around 6:30, already busy, but not unmanageable. An hour later it was packed, but they had caution tape set up to keep the lines orderly. Got everything on our lists! Picked up the Battleship, Brave, and Snow White and the Huntsman Blu Rays; Epic Mickey 2 and Madden 13 games; Monster High dolls; Shark Steam Mop; Drawing studio kit; Hello Kitty pop up game; coloring castle and rubbermaid containers. Got out of there around 8:30, went down the street to Target and the line was already around the building! Waited in the car until opening looking over the ad again. Took about 10 minutes to get in once the doors opened, and it was a madhouse, especially over by electronics/toys! Luckily they had everything we needed around the same general area. Bought 2 scooters (the last ones!), Mark of Athena book, Brave DS game, Farberware pots and pans set, Black and Decker blenders, The Lucky One dvd, ELF eyeshadow palette, and the Hedbanz game. I wanted the Crayola twistables set, but they were gone and people were waiting for the associate to bring more. We wanted to get out of that crazy store so I decided I didn't need it that badly. While we were waiting in line, right next to us on the endcap was an abandoned one, so I ended up with that too! Headed over to Kmart; they always have the worst setup for lines and their associates (at that store) never seem to be in a hurry to get people through the lines. Picked up some pajamas, socks, screenhouse, Uno Roboto, and Craftsman drill. Took FOREVER to get out of there. After that we stopped at McDonalds to get a couple of drinks and the drive through guy told us it would be a 20 minute wait. *sigh* Told him nevermind, got out of line, and decided to go in. They only had 3 people working, it was a madhouse! Chilled out there for a bit looking through some of the ads. Decided to stop by TRU to see if it was worth it. Got in there and there were NO lines. I was shocked! At this point it was about 1:30. Got everything we wanted there except the My Little Pony set, which wasn't a big deal. Got a couple of the Inkoos, Tinkerbell fairy set, and the Polly Pocket roller coaster. Since we were over there, stopped at Walmart over on that side of town, it was also deserted! It was so much nicer being able to look at things without having a crowd of people around. Even the folks waiting for the 5AM items were few and far between. Picked up a pair of $4 sweatpants, a sweatshirt, and jewelry designer set, and after that we were done and headed home for our warm beds!

No flaming from me, Christus! Unless you put your kid in a carseat in a cart that takes up space in the aisles! (In all serious, I cringe when I see a babyseat in a cart on BF...a few years ago I saw one fall over as people were trying to get into the store. The baby was buckled (luckily), but the ambulance was called and the mother was hysterical. Not a good scene to see. )

Well said! Every kid is different, but unfortunately most BF mobs are not. If people are able to trample a grown man (a couple of years ago in NY, if you remember), trampling a child would be easier and much more dangerous. It's ultimately your decision, but for me the cons far outweigh the pros in this instance. If you want her to have the "experience", why not have her with you camping out waiting in line, and before the stores open have someone pick her up? Might be a good way to ease her into it without putting her at risk of relentless mobs of people.

A couple of years ago, I started my Christmas shopping in September, thinking I'd get a jump on the season and could enjoy December instead of being stressed. What actually happened is I bought DOUBLE the amount I usually do, because once BF hit I shopped the same amount I had in years past. So this year, I'll wait until BF, unless I see a few good deals at WM that I can put on layaway.

Waiting for the deals Checking Gottadeal daily Time to save some dough!

I am pretty unenthusiastic about the ads thus far. I'll still be out shopping since it is a tradition; I just won't be in a frenzy trying to get any underwhelming "must-haves." Just remember though..for each of one us "Black Friday veterans" that stays home or grumbles about the ads, there will be 5 more shoppers clamoring to buy whatever they can get their hands on just because it's Black Friday and they don't know any better.

Hi all, I'm just checking to see how the price adjustment policy works for Target in regards to BF. As I understand it, I can go in Wednesday night, buy the items I want, then go back on Friday with the ad and get a price adjustment. Is there anything else I'm missing? Do I have to do the price adjustment at a certain time/place? Will they just put the credit back on my credit card or give me cash? Thanks for any feedback!

Our TRU did this last year...but by the time we got in there it was still crazy! It kept everyone from stampeding the door, but didn't do anything for the craziness inside the store.

Yay, I got the Garmin 255wt! Thanks Brad and Co. for all you do...you just saved me a bunch of money, and most of all, aggravation!

Ready for the deals Standing in the cold outside Thank you Gotta Deal!

Our Supercenter did it last year...worked out great! Plus, think about it from a marketing perspective; the longer Walmart has you in their store, the more likely you are to buy things...even if you didn't originally intend to buy them

Avoid the Newington store if at all possible. I grew up in Portsmouth, and just moved to Manchester last year. Prior to that I shopped in Newington, and it was always crazy due to the close proximity to the malls. I prefer the Portsmouth store on Route 1. There aren't any other stores around it it's not as busy.

The Walmart I went to last year had the best system, IMO. It's a Supercenter, and while I showed up at 1AM fully prepared to wait outside in line, they remained open. They had most of the smaller items out (some on special endcaps/displays), and the big ticket items were wrapped in pallets and lines had formed at each one. Luckily we didn't need any large items, so we were done with our WM shopping by about 3AM. We parked our cart in one of the checkout registers, and had a good time chatting with line neighbors, and more importantly being WARM! At 5AM the registers opened, and the associates (at least 2 per big item) opened the pallets and handed the items out to people in line in a nice orderly fashion. No running, screaming, or shoving. :)

I'll be there for the hard drive, and maybe the Tom Tom GPS. If it's really $150 off that's a great price!

I used to sleep the night before, but as the years have gone by I've gotten less and less. The past two years I've just stayed up. I'm going to *try* to get some sleep this year...but I say that every year :)

I vow to sleep before going shopping. Last year I was so tired from staying up all night that I fell asleep sitting at a table in the diner we were at. People must've thought I was drunk!

I've been going since 2001...can't believe it's been 8 years!

I usually go to Kmart on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday, but I never try for big ticket items. In my experience, Thanksgiving is usually busier than BF. The biggest problem I have with Kmart is that finding the sale items is like searching for the Holy Grail. They have some serious issues with stocking...and it seems to be that way at every Kmart I've ever been to.

Used to be Portsmouth, NH, but since we've moved it's now Concord, NH.

About 3 years ago SIL and I decided to go to Kohl's as our BF "opening" store. As they open the doors, this rather large elderly lady (who was at least 75) grabs a cart and proceeds to start mowing people down with it, myself included. She was pushing the cart into people's heels, causing them to fall over or trip. I would've been mad if I wasn't laughing so hard.

Two things come to mind. 2007-Walmart DVD camcorder: I nearly lost a limb waiting in line for that thing, and we've only used it once. Talk about a waste of money. 2008-Target Popcorn Maker: A complete piece of junk. Used it once and kernels were flying everywhere...and didn't pop the majority of kernels. DH was so looking forward to using it but I ended up returning it. This year I'm going to spend the money for a decent one for him.

All in all I had another GREAT Black Friday. SIL and I were worried because we'd never been to a 24 hour Walmart that stayed open rather than close until 5AM. We got there around 1:30AM, and there were more people than I expected, but it wasn't bad at all. They had the ad items spread throughout the store, and some of them were still wrapped in plastic (mainly the big ticket items), but neither SIL or I needed any of those things. The associates were very helpful. It was actually an excellent way to start the day. We found the items on our lists first, then walked around leisurely looking at everything else. I got a couple of Hannah Montana backstage closets and dolls, the Barbie surfin cruiser dolls, a CPK doll, the Fisher Price piano and walker wagon, some DVD's, and the paper shredder. The store didn't start to get busy until around 3:30AM, but at that point we were already first in line in the closest register line to the door. LOL The electronic dept was nuts...people were lining up around the store trying to get the Xbox 360 bundle deal. Our cashier was ready at the register at 4:45, and at 5AM promptly she started ringing up our items while we bagged and paid. We were out of there at 5:08, and were standing outside in the line at Target by 5:15. SIL had to go over to Sears to try to get the washer/dryer pair and some other things so I waited at Target. They were so organized...they had maps or the doorbuster items, plus they had a cop to oversee things and he stood right up front to make sure there weren't any line cutters. When they opened the doors, I grabbed a cart, took a shortcut from the main aisle, and ran down to grab the Guitar Hero World Tour bundle, which was the big item I wanted. I'm glad I took the shortcut...there was a major bottleneck of carts at the main aisle with everyone trying to get that item, so I sneaked up the side and grabbed one. I also got the Popcorn Maker, Little People Ride On Firetruck, and some thermal underwear, and was out of there by 6:20, even after having some trouble find the underwear. SIL called while I was in the checkout line and said Sears was a nightmare, but she did the washer/dryer pair. We each wanted one of the staple guns that was in the ad, but the manager told her they never even received any. Not a big loss, but kind of annoying. We went over to Home Depot so she could get a microwave, then hit the mall. Stopped in Circuit City which was surprisingly not busy. Got the last Wii Fit cover and seasons 5 &6 of Smallville, then went to the attached mall. I got the last 2 computer headsets/microphone at Radio Shack, and at that point I was done! We stopped in Old Navy so SIL could get a couple of hoodies for my niece, then left the mall. Decided to stop by TRU to see how it was, and the parking lot was a nightmare. The parking spots are small anyway, but people were taking up 2 spots, people were parking in the middle of the aisles, ugh, it was a nightmare. We said "Thanks, but No Thanks" and left. Stopped at Kmart to get a My Little Pony carrying case, then went to breakfast around 9:30. This is our earliest finish yet...usually we finish around noon, but I was fine with it because I was exhausted after staying up all night. Dropped SIL off, and I was home asleep on the couch by 11AM! It was an exhausting day, but totally worth it considering I got everything I wanted, and I'm 90% done with my Christmas shopping!

I'm trying to decide between the Tom Tom One 125 or the Garmin nuvi 200 for my IL's. It's their first GPS, so I need something easy to use. Also, the price is about the same, which is why I'm looking at those two units. Any opinions????

DH wanted to put up the Christmas decorations when we took the Halloween decorations down...on November 1st The plan at this point is for the guys and my SIL to put up the decorations while I'm cooking Thanksgiving dinner. I already have a written map of the yard detailing what goes where But I'm psyched to see how it all turns out since this is our first year in our new house. Then Black Friday night after DH gets home from work (and I'm gotten some much needed rest) we'll put up the Christmas tree and inside decorations.