I was a Black Friday shopper for many years. I’d get up early (but not doorbustingly early) then revel in the hustle-bustle of the official start of the Christmas shopping season. Oh, and I’d buy a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff. Then I realized that I wouldn’t have bought many of the things I was buying if it weren’t for all the Black Friday sales and excitement. In fact, most of what I bought was for me (Christmas decorations, clothes, kitchen stuff). Most of the Christmas gifts I bought for people didn’t come from the sorts of stores that have Black Friday sales, and the few big name items I wanted could be purchased online from websites that were having similar sales without the risk of being trampled to death.
Based on those revelations I can suggest at least 10 ways get the most out of Black Friday (if you are lucky enough to have the day off):
- Sleep in.
- Have a relaxing brunch.
- See a movie.
- Go to a museum.
- Work out to offset some of the huge Thanksgiving meal you ate the day before.
- Decorate for Christmas.
- Prepare your Christmas cards.
- Hunker down to catch up on your NaNoWriMo page count.
- Make a list of stores you plan to visit on Small Business Saturday.
- And for those of you who can’t control the urge to buy a bunch of things you don’t need just because they are so darn cheap, use your Black Friday shopping for good by donating your bargain buys to a charity. Here is information about the Care for Real toy drive, and there are certainly many other charities that would happily accept toys, clothing and many other items from the Black Friday circulars.
Oh, and for those of you who can’t think of anything better to do on Thanksgiving than to shop at the stores that are starting their Black Friday sales early, I don’t even want to talk to you.
Photo credit: whizchickenonabun / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND
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Kim Z. Dale 