karina_anne

Thanks OP! Does anyone know if you can use the $5.00 off from McDonalds Monopoly for this?

If you'd like the coupon I can send it to you. Just PM me with your address and I'll mail it to you.

It's for something they call Monthly Pass which includes online access and unlimited meetings. I think it sounds kind of steep to me at 39.99 a month but I guess if you want to do both meetings and online it might be ok. Sorry I really hadn't read it. I actually just got it in the mail just before I read your post.

Got this from another forum. Hope it helps. OfficeDepot has Texas Instruments TI-83 Plus Graphing Calculator for $99.99 - $20 off $75 coupon 20860277 - $25 rebate = $55 with free shipping. Also available Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus Silver Edition Graphing Calculator $139.99 - $40 discount when selected in cart for in-store pickup - $20 off $75 coupon 20860277- $25 rebate = $55.

I just got a flyer and it was only free registration. It sounds like there isn't much out there other than that and the 25% off. But if you're interested PM and I'll mail to you.

I do this but in Popcorn buckets like you get at the movie theater. You can by them from Amazon.com! They make a great gift! You can find the candy boxes at the dollar store and buy the popcorn in bulk from Sam's or Costco and then they cost under $10.00 even with the Blockbuster gift card. I've also done it with a movie in it if you know there is a movie out the person would like to own. That makes it a little more expensive however.

Thanks so much Flordasunshine! We actually saw Serenity before it even came out in theaters! We were lucky enough to attend the sneak preview! I enjoyed both the movie and the series but I want them off my TIVO!!! He recorded all of them when they were on the SciFi marathon and he still watches them so I can't delete them! Thanks so much for the information!

Florida, do you have the UPC? My Husband has all of the episodes clogging up my TIVO and if I could get the set for that great price I'd definitely get it for him! Thanks for the information!

OK so I guess that was a fluke. It came up showing the Friday ad and when I just went back to the website it's the Wednesday ad again!

The JC Penny ad for BF is now up on their website.

Best Buy Hopes Practice Pays Off for 'Green Friday' By KRIS HUDSON November 20, 2006 FARMERS BRANCH, Texas -- For the 160 employees of the Best Buy Co. store in this Dallas suburb, "Green Friday" started at 6 a.m. Saturday. They trudged into their store from its vacant parking lot before dawn to take part in an annual "dry run" that makes Best Buy one of the most efficient and effective U.S. retailers on the Friday after Thanksgiving, especially during the frenzied "doorbuster" rush before sunrise. That pivotal Friday is a day that will determine the success or failure of many retailers' overall holiday sales and, to a lesser extent, profit. Most observers call it Black Friday, but Best Buy staffers refer to it as Green Friday. "Today is not going to be perfect during our dry run, so we want to make sure we identify problems and get those corrected for Green Friday," the store's general manager, Kathy Garcia, told her groggy employees -- roughly half of whom are entering their first holiday season in the retailer's employ -- as they gathered around her in the home-theater department prior to starting the exercise. Many forecasts for the holiday shopping season predict a modest performance by U.S. retailers, which still are coping with the penalty that high energy prices exact from shoppers' discretionary spending. Thomson Financial predicts that the publicly traded U.S. retailers it tracks will post an average gain in same-store sales -- or sales at stores open for at least a year -- of 2.8% for November. Thomson predicts that Best Buy, which reports its sales on a quarterly basis rather than monthly, will log a gain of 3.8% for its holiday quarter, up from 3.3% in the same period a year ago. Richfield, Minn.-based Best Buy logged revenue of nearly $12.8 billion in the first half of its current fiscal year, up 11.3% from the first half of last year. Electronics retailers such as Best Buy, the leading U.S. electronics-only retailer by sales, face a particularly hectic holiday season. Perhaps more than usual, several consumer-electronics items top the list of most-coveted purchases this season. Prices on high-definition plasma television sets have fallen to levels that finally make them a reasonable purchase for most consumers. The recent release of the Sony PlayStation3 and the impending release of Nintendo Co.'s Wii console will make video games a popular gift. And laptops will continue their strong presence among doorbuster promotions. Complicating matters for Best Buy and others is the aggressive push retailing titan Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has made into consumer electronics this year as part of its effort to appeal to a broader - and more affluent -- range of shoppers. While analysts do not anticipate Wal-Mart has enough momentum this year to truly rock its competitors, it already has unveiled low prices on certain items that caused its competitors to scramble to adjust. For example, Wal-Mart's offer of a 43-inch plasma TV for $1,289 forced Best Buy and Circuit City Stores Inc. to drop their prices on the sets, which they previously offered at $1,600 to $1700, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Colin McGranahan. Thus, the stakes are as high for this Green Friday as for any other at the Farmers Branch store and 770 other Best Buy stores. The Farmers' Branch store, located in a bustling shopping district anchored by the glitzy Galleria Dallas mall, reaped $649,000 in sales last Green Friday and hopes to notch a 20% gain this year. "There's [not another] month where one day so shapes that month," said Paul Johnson, Best Buy's regional manager in Dallas. Few outside of Wal-Mart generate as much early shopping by customers on the day after Thanksgiving as Best Buy. The retailer starts the process prior to opening its doors at 5 a.m. that day by canvassing the lines outside of its stores -- which often extend for 100 yards or more -- to gauge what products people came to buy. Those in line are given claim tickets for their desired doorbuster items, starting at the front of the line and progressing back, until the supply of those items is exhausted. Shoppers are then coached on how to navigate the store when the doors open. They can find where to pick up doorbuster items by going to sections marked by specific colors of balloons, such as red balloons for laptops or orange for plasma TVs. Once they get to the relevant section and claim their item, shoppers often can pay for it at registers right there rather than filing into a massive line for registers at the store's front. Specific lines -- marked with blue tape on the floor and manned by employees acting as traffic directors -- are designated for items such as laptops that require lengthy checkout processes, sometimes including additional purchases of software, cables or extended warranties. "Rearranging the store for those three or four hours that morning is the key to making it work," said Mr. Johnson, the district manager. The sense of purpose was clear among employees at the Farmers Branch store on Saturday morning, even though some occasionally had to stifle yawns. Department supervisors urged employees to avoid the cardinal sins of Green Friday: arriving late or missing a shift with little or no notice. "This is the team that is going to carry us for the holidays," a supervisor in the home-theater department told her charges. "So please make sure you take care of yourselves. Stay healthy so we don't have to call in." As the practice drill began, dozens of employees lined up outside of the store's front door to pose as customers. Others worked the line to inform the "customers" of how to get to the merchandise they sought, whether that item would be in stock by that customer's turn and what accompanying merchandise the customer ought to consider. Standing in line, Tony Roberson, a senior sales associate in the store's computer section, was tasked with attempting to buy both a special-offer laptop and a plasma TV. He received claim tickets for both and instructions of where to go in the store. Once the doors opened, he strolled to the designated TV line, made his mock purchase after a quick consultation with employees there and was told he could pick up his TV in the store's car-stereo installation bay. He then went through a similar drill in the laptop line. The exercise was markedly subdued from what is expected on Friday. "Obviously, there are a lot of things that can happen," Mr. Roberson said after completing his faux purchases. "This gives everybody an idea of how seriously we take it, especially our new associates." Not serious enough for Ms. Garcia, the general manager. She assembled her employees at 7:15 and ordered them to do the dry run over again. This time, as mock customers crowded into a single line headed toward the store's front registers, playfulness and punchiness complicated matters. "I need for you all to be as serious as possible," the store's front-end supervisor sternly warned the jostling line. "We need this practice." The supervisor reminded his cashiers to offer customers last-minute accessories and magazine subscriptions as a way to recoup some of the profit margin the retailer will sacrifice on its doorbuster items. As the employees met for a final time in their departmental groups, managers noted some of the deficiencies identified during the dry run that will be addressed prior to the big day. In the home-theater department, that meant stationing a member of the store's home-installation team in the department so that scheduling of the delivery and installation of customers' new TVs could be handled immediately. "I saw a little confusion [during the practice]," the home-theater supervisor told her crew. "You can only imagine when we have hundreds of people in here what that would look like." By 8:30, Ms. Garcia gathered the employees one last time to outline final changes to the Green Friday plan. Prior to disbursing to open the store for the day's business at hand, the employees gathered like a sports team for a pregame cheer. "Give me a B! Give me an E! Give me an S! Give me a T!" they shouted, calling out each letter in the retailer's name. "Who are we? Best Buy! Who are we? Best Buy!" IMHO this article gives a fairly accurate description of how my BB operated last BF. I thought they did a good job of describing it and that it might be helpful primer for those who are shopping BB for the first time this year!

I always watch the parade. It's one of my favorite things about the holiday's! I would definitely recommend to anyone who has kids in the 6 -9 age range to try and make the trip to see it in person! I grew up watching the parade from my home in Pittsburgh. But when I was 7 years old my aunt moved to NYC and may parents brought me to visit for the holiday and we went to all the festivities. Seeing the balloons blown up and the acks practice at Harold Square the night before the parade and then the big event itself. That year on BF my mom and I shopped at Macy's and I got my picture taken with Santa at Macy's flagship store in Harold Square. It is one of my favorite memories from childhood! I now live 45 min outside NYC and have seen the parade 3 times. It was definitely better to see it as a child and if it is something you want to do I'd recommend saving up the money and buying a package for the weekend from the Plaza hotel. It's very expensive but it gives you your accomodations as well as tickets to the grandstands. It's much nicer to have seats than to push through all the people. Especially with kids. And I think my dad would tell you that after 4 hours of holding a 7 yo on his shoulders he was not enjoying himself! :)

Thanks so much Kelly! I'll take a look at that Target ad!

Thanks lwise.

Thanks again everyone for all the suggestions. I went on a toy expedition this morning and only came back with one thing! I got the Pound Puppy from TRU this morning for the other 5yo girl I hadn't purchased for yet. They had one that was dressed as a bride and I bought her the barbie bride last year on BF (I can't remember where I got it) and she loved it just because it was a bride. Since she's the one who wanted a pet and loves brides I thought it was fate. I also wanted to look around for things I thought might be nice. I tried Kohl's (even with the sale this morning their toys still seemed expensive) Walmart and TRU. I think I just made it worse for myself. There is just so much and not much in the $10.00 price range. I think I'm going to limit myself to what I can get on BF so that I know what I'm going in for in advance!

Thanks DM Miller. I really appreciate it! I had completely looked past the doodle bear and a lot of those other things. I just seem to miss a lot when I look through the ads! Stupid question, but what is a doodle bear? Do you write on it? Like one of the weiner dogs we used to have people sign? I couldn't tell from the ad. I can google it but are they fun and the kids enjoy them? I thought it was cute!

Thanks for the quick responses! I did see some of the things for the girls. I was considering the Cabbage Patch Kids from WM or the Disney Princess Sparkle Cinderella from Kmart. I also thought the Furreal newborns are really cute and the 5 year old really wants a kitten and can't have one so I thought that might be good. But I'm not sure how much they are regularly at kmart so I don't know if that would stay under $10.00. Are the Cabbage Patch Kids still popular? It's tough when I don't know what toys that they have. And trying to be fair and spend the same amount on all of them. The boys seem to be even more difficult. I haven't seen anything in the ads that is under $10.00. I know they have tons of games so the inexpensive games are out! What is the 50% off? Thanks again I really appreciate the help and ideas! Please keep them coming if you have any other suggestions! I'm really clueless because I don't have kids and I want to get them things they will enjoy! Just on a budget! :)

I come from two very large close knit families (my mom and my dad each have 6 siblings) and I have always purchased gifts for my cousins and their children. However as time has progressed it has gotten more and more difficult and expensive to purchase for all of the children. My husband and I do not have any children which makes it even more difficult for me to purchase nice things for all 8 of them. I need to buy for 3 girls who are 6 months, 5yo and 4yo and 4 boys who are 1, 2, 4 and 5. I already purchased my 5yo god daughter a Elmo TMX because her dad is in Kuwait this Christmas and they don't have much money so I wanted to spend more on her. I would like to stay in the $5.00 to $10.00 range but still get them something they would enjoy and that would be age appropriate (which I am also clueless about!) I would be very appreciative of any suggestions! Thank you in advance! :)

If you have a Coach outlet nearby you should go there. They have good deals. And sometimes when the outlet mall runs sales you can get even better deals. I've never seen an actual Coach store run sales or have coupons. I actually just purchased a Coach wristlet, Coach College ID holder and Men's Water Buffalo wallet all at the outlet last weekend and got them all for $128.00. At the store the wristlet was $88.00, the Wallet $108.00 and they didn't even have the ID holder.

I know! The items aren't as nice and their more expensive!

Yeah, Kaufmanns is Macy's now. I live in Connecticut now so I always forget! I'm definitely not going to sleep out for BB this year. Dick's is definitely my first stop if they are doing gift cards this year! :) I'll be in Pittsburgh for BF and it's a tradition for my mom and I to shop early together but nothing is really jumping out at me from any of the ads this year! But it's worth it just to have the time with my mom!

Two or three years ago the Dick's sporting goods store in Pittsburgh, Pa at the mall at Robinson gave out $10.00 gift cards to the first 100 people. That was also the year Sears and Kaufmann's gave out gift cards. I don't think they did it last year but could be mistaken. I think Steelers gear was too hot an item last year for Christmas in the 'burgh and they had that draw to get people in Pittsburgh into the stores. But again I could be mistaken about last year. I was only focused on Best Buy last year. Slept out from 11 PM on Thanksgiving till 5 to get my sister the laptop and my hubby a surround sound. I'm hoping that they are going the gift card route this year! I could use some Penguins gear for almost everyone on my list. And I'm sure Malkin jerseys are not going to be on sale!

Wow! Ramona that's a long drive! Hope your getting something good! Be careful on the drive! Good Luck! I hope you get all you want! :)

That's cool! :) KhakiBoy, do you have any advice on how early to get to Best Buy? I was thinking of coming home briefly after CompUSA but I'm begining to wonder if I should just head straight there. I really want to get a laptop for my sister but it's really cold out there!

I'm only 15 min away so I was thinking of getting there at 11:30? What's your thought?