Kmakksmom&dad

Oh that shirt is really cool :)

This is our very first post here on GD, but we have been following everyone and everything *all the deals Black Friday and not* for MONTHS now. Yes, we are definitely "lurkers" here :) This BF experience started out great and ended great. We left our kids *4 girls and a baby boy* with family and headed out around 9pm Thanksgiving evening. We ended up getting to TRU around 10pm and were about 30th in line. The people that came and stood behind us became fast "friends" to us. The one thing that didn't go according to plan was that it started raining about 10:30pm and didn't let up til later in the morning...oh well. We were going for the Tek Nek Rock n Ride pony for $23.99. Around 11:30 a TRU employee started handing out maps as to where the "hot items" were. Apparently the pony we were going for was NOT a hot item, which had it's advantages and it's disadvantages. *No one really wanted it, we were the first to get one, but it was all the way back in the store so we had to walk quickly to get it and then get in line* Anyway, going back to 11:30pm...at about 11:45pm another employee came out with tickets. Didn't need any of the ticketed items, so we didn't take any. LOTS of people took them then went to the back of the line and sold those tickets for $50 a piece. Craziness I tell you! About 11:50pm there was a huge influx of people that decided to stand right by our van and spread themselves out. Our van was *legally* in a handicapped spot right across from the front doors. People from behind us started yelling to "get in the back of the line, that we had been standing here for 2 or more hours and why should they get in the store before us?"<~~~with LOTS of colorful language:shock: TRU employees came out armed with walkie talkies and started to usher people in 10 at a time. We were in the 3rd handful of people who were ushered in, got the pony, 2 $10 Wii games and got in line. Hubby ran to get the $11 MP3 player and we were out at 12:20am. Easy peasy. Hubby's knees were hurting, we were cold, so we came home for a couple hours. We started again at 1am. Next was Walmart. It was awesome. Very well handled. They had lines marked off with caution tape and the exact items were at the exact spots that were discussed on the map. We weren't aware that the "big" item we were going for there had a "spot" tho, but ended up having to spend a couple hours in line at the jewelry counter for the 7" Philips Portable DVD player and bag. We were second in line for it. We were given a ticket and had to stand there. If you needed a break then you had to give up your ticket and get a 15 minute pass so you could walk around/go to the bathroom/get a drink/etc. Luckily, we were a twosome, so when we needed a break we would just hand the ticket off to the other. 4:55am rolls around and hubby heads to the pjs and picks up 5 pjs for our 16 month old baby boy. At exactly 5am the associate asked for the first person in line for the DVD players. When her ticket was satisfied, she zoomed off *she was in a Motorcart* and then I was called up. When my ticket was satisfied, I was asked to move along, and the next was called. It was very orderly. I met hubby walking up the aisle I was coming down, and headed to the self checkout. So, we got the 7" Philips Portable DVD player + $10 Philips DVD player bag, 5 jammies, The Dark Knight DVD, Gran Torino DVD, Casino Royale DVD, The Marine DVD, Over The Hedge DVD, Spaceballs DVD *which was a MUST for me, I grew up on it, lol* and a $7 Cabela's game for the PS2 which hubby "had to have". He decided he could live without the sunglasses that weren't on sale, which was good because that $15 was spent elsewhere There was a sales associate for each self checkout and that was very nice since two of the jammies rang up incorrectly. Imagine if we had to wait forever for someone to come over to fix that, wow. Oh, and Gran Torino came up with a restriction because it's an R rated movie. They had 3 associates at the door checking everyone's bags to their receipts. Starbucks time! Got a pumpkin spice frappuchino and hubby bought me a new traveling christmas mug. Like I said, the $15 spent elsewhere :) Next was Home Depot where hubby picked up the 30 + 30 free Rayovac AA batteries, the Combo LED Aluminum Flashlight 6-Pack, and I got 3 .99 cent poinsettas. Then we went to Hastings, which is a local music, movie and book store. I don't know if there are any other Hastings around other than in our city and the city beside us. We got 4 calendars for the price of 2, *buy 2 calendars, get 2 free coupon...which the 2 free we picked were 2 New Moon ones*, some buy 1 Used DVD get 1 for 1 penny deals, and also a few games with the Buy 2 Used Video Games Get One for 1 penny deals as well. This was the first year that hubby went with me. I went with my MIL last year. The past years before that we were working retail on Black Friday. We are vowing next year will be much more fun because we didn't plan like we should have for today monetarily wise, but will do so for next year :)