OK i know i cant be the only one super excited about black Friday...... i get soooooooo excited and start planning my day of shopping weeks ahead of time. i stalk the sites that post the ads early each day the excitement grows this year my friends and i are making shirts to wear.......haven't decided what we are putting on them but it will most definitely be funny......
so who else gets as excited as me when it comes to black Friday
I refuse to go shopping that day because I HATE crowds. I decorate my house for Christmas instead. 
My sister and I go shopping on black Friday! We will shop for 12-14 hours that day. Then on Saturday we will shop for another 8-10. Thursday we will study the ads and then we will make lists of where were going and in what order. We always wear shirts that are the same. We buy a new Christmas shopping shirt each year. I know...odd to some people, but everyone knows that we are together.
Susan there's a large group in our area that have made shirts....they are the "shop till you drop gang".
So....I'm with you! I'm very excited!!!
oh i love it shop till you drop gang that rocks!!!!! we always end up going to the same stores depending on what the sales are will determine the order. we have been scouting the stores now for a few weeks lol memorizing where things are located so when we go in after our prizes we know right where to go. you would be amazed at the people who are soooo lost going in no clue where what is. i have a count down on my myspace page lol last year i think we shopped almost 20 hours. went home and slept got up and went shopping again the next day and every weekend from then on until the day before Christmas.
It was only a couple of years ago that I let my daughter talk me into going ... and now it's become our Annual Girls Day Out! Me and my girls and we attack the day like marines on the beach! we have walkie talkies and a game plan....
16 yr old mans the cart while married daughter RUNS to the toy section to get what she needs. Mom, here, does reconnaisance (sp?), looking for the shortest checkout line and the fastest way thru the store. God, it's fun! The first year, our cart was in line and I found a short line thru the baby clothes dept. I came and grabbed the cart, did a u-turn and said, "This way!" the people who were in line behind us said, "Follow that lady!"
We're done by 8:00 .... and then we mosey into the walmart that is right behind my house. By then, the big crowds are gone and we get what we need and walk right up to a cashier, no waiting!! Then across the street to Bob Evans for breakfast.
We've saved a fortune, all of our shopping is done, and it's not even 9:00 a.m.!
One word of caution to those who are going out for the first time. While you're standing in line outside Toys R Us at 5:00 a.m., DON'T bring a big cup of coffee with you! (I'm tellin' ya .... you'll be SORRRRRRR-REEEEEE!) 
tracycakes, I'm with you ... I'll never go to Disney because I HATE crowds! I avoided this major shopping day all of my life because I HATE crowds. But when I got out in one, it was so different and so much fun! Believe it or not, each year that we've gone, the shoppers are courteous and are exchanging jokes and stories while in line (and I normally HATE people who want to talk to me in a checkout line!) ... but this is different! I look forward to going, even if I never buy a thing that day!
I absolutely love it!!! I get up at 3 just to get to the good shopping places when they open. My husband thinks Im crazy but I think hes crazy for getting out in the freezing cold mornings to go hunting so i think were even.
my husband thinks i am nuts as well but thats why i leave him at home with the kids. my cousin goes to best buy the day before thanksgiving to start camping out...........now thats a bit much for me.... i will wait 4 or 5 hours to get to be first in line but i wont miss thanksgiving with my family
wow! i dont even think i am getting my kids anything this year. it has been so difficult this year and the ecomony is awful. we can hardly make ends meet. i wish i had your problems!! lol
Naw...it's gonna be a lot harder for us this year too! My DH does contract work, and he's really worried about his job. We'd never ever make it on my salary. He's lost half of his retirement 401K. He won't even open the statements now. We're trying to be really careful.
My kids aren't little anymore (25, almost 21 and 17), so I've told them that Christmas can't be so extravagant this year. I've saved back enough to get them one thing they really want and I'll get them some other little things. The DH and I aren't getting presents for each other (well, we promised each other a love letter) and we're not giving gifts to anybody else other than my niece and nephew, other than Christmas cookies.
I don't know how old your kids are, but when mine were young and I was totally broke, I'd get them new markers, drawing paper, books, headbands or cool t-shirts, pajamas, candy.....anything I could wrap up. It was usually all about tearing off the paper anyway. I'd get them one present that I knew they were dying for.
I'm sorry things are so stressful for you.
The above post got me thinking about how to save money this year, too. So I started a new thread on the topic: http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopic-609983-0.html
Check out www.bfads.net for early postings of black Friday ads. This is a great site. They have almost any company that sells on black Friday including some military.
I have used them for the last 3 years. I am not that excited about shopping this year. My DS is 8 and has almost everything.
My friend who I have been trying to get to go out with me for the last 5 years really wants to go this year. She is trying to save money I guess. Also she doesn't know what she wants, the prices of anything or who she is buying for. She wants me to do everything, but I am really not in the mood. Her and her husband have made fun of me for getting up early and standing on lines. I have been saving money for the last 19 yrs on black Friday. My 1st nephew got me started when were buying gifts for him.
My husband and I used to go all he time together before my mother in-law passed away 2 years ago. We have no one to watch my DS that early in the morning.
I always say I am going to go but then I never end up going. Then I watch how crazy some people get and think hmmmm, maybe it's a good thing I didn't go. Don't need to get smashed for a toy LOL
Indydebi, my mom lives in Indiana! We go there every year either before or right after Christmas. It is so much fun. That is where pretty much all my family is now except my kids, Dh and the inlaws of course. Sometimes we are able to go in the summer. Thanks for the link too!
That would be so fun!! I have been to the Washington Square Mall once or twice! My mom and step dad just moved from Martinsville to Franklin where my brother lives, my younger sister lives in the Carmel "area" I think and my oldest lives in Shelbyville and my aunt and uncle live in Indianapolis. Can't remember which "side" because I get turned around everytime I go up there. I think it is the south side or west side LOL Over by Keystone. I just know how to get there!!LOL Of course they couldn't make it easy for us driving from MISSOURI and all be in one area could they!! Makes me home sick a little.
My mom and I go together every year. We have gone every single year since I was about 12 years old. It is so much fun. I love it. I too have already been looking at the ads. I have an obsession with the black friday web sites. I was trying to find a web site where I could order us some black friday shirts, but have had no luck. Anyone know where I can get some?
We usually go around 4 am and shop till about 2 p.m. Then I head home and get the kids and take them out shopping with us. We are usually done about 5 p.m. then we go out to dinner with the kids.
Naw...it's gonna be a lot harder for us this year too! My DH does contract work, and he's really worried about his job. We'd never ever make it on my salary. He's lost half of his retirement 401K. He won't even open the statements now. We're trying to be really careful.
My kids aren't little anymore (25, almost 21 and 17), so I've told them that Christmas can't be so extravagant this year. I've saved back enough to get them one thing they really want and I'll get them some other little things. The DH and I aren't getting presents for each other (well, we promised each other a love letter) and we're not giving gifts to anybody else other than my niece and nephew, other than Christmas cookies.
I don't know how old your kids are, but when mine were young and I was totally broke, I'd get them new markers, drawing paper, books, headbands or cool t-shirts, pajamas, candy.....anything I could wrap up. It was usually all about tearing off the paper anyway. I'd get them one present that I knew they were dying for.
I'm sorry things are so stressful for you.
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thanks Jodie,
ever since hubby got hurt things have been so hard. i am doing cakes very rarely. i wait tables a few nights a week at the local diner. (i always said i didnt ant to be a 40yr old waitress) anyway my kids are 15, 14 and 10. i have been looking for used x-box on ebay hoping to catch one really cheap but not working out. that is the one thing my 15 yr old asked for. my daughter just wants an mp3 player. 10yr old has autism but loves dvds. he is obsessed with them! so maybe i can just get him a dvd. the other two are my problem. Plus in jan i am going for surgery so i will alos be out of work for over a month.
my dh goes every year. he has been going for years. i decided one year, i wanted to go and see what all the fuss was about. we started off at walmart. we waited in line at the butt-crak of dawn in the rain for hours, got in, and it was a free-for-all! we specifically wanted a dvd player, so my dh told me to take the cart and see if i could find it. i tried, but i couldn't do it. people were pushing, shoving, swearing, stealing from other people, ramming their carts into other people. i just sat in the middle of the store and cried. i'told dh to drop me off at home and pick me back up at a decent hour. i've never gone since.
My mom and I have been going for years now. Every once in awhile someone tries to brave it and go with us, they rarely make it thru the morning 
She was diagnosed a few years ago with Parkinsons and each year it has been getting worse. Last year was really tough. I could barely get her thru the stores in her wheel chair. She thinks that she's ok enough to go this year too. But I know she's not and I don't think I have the patience to do it with her this year. I told her I have to work on Friday so she won't try to go.
I don't know if I am going yet or not. If I do, it will be by myself. Dh won't even think about trying to go.
I've been checking the bfads.net and have yet to see anything I am willing to fight for. Mostly I go with the intent of having fun. I stay away from Kohl's because their check out lines are atrocious but Walmart and Meijer are pretty good.
Barb
No I do not go out on that day.
We are decorating the house for Christmas that day this year.
The tradition my mom and I had was going to the mall and getting hot cocoa and people watch the weekend before Christmas. We would have our Christmas shopping done and all presents wrapped so we were never in a hurry, never cranky and would laugh at those who were just starting their shopping.
The year before I moved out of state I drove 2 hours to mall sit with her. I knew I was moving but she didn't (we waited until after the holidays were over to make the announcement. I didn't want to hear "it's your last Christmas with us."). That is one of my most special memories with her.
I can't wait until Kaitlyn's old enough to start that tradition with her and have her remember it.
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