Black Friday

Black Friday. It’s a word that strikes excitement, dread, or possibly even nothing at all in your heart. For me, it’s always been a “let’s see what the ad’s look like and then I’ll decide how I feel” kind of word. There have been years that I have never ventured because the deals weren’t alluring enough to make me wait in line in the wee hours of the morning, shivering to stay warm, clutching a Starbucks to help me keep alert (no caffeine this year though). Not to mention the checkout lines that extend to the back of the store and wrap back around. Or the hoards of pushy customers who stampede you and pull from your grasp the last remaining gadget just as you were pulling it off the shelf. If that’s not enough to keep you away, did I mention that in order to really get the good deals, you need to be in line by midnight?

So why do it? Well, there is a reason this day has earned its own special name and reputation. There are the deeply discounted items that you’ll never find at that price anywhere else again (at least not until next year). Even though you have to get in line at midnight, you experience a bonding with the other like minded customers around you, especially as you pity those showing up at 4 a.m. thinking they are “early”. There also seems to be a dreamy feeling to the day after you haven’t slept for a 36 hours. And of course, many times you find that all your Christmas shopping is taken care of by 10:00 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving.

Did we do it? This year—definitely—Baby Steele is only 3 months away! We arrived at Babies R’ Us at 12:30 and set up our chairs to wait in line. We were not the first of course—there were about 15-20 ahead of us—but that wasn’t a concern since most were there for Toys R’ Us. We parked in the “Expectant Mother” parking right by our chairs. Kai was amazing! He said he was going to take turns with me keeping our spot in line. He would go first while I slept in the back of the Jimmy and when he needed a break, he would come and get me. Except he never did! He let me stay in the warm car the whole time. He came back in and stayed for a while somewhere between 2:30 and 3:30 since we were parked right by our chairs, but insisted on being the one to go back out again. So another positive aspect of Black Friday is that your wife can find you chivalrous!

Anyway, the doors opened at 5 and we were some of the first in the store. They limited the number of people they were allowing in and since most headed to the Toys R’ Us section, we mainly had the Babies R’ Us section to ourselves. Here are some things we thought were too good to pass up:

Our nursery set was buy 2 pieces, get the 3rd free. Thanks Dad and Debbi for buying the crib! (No that's not our nursery, but it's pretty isn't it?)

This ottoman rocker was 50% off and they only had 2 to sell. Since we were the first in Babies R' Us, we got one of them. It wasn't the one on our registry so we're seeing if we want to keep it. Great price though! Thank you Mom ES. for buying the ottoman and rocker for us!

We bought bulk diapers (100+ per box) for $10 each. Most people were loading up on these--and it was only then we realized it must be a great deal, so we loaded up too and found out later it was. Limit 3 per person, so we got 6 for different stages--babies need diapers right?

This is what we were really waiting in line for--haha, just kidding! It's a temporal artery thermometer that's supposed to be much easier than the oral/rectal/ear kind. I guess we'll find out. At 50% off it was about the same price as the oral/rectal one we had registered for, so we thought it would be a good buy.

Obviously we are new at this, so if you have any suggestions or comments, please share them rather than letting us learn the hard way;-) Thanks in advance!