On Black Friday

Thanksgiving has now come and gone and right on the heels of that was Black Friday, also known as The Most Ridiculous Day Of The Year- an event which has somehow only gotten bigger since I was a kid and has now actually started bleeding into Thanksgiving Day itself.

Growing up, I don't really have many memories of Black Friday.  I remember little snippets of my parents talking about it, or staying at my grandparents' house after Thanksgiving so they could go out early.  This really only proves that my parents had the common sense not to drag kids around a crowded store and have them wait in line really early in the morning when they just wanted to be at home in bed or watching cartoons on the couch.

So, I have actually only done "real" Black Friday shopping once in my life, and it wasn't even on Friday.  Last year, the main thing on my Christmas list was a Wii, and Wal-Mart had one for a good price in a gorgeous teal color that I loved.  Since I'm too old to really be surprised anymore, my dad and I set out for our local Wal-Mart around ten o'clock on Thursday, when the sales started.

The insanity started in the parking lot, where every single space in the giant shopping center lot was full despite the fact that Wal-Mart was the only store in the center open.  I think we ended up finally finding a spot back behind the store.  When we got in, there were lines set up all over the store for various things, and that was actually fairly well-organized.  So my dad got into the line for the Wii, and since I'm not at all patient, I decided to wander around the store looking for deals on DVDs or games that I might want.

This proved to be a mistake.  The rest of the store was an absolute nightmare.  The handful of people who had gotten shopping carts were trying to use them to push through all the throngs of people, and trying to maneuver around them and all the lines was insane.  I ended up mostly giving up on my wandering and just headed back into line with my dad- at least I knew I wouldn't get run over there.

This year, we just ended up going to Target and Kohl's around lunchtime on Friday, and other than the insanely long lines at Kohl's (two lines that wrapped almost completely around opposite sides of the store), it was a normal shopping experience, only with better prices.  I ended up getting a couple cute things at Kohl's and thanks to Target was able to add a couple of seasons of TV on DVD (The Office season seven and Happy Endings season two) to my collection for only $8 each.  We've done Black Friday that way for a few years now, and I would say that's definitely the way to go.  Unless you really want that one big ticket item, it's just not worth the hassle.