Black Friday

I wish I could say that I took this picture with my phone but actually I got it off the internet.

It is a pretty accurate picture of what you see when you are out Black Friday shopping.

This year Black Friday shopping actually started on Thursday.  Some of the stores started opening at 9:00 pm on Thursday night.  Tammy and Stacey decided to try Toys 'R' Us right at 9 when they opened and I would meet up with them later after the kids were sleeping.

The girls went down about 8:45 and I started getting ready for my night out.

I sent Stacey a text and within minutes she called me back.  Her and Tammy were already on their way to the next stop.  The line at Toys 'R' Us wrapped around the store and down the block (they were at Northtown and said the line was on it's way to KMart).  Knowing it was possible they could have still been there next week waiting to get in the store ;-) they decided to head over to Walmart. 

We met in the parking lot next to Walmart- the Walmart parking lot was full so we parked at the back of the lot next door.  The cars and people were swarming to the parking lot and the store and finally at 9:50 we made our way to the front entrance (the doors were opening at 10).

As usual, it was CRAZY inside.  People everywhere- yelling and scurrying to get their deals.

The items that Stacey and Tammy wanted weren't available for purchase until midnight so we needed to find a few hours to waste in the store.  That wasn't hard. The people watching was awesome and if there was something you wanted to buy it would take you a good 10 minutes just to make it there.

That night we tackled- Walmart, Kohls, Target, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Maurices, and JCPenney.  I got home around 6:30 am.

Each year we see more and more parents with their small children out shopping with them.  It makes me sad that those poor kids should be in bed but instead their parents brought them out in those crowds.  Those poor little ones. 

The deals were not as good as they have seemed to be in the past and this year since so many of the stores were open early, the people had to spread out more which actually made the crowds smaller than usual.  It probably also helped that we didn't have anything that we were dying to get so there was no need to push through the crowds to be the first at an item to be sure that we left with it. 

I didn't get much this year but for me it is never really about the amount of stuff I buy and more about the fact that I enjoy the experience.  It's fun to be out shopping with my friends.  It's actually relaxing to know that we are out shopping, we have all night, our families are home sleeping so there is no pressure to hurry and get home because someone is waking from a nap or someone needs me to bring lunch or dinner home.  It's just us and the other crazies out shopping, leaving for home when we want to and sneaking in the house before everyone else wakes up.

It takes a while to recover from that night and the lack of sleep but the giggles we have while we are out make it well worth it!