Black Friday Carnival: What's your Experience?

This week over at MomGadget forum we were writing about Black friday, any experiences you've had, if you went out and just about anything on it. Know great deals? Let us know, etc. You get the drift.

Now, I'll share a bit about myself dealing with black friday, I never heard about it until my second child was 3 months old and I went to Ohio to visit family. My relatives were all getting up around midnight to stand in line, I couldn't understand why. I stayed at their house that year not wanting to go out and wait in freezing temperatures, that is until they came back home around noon. I went back home to my husband telling him how much I wanted to do it the following year. We did, with the kids in tow. That wasn't a great idea, you must worry about them getting trampled or a toy following on top of their head as someone is crawling on top of one of the aisles to get those last bob the builder toys (it was the year they came out with the talking ones). We agreed never to take them out.

Here are some experiences of the other MomGadget ladies:

There were a few brave souls that ventured out to do some Black friday shopping. Shelly over at Soup and Nuts went out at 4:30 a.m. to hit up those deals and got lucky. Granted she wasn't lucky enough to get one of those 1st 100 in the door to get the gift certificates but she did get some great bargains.

Gayla over at SuperNanny Rules remembers a time when she was younger and went black friday shopping with her aunt and mom. She was 12 and didn't walk away with the treasured Cabbage Patch but she did walk away with a black eye. This is one of the reasons I will not take my children out shopping with me on this day. I did it once, never again. She's like to know if you are ga-ga over the new TMX Elmo doll or playstation 3.

Kristi over at Momma's So called Life decided to shop online for those Black Friday sales, especially since she would have to brave the world with her two boys. Do ya blame her?

Char at Casual Keystrokes admits to not wanting to shop on this crazy Black Friday. She says, "I am more likely to log on to my trusty computer, coffee in one hand and a mouse in the other and do my shopping that way." I'm right with her on that one.

Denise at A Writer's Journey, would rather go get a root canal than to shop on Black friday, ouch that's one way of looking at it. She reflects last week when the playstation 3 was released and only 5 in each store and people were lined up outside and barely anyone walked away with one. I know that one, we were one of those idiots. lol.

There you have it, stories, deals and the meaning of black friday. If you have any stories comment below or send me an email and I'll link it here.

Tags: Black Friday, Cyber Black Friday, deals

Black Friday Online Shopping...

As many of you have already heard, you can actually shop Black Friday deals online at many of the stores you would normally wait in line for hours on this day. Why wait when you can let your fingers do the searching? At least this way you don't end up smooshed at the bottom of a mad rush in the stores.

Due to having Black Friday online, many of the stores are having trouble with loading the pages. Could too many people be accessing these stores? Were they not ready for us? Should we have been out in the cold since 11 p.m. last night to get those Playstation 3?

Walmart.com has been experiencing difficulties on and off all morning. So don't think you are going to get those huge televisions before they are gone. If you do you are lucky. Calling customer service may take you just as long as it would to drive down and get in line. Don't try it, not to mention it won't matter as they don't take orders over the phone. You kidding, if they did everyone would be doing it.

ToysRUs is currently up with sales as well. Hurry up and head to your favorite online stores and see what they have in store for you.

Black Friday Sales....

If you are wondering what sales are out there, this is the perfect site for you. Black Friday Sales

Kmart
Walmart
KBToys online (yes you can even shop online, no more fighting crowds)
Best Buy
Toys R Us
Toys R Us online
Office Max

These are just a few big stores you might want to hit up, and if you are lucky enough you'll probably have many local stores doing the same thing. They know a good thing when they see it.

You'll have items such as the Xbox 360 premiun for around $400, coffee makers for as low as $5, Ice Age meltdown $9, Littlest Pet Shop $4 and many, many more items.

Another forum that'll have great deals for today is Black Friday Deals and Discussions

Tags: Black Friday, Day After Thanksgiving Sales, deals

Black Friday...Day After Thanksgiving Sale

The day after Thanksgiving means sales galore. Are you ready for them?

Using the exact definition from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)

Black Friday (also called Blitz Day)- the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, is historically one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year. Many consider it the "official" beginning to the Christmas shopping season. The "black" in the name comes from the standard accounting practice of using red ink to denote negative values (i.e., losses) and black ink to denote positive values (profits).

As you can tell it mean Christmas shopping made cheap. Maybe you've heard of it and maybe you haven't. Chances are if you've ever went shopping early the morning after Thanksgiving you have, you just didn't know it had a special name.

Keep in mind that many of these sales have already been going on since 5 a.m., so if you aren't an early bird I hope you set that alarm. Just imagine shopping has been going on now for an hour. It was a mad rush the minute those doors opened especially for those very popular holiday items. The sales normally go from 5a.m. until noon so if you didn't get up in time you can still make it.

Tags: Black Friday, Day After Thanksgiving Sales, deals

Top 10 Toy list....

Around this time we are all gearing up to finish our Christmas shopping or if you are like me to begin it. Now the only question is what to get, well ToysRUs and a few other places online have made shopping a little bit easier. I've got a quick top 10 list of toys for girls and boys you might like. Take a peek, but don't let those little eyes see or you may end up with a much bigger list than you started off with.





Big Girl Items





Remember, when you look at the Polly Pocket items, there has been a recall due to the tiny magnets.

Boy Stuff

Tags: Toy List, wish list, Christmas

Happy 231st Birthday Marine Corps!!

Being part of a Marine Corps Family this is a very important day for us, a day we all celebrate the creation of the Marine Corps. It all began back in Philadelphia on November 10, 1775 when congrss met and agreed that the Marines were needed. To me this is a day with lots of history and value, but I can't help but think of those that are celebrating in foreign lands and knowing they are thinking of us.

The military schools also celebrate this great day by letting the kids out of school, however the week of the 10th they have all types of fun, which we know it by spirit week. Funky hair day, red, white and blue day, voting day and of course Marine day, which is when everyone dresses like a Marine. This is the cutest time to see these little kids, all decked out like their military parents. It's kind of like Halloween all over again. On the 9th, the children will be inviting to the cafeteria to cut a cake of their own with a few high class Marines and yes the cake is cut with a sword. Woo hoo! See, we like our children to know a lot about history and have just as much fun as the parents do.

Depending on the state you live, your child may actually get to attend his/her own Marine Corps Mini Ball. My kids always loved this when we lived in Arizona, there was a cake walk, the cake cutting, prizes and lots of dancing. In other states, only the Young Marines are able to attend, check to make sure first.



One way you'll see many of the Marines actually celebrating is by going out to "The Ball." The ball is when all the Marines dress in their famous "Dress Blues," and go dancing. Women will wear fancy ball gowns, now if you happen to be a female in the military their is an outfit just for her as well, not as fancy as Dress Blues though. The ball is where they do everything traditional from the cutting the cake to the beginning where they walk through history in various uniforms, it's really amazing to watch. You'll feel like a big part of history. Besides these, there are cocktails, dancing (of course), dinner and a guest speaker.

Be on the look out for those "Dress Blues" this year, there might be a few more left going to the ball. Now, for those of you not in the military, not all the balls will be tonight. They've been having them since the beginning of the month. We can't all fit in one building.

Once again, Happy Birthday Marine Corps!!!

Coloring Sheets:
http://www.usmchangout.com/coloringpages.htm

Other fun things to do with your kids:
rent a bunch of movies on the night before to spend some quality time with them
bake a batch of cookies or make a cake to have your own ceremony
get them a small book on the military or about being a marine.