leefamily23

Ugh....nothing stood out except the 8pm opening time

I can't do the bonus check, that is beyond my control. (I don't own the company, just a manager of a large department ). Heck, I am even hoping for a bonus. These are great idea's, a few I can maybe do. The problem w/ the gift cards is that to do even a $25.00 gc would cost me $975.00--- I have a good job, but not that good of one . That would be no Christmas for my family, and I really appreciate my employee's a lot, but not enough to give away getting anything for my own kid. I have to go on the smaller side due to the sheer number. It was so much easier when there were only 8 people a few years ago. Lunch might work- the only problem is I have them spread over 3 locations and in different deparment's at those locations. So, coordinating might be difficult, though I am going to see what I can do to make that happen.

I need a cute idea for gifts for my employee's. It needs to be reasonable (usually something relatively small) as I have 39 employee's. 3 years ago I gave them each Tim Hortons Gift Cards (but I had 1/2 the employee's then). 2 years ago I got them each Christmas themed blankets w/ an ornament. I scored a great deal at the Christmas Tree Shop. Last year I got them each one of those insulated cups w/ the lids and straws (for their desks- we have a water cooler but no cups) and scratch off lotto tickets. I don't think I want to go homemade, as I'm not crafty and really don't have the time.

I live in the suburbs and shop in a town that is known to be a "small town" and safe. I've seen physical fights over silly things. Plus every year there is ALWAYS a handful of posts of people outraged that their child got pushed, hit w/ something, ect...... So, no I wouldn't take a child of that age. My son went w/ me for the first time when he was 17 (and 6'3'') to see what it was all about. He had a blast. However, I didn't have to worry about him, he's much bigger than me and more than old enough to take care of himself. I honestly don't understand why people even risk it w/ kids on BF. I've heard the lines that it's the only way some families can get stuff for Christmas. I just don't buy that because if you look around you can find just as many good deals online.

I have seen a fist fight over stereo's at Target once. We quickly opted to go the other way.

Started doing Black Friday 20 years ago, right after I had my son. I just couldn't resist the bargains. BF is special to me for a whole other reason though, I reconnected w/ my hubby during the Walmart opening madness. We had "dated" in high school and lost touch for about 6 years. Then while fighting through the crowds at Walmart on BF- I literally ran into him. Went to apologize and we recognized one another right away. We traded phone numbers, set up a date, and eventually got married. We will be celebrating 15 years together this year. Been enjoying the gottadeal community since 2005.

Mostly Oct-Dec for me. In that timeframe it seems to be a weekly event.

I don't set a limit to the number of gifts, however we do go the route of a cash only (no credit) Christmas. A few years ago, when finances were very, very lean we cut a lot of people off our gift giving list and cut way back on how much we spent on those that remained (some relatives we were spending $100-150 a piece on and brought them down to $15-20 a piece). Anyhow, after our finances bounced back, I never reinstated anyone on the list nor did I re-up the limits. Therefore, we still go a bit overboard w/ our only "child" who is now 19. He will essentially get a larger item or two he wants (usually an electronic or hunting item) and then pretty much a new wardrobe including sneakers.

For us it's always been around 3:30pm/4pm. We still all go to my mom's and that is just the time she's always done.

The trend seems to be earlier and earlier every year, I figure a few more years and it's going to be smack dab in the middle of Thursday/Thanksgiving. That being said, I would love to see them roll it back to the 4/5am opening times, making it truly Black FRIDAY. Seems the Thursday 10/midnight openings have brought out double the crowds and lots more teenagers just lingering around the mall last year. No money to spend, and just in the way IMO. For me, the night openings are turning into a deal breaker. I can get everything I want for great prices throughout Nov & Dec online it seems now-a-days, if I'm willing to look hard enough. If the opening times are night time again, this will be the first time in 20 years I don't go. I am just not willing to give up my holiday time by napping, and I was too tired last year to really enjoy it. I will go in the morning around 6am and see what deals I can still find at places like Target and such.

Our Target had several aisles still left today at 70% off. I think 3 of them though were nothing but gift bags, I swear all the unsold gift bags were sent to this store, lol. They only had Justin Beiber wrapping paper left. Lots of ornaments too, plus small tabletop tree's, and paper products. There were no decorations, lights, stockings, gift tags, boxes (other than the fancier boxes you can buy individually) left. I did much better in previous years in getting my wrapping supplies for the following year. I am patiently waiting on our Walmart now, the entire garden department is still really full and they are only 50% still (though no wrapping paper there either).

Our Walmart was still only 50% and they have a ton of stuff left. The entire garden department is still full. I hit up Walgreens too, ironically this was my best buy last year for wrapping supplies. They are only 50% still and really picked through. Except candy, they had a lot of 50% off candy. Our Target was 70% off today, and I got some ornaments and tissue paper there. The only wrapping paper they had left was Justin Beiber and no packs of boxes. Another item I usually get after Christmas for next year.

I had that happen to me w/ a DVD a few years back at Walmart. The case was shrink wrapped, looked untouched. However, when we opened it there was no DVD in there. They exchanged it for the same title w/ no problem.

The best was gift was that my son had a really great Christmas and really enjoyed all we gave him. I also made dh cry, I got him a family crest ornament, and he absolutely loves it. Dh got me a new camera, that I've had my eye on for a year, I am absolutely in love with the pictures it's taking. Plus, I got gift cards from my parents, in-laws, boss and employee's. (I must be harder to shop for than I think) and Bath & Body works lotion and a pretty decoration from my sister in law.

We got to my aunt & uncles on Christmas Eve to celebrate with my dad's side of the family. There is usually 50-60 people there, all immediate family. We've been doing this since I was born, and I couldn't imagine not doing it. I usually go to church with my parents during the afternoon on Christmas Eve too (depending on when it falls during the week and if I'm home from work in time). Menu is good old pizza and wings between church and the family gathering. Christmas morning we open gifts, and my son usually heads out to his dad's in the early afternoon. The only tradition with opening gifts is that my son usually does his stocking while my husband starts the coffee. Oh, and my son is going to be 19 in a few weeks (my only baby and he plays into my making Christmas morning a big deal still), anyhow I have woken my son and husband up every year to open gifts except one. There was one year my husband beat me to it. When I was a kid, my sister and I were up at the crack of dawn taking turns sneaking past the tree to see "what we could see" until 7am (the time my parents set for us to be allowed to wake them up). For some reason my son has NEVER gotten up earlier than me Christmas. Even as an adult, I'm still up early w/ excitement but I usually let them sleep until between 8-9am now. Once my son heads off, my husband and I go to his families celebration. They have more of a potluck style meal, and the menu items change year to year. The last few years I have thrown roast beef in the crockpot before we leave so that we can have sandwiches when we get home.

I did just about 90% of my holiday shopping online this year. I never bought a single thing w/o checking here first!!

I no longer buy for my MIL. If dh wants to get her a gift, he is welcome to. I could never win w/ what I got her, and I've given up putting any effort into it. Mine sounds about as difficult as yours.

My son became skeptical around 8 yrs old, we went out of our way to keep the magic alive. Santa would be caught peeking in our windows (thanks dad ). Santa also brought gifts that mom and dad "couldn't afford" in my sons eyes. When he was almost 12, he came to me and felt it was time to "level with him", and we did admit the truth and focused more on the spirit of Christmas since then. He is now almost 19 and gifts are still from Santa. Unfortunately, I was 5 when I found out. I caught mom and dad putting the gifts under the tree as well. They were none too quiet about it and I came out to see what the noise was about. I quickly put 2 and 2 together. I love my parents, but they were bad at keeping secrets because my sister found out at 6 by finding the labeled gifts, they weren't hidden none to well at all. She wasn't snooping, but they were pretty much out in the open.

I have 2 small gift cards to get, which I will hopefully do this weekend. I also need to pick up a few small stocking stuffers for ds. It's nice to know that financially "I could be done". However, I will probably pick up a little more. We have had really slim pickings for the holidays the last few years. It's been several years since DH and I exchanged gifts. This year is looking a little better, and I think I am going to pick up a few more things for both ds and dh. Still nice to know, that "budget" wise I am under budget and could reasonably be done. This year, it wasn't so much online deals for me, as it was clearance racks at Marshalls and TJ Maxx. I scored really big there the last 2 months. I am waiting on 7 packages I ordered in the last few days, 2 don't show shipped yet. The "big" one for ds I just ordered last night so I am hoping it updates to ship tomorrow. This weekend I am going to wrap, wrap, wrap!!!!!!

We are doing this w/ a theme in family this year. The theme is "As Seen On TV" gifts. It's more for fun than anything else, I am looking forward to see what silly things people were able to find. I know I got some Robo-Stir thing, a set of "Sham-Wow's" and I have 1 more to pick up.

This was great, thank you!

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