Joyagirl1013

aaah, all makes sense now. Thank you for clearing it up. Guess it will teach my oldest to read more carefully and / or investigate. Unfortunately, he was with others who were under the very same impression. Doesn't matter, I've been pleased with Best Buy AND he did get a good deal on another tv sold at Walmart. Alls good. Thanks again everyone.:)

I may not have a leg to stand on but I need to vent somewhere... My 19 yr old son has been black friday shopping with me for several years now. He reads the forums and helps me keep track of what deals are worth our while. He had read (or heard) that the first 100 customers into Best Buy on Friday morning would receive some type of gift card with values between $25 to $100. He took his 14 yr old brother with him for company (and his brother begged him and us to allow it) and they stood in line since 11:30 pm Thursday evening til the 5 am opening. They were 25th and 26th in line. When Best Buy opened they went in and received nothing. They waited one hour and still nothing. Anyone else with similiar experiences. I just feel bad for the boys, they didn't initially tell me but they were planning on buying a tv from Best Buy and using whatever gift card they rec'd towards the purchase. My older son was so ticked off that he left without buying anything, headed over to the local walmart (this best buy was not even in our town) and purchased a black friday tv there.

We both worked retail when we met and absolutely hated that day called Black Friday! For years we did not care, nothing could ever drag us out on THAT day! Then one year when our son was just 2 he wanted a furby. They were no where to be found. We had come 'back home' for the Thanksgiving holiday and were staying w/my parents. For the heck of it we asked my parents if they would mind if we left the house at five o'dark early to get this silly furby. We hit TRU, stood in the long endless line for an hour and alas when we made it into the store we were each handed a wrapped Kellog's Pop-tart. My husband and I shared one of those "you've got to be kidding me" looks, grabbed a cart each and flew through the store snapping up tons of glorious hard to find gifts for our toddler...and thus a tradition was born. We shopped every single BF after that, and mind you, we recall that smooshed poptart we were each handed, every single year. Now we get up early, forget showering that morning, grab our computer lists, store flyers, highlighters and pen AND COFFEE MUGS and hit our destinations. We're so bad we skipped a car trip w/other members of family (to a funeral) so we could do our BF shopping for our children (we left later that day) AND I recall the day my husband was in renal failure, near death, but we had to shop! I remember standing next to him thinking "wow, we really need to shower" not really knowing he was toxic and actually very sick and the odor was that of his shut down kidneys! Now...you know we are true blue do not miss a BF shoppers!!!! Every year we finish our day with breakfast out with our three kids (whom we pick up after shopping!)

It really all depends. Last year we were done by 11am...we kept looking at each other in disbelief we were 'done'! We are not ones to wait on the line. I can't stand nasty, pushy people and if you want that something that badly, you can have it. Normally we start at the earliest open date in our town. We've already mapped our route (not in stone) so we arrive 20 mins early and sit in the warm car (I absolutely can not tolerate cold and its cold on BF morn!) until the doors open. We do not push our way in, although last year my husband was pulled in, literally, by a random customer in line at Walmart so by the time I entered the store he was already in the electronics line, 3rd from front and able to get our camera, a laptop for the kids and 2 DS bundles. Now mind you, my then 17 yr old son wanted to shop w/us so he actually stood in the cold line for me and when I approached he explained his mom can't take cold and he was holding my spot. He is so anxious to come with us again this year. So after finding our deals (and then some) we head out for breakfast. Usually this is around 10 or 11 when early shoppers are getting cranky from being tired and late shoppers are cranky trying to navigate crowds. Some years we meet up w/friends for breaky, but like last year, our group of friends split up and headed out of town for the still early deals. My kids are older (younger still may believe...) so I don't even know what we are going to be purchasing this year...other than a laptop for our college bound senior! (I'm so busted if he signs on and reads my post <waving>)

Hi, my name is Joy, I'm 42, from CT :eyepoppin:eyepoppin:cheesy:and I'm the mom of three great kids...my oldest son is going to be 18 in a few wks and came BF shopping with hubby and I for the first time last year. Matter of fact, he saw me on this site just now and began talking about BF! I also have a 12 yr old son (almost 13) and my daughter is almost 12. I'm married to hubby for over 21 yrs and since having to get a furby almost 16 yrs ago for my oldest, we have been faithful BF shoppers!