Shopping the Day after Thanksgiving....

[MRD]

My mom likes gift cards but my MIL loathes them. She says they are too impersonal. How it is more impersonal than the same gifts year after year, I do not know. I love the kid's coupons idea! That may be just the thing for her. Thank you!!!

My 84 year old aunt loves to read and write notes, send cards, but she is on a fixed income and can't get out by herself.

I find out from her daughter what books she'd like to have and I buy those and I buy or make notecards and get a selection of birthday, thinking of you cards, etc. and a roll of stamps and wrap those up for her. She loves it.

I also have bought magazine subscriptions as a gift. Then buy that months copy of the magazine and wrap it up with a note saying: this will be arriving i your mailbox for the next year.

When my aunt was able to get out more, we used to buy her movie tickets as she loved to go to the movies.

My inlaws were so hard to buy for, so I would buy my FIL a huge box of candy, usually a Whitman sampler (he loved it) and got my MIL who was diabetic but loves nuts a huge nut selection.

What about fruit? You can get citrus shipped from Florida or California
Or one of those __________ of the month clubs where they can get something sent to them every month.

I've also resorted to Swiss Colony or Hickory farms. i've found that people that have everything, need nothing, like disposable gifts, like food or tickets.
What about a pair of play tickets or concert tickets to an event coming up in their area?

My husband never wants anything and doesn't need anything. Last year I gave him tickets for Christmas to see Aerosmith and Arlo Guthrie. He LOVED it and it wasn't something else that had to be dusted or worn or whatever.
So from now on, he's getting tickets to stuff because I get to go too!

[Lois Lane]

So from now on, he's getting tickets to stuff because I get to go too!

It's the gift that keeps on giving...to you!

I love what you do for your Aunt. My mother and father don't like impractical gifts. Give them a bouquet of flowers and they'll worry about how much money you spent and how fast the flowers will die. I found that when I gave them money, they'd put it in their account to pay bills and not use it to get themselves something a little more fun. So now I ask my mom (or dad) what the other NEEDS--new boots, new phones, a new TV, books etc. They don't like going out much to shop for things like that anymore so they appreciate those type of things.

They really used to enjoy shopping the day after Thanksgiving (and Christmas especially). They'd stock up on cards and wrapping paper on sale and get stocking stuffers for us kids...I didn't inherit that "wake up early" gene!

[SuperBrat]

I cant go shopping, as I get to open up my work at 5 am. It'll be slow, so i just have to make coffee and watch tv.

[Unklescott]

For those of you that want to start planning your day check out blackfridayinfo for copies of the sale ads that will be coming out.

[CantGetNuf]

I absolutely hate, loathe and despise to go shopping EXCEPT for the day after Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas!!!! I have gotten to Best Buy at 4:00 in the morning for items and then stood in line for almost 2 hours to PAY for the item!!! I love to see what everybody else is buying...I usually go to the one store that has the majority of things I'm most interested in and get those things and then I may go to some of the other stores just to browse. I have almost been involved in a knock down drag out fight between some people at Target several years back too. There was a group of about 25-30 of us who had waited patiently outside the store (and it was about 30°) for about 2 hours waiting for them to open it up and right as they open up the doors there were about 10 "ladies" who had just drove up in the parking lot and who proceeded to just cut in front of all of us and walk right on in......lemme tell ya..it was NOT pretty!

BBNBama If that was the Target in Trussville on hwy 11 in 2001 I believe I was one of the "ladies" who just walked in without waiting in line. Sorry. But it was one of my favorite Black Fridays. I had got to Target at 4 am and there was no one there. Thats when I realised they didn't open until 7. The only thing I wanted from there was a remote control snake that I thought my son would love so I left and went to Freds on Lorna Rd. Thats where my Mother in law works and she said she'd let me in when she got there before the store opened. Well as I was standing in line waiting on my MIL I met some really nice ladies and we were talking about Sept 11th. When my MIL showed up and asked if I was coming in I said no I was enjoying the festive atmosphere outside. LOL They opened at 5 and thanks to my BIL who had come to help his mom I was able to find everything I wanted really fast. So I headed back to Trussville to try for that snake at Target.

I could not believe the crowd that had gathered since I'd been there earlier. I got out of my car and was standing across the street from the doors and met some really nice teenage boys. (I always love meeting teenage boys who are friendly and don't have a chip on their shoulders.) We were stareing at the crowd in shock. I asked what everyone was there for and they told me it was to get the playstation 2. We were debateing weather we'd even get in and were about to call off shopping there when they opened the doors. The lines were formed going sideways into the store. We were directly across from the doors and debated about walking in. We decided to go for it. I remember smiling at the boys and wishing them luck then I just casually walked into the crowd and right into the door. I don't think anyone even realised I cut in line as they were already busy pushing and shoving each other.
I went straight to the toy section and was frantically going up and down the isles looking for the snake and I could hear everyone holloring but was ignoring it and then I heard a woman yelling "Help Help!" So I stopped long enough to go make sure she wasn't being hurt. There was a huge crowd gathered around and I couldn't see anything. I couldn't have helped if I wanted to.
I found the snake (it was the last one) and headed to the checkout. As I was standing in line I met a couple who were buying a huge cd player. They said there were only about 30 of them and thats what most of the crowd was there to get. The woman yelling help had tried to secure 5 of them and people where snatching them away from her. I was actually more appaled that she thought she could get 5 of them then I was that people were snatching them away from her.

I usually hate shopping and can't stand the crowds but theres a different friendly atmosphere on Black Friday. Except at the Gallaria. Now I won't even try to go there. Those people are vicious. We made the national news last year because people were knocked down as they were trying to get in the door.

[cricketeen]

Thanks everyone for the gift ideas! Going to that circular site now....

[PhoneGrrrl]

Some websites will have the same Black Friday prices as they do instore, but you have to be quick to place an order. I'd much rather do that in my jammies than get in a crowd.

That's how I do my shopping. I know Amazon had some really good Black Friday deals last year. Nordstroms always has awesome shipping deals, even without special codes. And if for some reason I'm possessed and decide to buy from Best Buy, you can bet I'm ordering on line. I don't know why I keep falling for it, but I'll check Best Buy & Amazon on line and the prices will be about the same (give or take a few pennies) but Best Buy's site will tell me which local store has it in stock. I go to the store, and it's always a bunch more money. The latest thing was the boxed Thin Man series. It's $45-ish on BB and Amazon. In the store, it was $58. I could have it overnighted from Amazon and still not pay $58.

[SuperBrat]

i'll be grabbing the Sunday paper at work this weekend and looking to see if they have any friday adds, and I can show my mom what to get.

[ArchieComic Fan]

i'll be grabbing the Sunday paper at work this weekend and looking to see if they have any friday adds, and I can show my mom what to get.

In my area all of the Friday ads are in the Thursday (Thanksgiving day) paper, and it's stuffed full!

[bbnbama]

In my area all of the Friday ads are in the Thursday (Thanksgiving day) paper, and it's stuffed full!

That's the way it is here too ArchieComic.......