reportermomof3

Oh, and forgot to say that last year there was also free shipping on many of the BF online deals. The online deals are usually available anytime after midnight (sometimes even before) so if you can get to a computer around midnight before you go out BF shopping, you can check to see whether or not the deal is available. HTH!

We rarely have snow that early here in southcentral PA. But if it were a true blizzard, the stores would stay closed. If there were only an inch or 2, the stores would definitely be open.

I use the shopping list available here at Gottadeal. Then I also bring in the ads for my pm items.

Many of the deals were available online last year. I didn't have to go to TRU's B&M last year because I was able to get all of my items online. But you have to be careful, some deals are NOT available online.

You've got to be careful about Kohl's toys. I've noticed that they mark items way up first before they take their percentage off. So 50% off might actually be only 25 or 30% off at other stores.

This is what I do also. Works very well.

Our 24-hour Wal-Mart stays open. You just can't touch the BF merchandise until 6 a.m. I haven't the foggiest idea how early Target will be open, but it's not a 24-hour store, so I would be freezing my buns off here in PA if I went there first. I plan to pm any Target items that I can, but Wal-Mart may not carry everything that I want. I know they only had a handful of items that I wanted to pm from TRU and Kmart last year.

Our first Target opened up a couple weeks ago and I was wondering how long their early bird items are around. Do they usually stock enough that I could go there second after Wal-Mart? I was planning to go to Wal-Mart first since it is a 24-hour store and pm as many Target items as I could, but if I can't get those items at Wal-Mart I'd want to go to Target later.

Nope. I'm a newspaper reporter, so they give us the newspapers with all the ads on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

I work both Thanksgiving and BF, BUT I work the 3 to 11:30 p.m. shift, so I can shop to my heart's content in the morning. DH also works BF, but will go in late so that he can babysit while I shop. I try to get back no later than 10ish so he can get to work.

the SP version? Thanks for your help! :)

Me too. It was there 1 minute and gone the next.

Our 24-hour Wal-Mart has the pallets out and ready to go by about 4 or 5, sometimes earlier depending on the item. Shoppers just are not allowed to touch anything on the pallets until 6.

Bikes were located in our Wal-Mart's garden center the last couple of years.

I go alone since my sisters don't live nearby and my husband stays home with the kids. Everyone else thinks I'm nuts. When I get back home, usually around 10ish, my husband goes in to work and I take the kids to get non-kid presents.

We have a 24-hour Super Wal-Mart, so anyone can come inside at any time. However, the BF items are off-limits until 6 a.m. Lines form around the items which are scattered throughout the store and most often are not even located in the same department. For items such as TVs and computers, people are given tickets and then after they are paid for you can drive around to the back of the store to get them loaded. Others, like the GameCube 2 years ago, you had to get at the checkout counter and then take it directly to your car without going back through the store. I generally get there between 3 and 4 a.m. to scope out where the items are located (last year even the employees didn't know where some of the items were going to be located at that time), put my PM items in my cart and then go to the line where I think the item will vanish quickest (usually electronics). I was 1st in line last year for the TV/DVD combo. Unfortunately, I don't have anyone to come with me to get in more than 1 line at a time since my husband stays home with the kids.

That's about what I paid for it at Wal-Mart on BF 2 years ago.

My TRU PM'd 2 years ago. Got some Transformers PM'd there. I used TRU online last year, so I'm not sure if they stopped last year or not.

I heard last year that some Wal-Marts refused to PM on BF. I didn't have that problem at mine, however. I think it's a local Wal-Mart decision.

How it works here is that you may come into the store at any time, but the items that are on the Black Friday sale may not be put into your cart until 6 a.m. Security is positioned around the store to make sure of that. Also, the items are not where they normally would be. They are throughout the store and you have to figure out where they have put them. I'd get there at 4 a.m. if there is something you really want, so that you are near the beginning of the line for that item. It's also hard to get around with a cart. Go without one if at all possible. Good luck!