ChristmasShopping

We normally hit Wal-mart and Garden Ridge on Thanksgiving day... I will have to check out CVS this year to see if they have anything good that day!

Hit: Wii, kitchen play set for niece Miss: RC helicopter... couldn't get the thing to fly right no matter what we did

My worse BF was a couple years ago (I think 2 or 3 years ago) and it was at Wal-Mart (surprise -surprise!) I got to the store about 1:30 and found the pallets for the items I wanted. I was there to get the I-dogs (I think they were 10 dollars that year) for my nieces and nephews. I stood in front of the pallet that had them sitting on them (there weren't many- you could tell through the plastic). Soon people began to gather around me and the other pallets. I chatted with a woman who had her 7 year old son with her and I told her I would grab her an I-dog if I could because her son REALLy wanted one but had other pallets to stand by. When it came time to open the pallets, you couldn't move .. carts and people were packed in like sardines.. so the Wal-mart employees shoved their way through and started yelling at people.. They cut open the plastic and I grabbed 4 of the I-dogs.. I then heard a lady scream and a boy crying. It was chaos... with no help from the employees. Then I finally made my way out of the pallet h@ll and saw that the woman I had been talking to was to the side and her son was bleeding from the head. No one was helping them so I rushed over to see if I could do anything or get someone for her. I parked my basket right in front of me and grabbed some tissues out of my purse. When I leaned down (still one hand on my cart) to hand the tissues to his mom, a felt someone pull on my cart and I looked up to see two teenage girls grabbing my I-dogs.. they got all of them but one by the time I screamed at them. I grabbed my cart and followed them down the row and they were at the end with whom I was assuming was their moms. I told the women what happened and they said "So sorry - so sad!" and "You snooze you loose!" I couldn't believe that they were acting this way and their girls were just sitting there laughing, saying things that grown adults shouldn't say! So being fustrated, I just turned around and told them to have a Very Merry and Blessed Christmas... When I got back to the lady with the hurt son, employees were helping her. I gave her the last I-dog and wished her a merry christmas and told her what happened. She was shocked but said she thought the I-dog would make her son feel better. She told me that two teenage girls had a cart and pushed it through the crowd when the pallets were open and her sons head got hit when he was leaning down to grab something. I figured it might be the same girls.. but never found out. I ended up leaving the store right after that and going home..I went back out later but it really tarnished the day for me. I didn't get I-dogs for Christmas gifts that year but I got them for less than $5 dollars a piece in January on the Target toy clearance and gave them for birthday gifts instead.

I check in one a day to see if any new ads have been posted. I am getting ansy to start planning my game plan for the day!

Great idea about bringing them along on Black Friday- didn't even think about it. It will be great to use to grab smaller things .. I'll make my friend push the cart! LOL!

It really depends on the ads but this year I need lots of electronics so it will be Best Buy or maybe Wal-mart depending. I have started at every where from Target, Macys, and even Pep Boys!

Husband Mom Dad MIL FIL Sister Brother (3) Brother in law (3) Sis in law (8) Nieces (4) Nephews Nana Aunt (8) friends (3) international friends (3) dogs work exchange Lots of plates of cookies for neighbors, friends, etc...

What are some of your Black Friday traditions? Ours starts out the night before when we all gather around the table and plot our game plan. We always have our pumkin pie and hot cocoa -- ads all spread out on the table! Our actually Black Friday ALWAYS starts out with going to Wataburger at 11 pm and getting breakfast burritos! Then we head out to get in line where ever we are going to spend the evening. Though this may have to get changed to much earlier if the trend of lining up earlier and earlier continues! We also ALWAYS eat lunch at Red Robin! Then once we get home on Friday.. we always have friends over that were also out shopping, have pizza & beer and talk about our deals!

Last year, I took a small coach wallet that clips on my keys and also can be clipped onto my the metal hook inside my ski jacket that I wear. I had my cell phone, gloves, ads and a notebook with a pen to write down any last "orders" from friends and family. I thought about taking a portable DVD player but I didn't want to have to lug it around once the store opened. But I might do it this year and just have someone come by and put it all in the car for me.

We were talking about this last night at my house and I can remember starting shopping on Black Friday 15 years ago when my first nephew was born. I stood out in the freezing cold waiting for TRU to open! My DH has been going 8 years (we have been together 8 years.. LOL! ). No one in his family did the Black Friday thing until they met me and now we all go out!!

Last year we were in line at 11 PM and didn't get home until 6PM that night. We hit Best Buy, Pep Boys, Wal-Mart, Target, Kohls, Bath and Body, Macys, TRU and a couple more places in the mall. How long do you normally stay out?

My biggest pet peeve are those "lurkers" who hang around the parking lot 20 to 30 minutes before the store opens and slowing move towards the door the closer it gets to opening. They totally ignore the line that has been there for 15 plus hours! And most time when people yell out them they pretend not to understand a word people are saying! That and the 2 people towards the front of the line that about 10 minutes before the store opens allow 30 of their family members to join them that have been "waiting in the car".

Thanks! So what Best Buy will you be camping at this year?

Last year was just DH and I. This year will be 3 friends, Dh and myself. We are planning on camping out at Best Buy if they have what we are looking for and shopping all day. Should be a lot of fun!

Thanks.. I have been here since '05 but thanks for the welcome! I mainly lurk. I am either going to be in Grapevine or Hurst.. depends on the other stores I need to hit (the mall versus town center in Southlake!)

I will be in DFW area, Texas ... probably in line at Best Buy! Mod note: Quick link to the map here: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=100530997828741861964.000454e6ad55cb51a4af0&z=3

I think there will be the same as last year. I think if stores were going to pull their ads and start legal action, they would have done it last year along with W*l-Mart. So we will probably see the same stores doing it again. But I can always hope for less and for those stores to see that they should take advantage of a site like this- not fight it!

It is never too soon! I have already started my list from the Ace ad! Thanks again for a great site!!!!!

My mom/dad gets my DH the same as what I get (present and close to money wise). She does it for my sister, BIL, brother and SIL. Everyone gets very close to even amounts and our stockings are almost identical. But my MIL is totally different.. she has three kids (two boys and one daughter) and three In-Laws . My SIL will get as much as her husband (which is a lot or at least a very expensive present). BIL gets a little less than his wife but still quite a bit(MIL's daughter- and she gets A TON-which I understand). My husband gets a ton of presents and I get a few. (For example, last year he got a Wii, golf bag, watch, tennis shoes, clothes, movies, etc... and I got a robe and PJ's). I love my MIL and we get on great... I just don't understand her reasoning. If you are going to treat in-laws different, at least do it across the board. I appreciate everything she gets me and gush over what I get-- while other SIL doesn't say a word about what she gets and acts bored at Christmas. I don't present count, we just open our presents one person at a time and it is obvious when I have two presents in front of me and everyone else has piles and piles. But I take it with a grain of salt because I do have a great MIL and I love my husband. It is the only day of the year that I have any kid of "ill will" toward my MIL...and even then it is more confusion than it is hurt feelings.

E-mailed them again! I bet they are going to love having all that e-mail to open Monday morning. KEEP E-MAILING!!!!!

While shopping on Black Friday, I ate some bad monkeyshines and had to find a luxurious toilet for my hinky.

Santa still brings gifts and stockings for everyone!!

I know a lot of you will say " It depends on the ads" but for me, I normally always seem to start at Wal-Mart because I can price match and get their deals. Also, it is open 24hrs and I don't have to stand outside in the cold. I normally hit Target next, then Wal-greens, Best Buy, Old Navy, Kohls, Bath and Body works and then the Mall. So where do you normally start shopping on Black Friday?

I can remember going out on Black Friday for a long time.. 12 years +.... 3rd year here.

Yes, I send them out every year. I know the older members of my family and older family friends really appreciate getting them. I do write a little message in each one so that it just isn't a card with a signature. I will start working on them in October and hopefully have them in the mail December 1.