We have never gone out shopping for the midnight madness of "Black Friday". Now I have gone on Friday before. Last year I tried to get some pointsettias at Home Depot/Lowe's for $0.99, but they were sold out by 8:30am. I remember those Mervyns commercials when I was a kid that had that lady standing at the window saying, "Open. Open. Open." But I have never been part of the midnight "doorbusters" or the now 8pm doorbusters on Thanksgiving day. But this year, while looking at the ads for items we already knew we wanted to get, we devised a plan to get those sale prices. Steve and I were going to venture out.
So we left around 9pm Thursday night and headed over to Walmart. There were so many cars! The parking lot was full and people were parking along the street and in the parking lots across the street. It was crazy. With all these cars, I could only imagine what it looked like on the inside. There were only a couple of things we were interested in at Walmart, so all of this was not worth it. We decided to just head over to Toys R Us.
The parking lot wasn't as crazy, but the line to get in was a little obnoxious. It went from the front door where they had security at, past Ross, and almost halfway through the parking lot to Burlington Coat Factory. We got in line and noticed that it didn't take too long. They were letting people in about every 15 minutes. Equipped with our cell phones, we challenged each other to a game of "Words with Friends" to help pass the time. Once inside, there was a long line for electronics and a long line to check out. We stayed away from the electronics and went into aisles that didn't have any people in them and manuvuered around the store that way. I actually enjoyed it. We were able to find a lot of great items at great prices for presents.
I heard a lady say, "I have to get this item for my daughter or she is not going to be happy." It sounded a little sad at first, but then I heard, "She doesn't ask for much, but she's been asking for just this one thing." It reminded me why I was out too for the sales. Our kids don't ask for much either. Every year, it's hard for them to come up with a wish list. Steve and I were kind of laughing. While going up and down the aisles, we realized that our kids really aren't into toys, which makes shopping for them a little difficult, but at the same time I guess we are kind of happy about that too. Jaden's all about crafts and making things. Duquan's all about soccer and video games - and the Guiness Book of World Records (he loves facts and information). He still has his Hot Wheel cars - it's the one toy I think he will always love.
We got out of Toys R Us around midnight and then headed over to GameStop for some midnight sales. It was another long line, but it again wasn't too bad. There was only maybe one frustrated tired dad with his two kids. We overheard some stories about the craziness over at Walmart. Apparently Walmart wasn't allowing some merchandise to be purchased - they had it wrapped up sitting in the middle of aisles to be released at certain times. Weird. Talk about a riot waiting to happen.
After GameStop (it was about 1am), we headed over to the outlet mall. Steve wanted to check out the sales at the Nike store. He didn't find anything, but I found some nice items at Lane Bryant outlet and with everything an extra 50% off, I got some great deals.
It was a tiring night, but then again I worked Wednesday night and was up all day Thursday which meant I was going on about 36 hours without sleep. But I still had a good time being out with my husband and finding some great items for gifts. Not everyone had a good night though. On the way back home, there was another Walmart we passed by and there were about 5 cop cars and an ambulance outside their front doors. I'm glad we didn't witness anything like that where we went. Hopefully it wasn't as bad as the emergency vehicles made it look like.
Now the shopping is all done and I can just enjoy the Christmas season and everything that comes with it - like celebrating the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ - the greatest gift.
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