jakesmommy403

Last year I had gotten most of my shopping done and was sitting there on Thanksgiving thinking "I can't believe I don't even have to go out tonight"...My bro is my BF buddy, so we looked through the ads and looked online a little bit. The BF bug started to bite...then my brother sat down at my computer at midnight to get some deals from TRU and his cart kept emptying before he could purchase anything. We looked at each other, threw our shoes on, and out the door we went! Lol. We started at WM and got a bunch of awesome stuff, then hit Target and loaded up on more stuff. We came back to my house to wait for Kmart and Lowes to open, and wrapped gifts and drank coffee. We headed back out at 4 to hit Kmart, and then finished up at Lowes. Now we know that no matter how much we've already bought before BF, we'll still want to head out that night, so we're ready! :)

My 23-year-old brother has been getting a box of Slim Jims for Christmas for the past 14 years! Lol! It wouldn't be Christmas without it.

Walgreens, eh?? Hmm...I might run out tonight and take a look. I never would have thought to look there! Thanks!

Good for you! :) Your kids will be so excited!! I saw that there's also a beanbag toss game and a card game from the makers of UNO. I'm not sure if I'll pick up either, since I have this set of birds now. This will be enough for my son. But you never know what can happen when the holiday excitement overtakes me, as it always does. Lol!

My DS7 has "a jar of marshmallow fluff" on his list. Done and done! I'm going to put one in his stocking.

We actually just hammered down the menu this week, so here it is! We have Thanksgiving at our house, and there are 5 adults, a teenager, and 2 kids. (And a dog.) All the food is made by DH, me, and my mom. *Turkey (with orange, onion, rosemary, and sage in it.) - DH *Sausage Cornbread stuffing - DH *Turkey gravy - DH *Garlic Mashed Potatoes - DH *Squash Casserole -Me *Green Bean Casserole - Mom *Cheesy Corn Bake - Me *Homemade Mac & Cheese for the kids - Me *Cheesy Broccolli Cauliflower Casserole - Mom *Sweet Potatoes on Pineapple Rings - Me *Cranberry Sauce - canned *Biscuits - Me *Coffee *Wine *Holiday Punch *Egg Nog *2 pumpkin pies - Me *2 custard pies - Me *2 banana cream pies - Me *coconut cream pie - Me *white chocolate cranberry cheesecake - Me *Boston Cream Pie - Mom

I always choose my budgets before I plan any shopping, but also plan to give myself a little wiggle room just in case I should go over. I have a bit of a larger budget for DS7 because his gifts are more expensive than DS2's. Here's what we have this year: DS7 $250, DS2 $175, and then a stocking stuffer budget of $10 per kid. DH and I will spend about $50 on each other, and then the only family we have is mine so we have my Mom $50 Dad $50 Brother $50 Brother $50. Oh, and about $15 on my dog. Then teachers, neighbors, and mailman small gifts get a budget of $50 total. I do try to even out the number of gifts the kids have under the tree as much as I can, but they don't notice that anyway. I would say they each get around 12-16 gifts, but I do stay within the budget. I always leave $50 as wiggle room in case I need to go over budget for anyone. :)

At this point since I have the little bird sets I'm good, but I'll tell ya I had one heck of a time trying to track down that Knock on Wood game around here. Everyone kept selling out! I never think about Ebay, I don't know why. Oh well, at least he'll have these birds to play with. Thanks for the info, though! :)

I was thinking the same thing...I'll probably just let my sons come up with their own thing. I'm guessing they'll pull out some Lego's or the old wooden blocks we have or something. :)

Since the Angry Birds board game is so hard to get, I thought I would share this. My DS7 is Angry Birds obsessed, and always pretends he has imaginary birds around the house that he takes care of, so I wanted to find him something, but not the plushes because those will just sit here. Kmart had a whole collection of Angry Birds figurines! They come in packs of 2, and they're adorable!!! I got 3 packs: The white and red birds, the blue and black birds, and the yellow bird with a pig. They were $6.99 per pack. This is going to be a huge hit in my house on Christmas. This might just be my kid though, I don't know. But just in case, I wanted to tell you about them! Here's a link! http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_10104_004W003481543000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1

I love spending a cozy Turkey Day with my family and then getting bundled up and heading out to the stores that night! I love getting quality time to hang out with my bro (he's my BF shopping partner), and finding awesome deals for my kids. I love chatting with people at the stores, seeing all the Santa hats, and getting some hot chocolate while we shop. Honestly, I just love the whole thing. :)

We're lucky to live only 10 minutes from WM, Target, TRU, Kohls, Lowes, and Kmart. It makes BF very easy. There are outlets in between too, but I avoid that on BF because I don't have a good reason to go there. So here's the plan! *Host Thanksgiving dinner at our home for the fam, as always. They'll leave around 8-9 to get home, and my brother sticks around to clean up with hubs and I. Then we get the kiddos off to bed, and my bro and I head out! Hubs HATES shopping, so he happily stays home with the kids for me. It works out perfectly. The BF 2011 plan: *10 p.m. Walmart: toys, home goods, maybe some jammies and DVDs (neither of us are out for electronics) *12 a.m. Target: toys, whatever else we see in the ads that we like *1 a.m. Kohls (I like to see what I can find for my mom there. She loves everything from Kohls) *2 a.m. If the deals are worth it, check out what TRU has going on. This all depends on how well we did at WM and Target. *3 a.m. Get some hot chocolate at the gas station and head home to go through our purchases and hide the gifts. Bro goes home to sleep, I stagger into my bed. Then I'll head down to the basement (AKA the North Pole) the next morning to wrap my gifts while hubs and the kids eat leftovers. :)

I'm so ready! I live 10 minutes away from a WM, so here's our plan. We'll clean up from Thanksgiving (we have it at our house and the guests usually leave around 9), and then when the kids are in bed and my hubby is in his turkey coma, my brother and I will shoot up to WM to get some of the toy deals for my kids, then head across the street to Target to grab a few things, hit Kohls if we need to (it's in the same parking lot), and then head back home to hide the gifts and get some rest! Boom! No hanging out in lines at 3 a.m. for me this year. But then again, I'm not out for electronics so it's easier. I'm sure in a few years when my kids are teens it won't be this easy. Lol

Washington, PA :)

It's always my little brother and I. Hubby can't stand shopping, so he stays home and sleeps and hangs out with our kids while my bro and I brave the BF rush! We love it!

I'm actually pumped about this. We have Thanksgiving at my house, and then after everyone leaves and hubby and I clean up, my little bro and I head out shopping, then come home to sleep. With everyone opening at midnight, we get all the shopping done by 3 a.m. and get a decent night's sleep after, so it works out pretty well. :) I can see how this would mess some people's schedule up, though.

I was looking for the $10 Bakugan packs at WM and some other lady was looking for some other toys. She led me to the Bakugans because she had just passed them, and I took hold of her list and helped her navigate her way to a few of the items she was looking for. We made a good team!

My brother and I decided on a whim to head up to Walmart at about 12:30. I have to say, our WM did a wonderful job this year of keeping everything clean and organized and well-placed! It was packed, but we strolled in, went back to toys, loaded up on Bakugan stuff, Toy Story stuff, a few other things and then went over to the DVD's. They had a ton of the $1.96 ones left! I think between the 2 of us we bought about 20 movies. LOL Then we went up to the check-outs and walked right up to one, cashed out, and were back at my house wrapping gifts 10 minutes later! It was great! Everyone was friendly, the lines for the big-ticket items were very organized! So now we're waiting for Kmart to open and then we'll pop over to Lowes to pick up the fire pit I bought online. Then home to sleep! Easiest BF ever!

That's what I was thinking too...maybe I'll head up to WM just to see what's going on and what's still available. Maybe pick up a $5 Color Wonder set for my youngest. I'm glad it's not just me! Every year I'm out there with a list and a map and a game plan. This is so different for me!

With all the amazing online deals and in-store deals and coupons...I'm almost done with my shopping. I had this whole game plan of being at TRU for 10, WM after, Target at 4, Lowes at 6... Now all I need to get are the Eyeclops, Megablocks, and Bakugan at Target and the Wine Chiller at Lowes. And I'll be done. I am so excited about all the deals I got, and I've come in well under budget, but I feel like I SHOULD be out there on BF, waiting overnight for the sales to start, fighting my way to the video games... I've never been done like this before. And now here I am, on the cusp of Black Friday, and I only need a handful of things. Anyone else? Someone make me feel better about being unfaithful to Black Friday.

Ok, thanks! That might save me some trouble.

This might be a stupid question, but I've never online shopped TRU for BF before. Do they offer all of the same Black Friday items online as they do in the store? For example, the B1G2 G.I. Joes. Would those also be online? Thanks. :)

Panic started to set in here, but I've countered it with determination. I keep telling myself I am a black friday deal grabbing war machine, and no one can stop me from getting the things I want.

I'm definitely picking one up for my BFF and one for myself! :) We loved Punky when we were kids!

Nope, I was wrong. Still opening at 5, I don't know why I believe the 4 a.m. rumor. Oh well, the ad wasn't even worth waiting for as far as what I need this year. Looks like I have my game plan down!! :)