One hell of a Black Friday All-Nighter

This year I did something I have never done. I went shopping during Black Friday. All night long, baby. Oh yeah.

As a pretty darned dedicated shopper it may shock you that I have never done this, but it really didn't sound like fun to me. Which is odd, because usually I will use any excuse to shop. Literally. Hello Columbus Day Shopping!!

So this year I went with my sister, sister-in-law, and mom. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of staying up all night but they convinced me with very little violence. So we made a plan. Then we made lists. Then we lost the lists so we had to remake the lists. Next we changed shoes, put the kids to bed, and headed out. Well except for mom, who forgot to change shoes and was paying for it all night (I'd call her an amateur but she is my shopping mentor / goddess so respect is due.)

8:30pm - Thanksgiving Night- Toys R' Us

So Wichita has only one TRU (ToysR'Us). That means long lines, a fist fight last year, and no parking. My sister is the one who needed a darn play kitchen on sale. So she wanted to go here. Her exact words were "we'll just show up at 10 and see how it goes". Ha! I told her no way, we need to be there and stay in line, and it was like pulling teeth to get them to get there at 8:30. Well what do you know, the line was about 200 strong when we got there.  But much to my competitive side's joy the line quadrupled by the time we got into TRU. Really, just to be one of the first big group's alone was worth it. We win. You lose. Ha!

My mom is so the type of person that would get into a fist fight while waiting in line if someone tried to cut in. Every time someone even stepped within 5 feet of the line like they were going to cut in I'd have to cool her jets before she shouted something at them. She was ALL geared up to beat someone. There were policeman there, mom, I think they can handle it. So finally we get in, and we did get everything we wanted.

Including the 5 Snoopy Snow Cone makers that Janelleybean called and wanted. I would have laughed and told her to shove it except for this.

Let's just say we owe her.

The kitchen we even got, but not after going back and forth to the front and back of the store 5 times just to find out it was right when we walked in. So shoving, pushing, climbing boxes, and maybe a little biting our way through to the front we find them unloading the last three. We may have whooped and hollered a little after we got it, earning some crazed looks from some fellow shoppers, and some "I understand" looks from others.

Oh Black Friday.

12pm - Wal-Mart

Ugh. I know. Why!? Well we had a couple things to get, and we needed to pass time till Target opened.

What. a. cluster. f%&!

After finally getting what we need, getting slightly trampled, seeing an old friend (looking like hell runneth over...of course that is when you run into people right!?) we get into line. The line wrapping around the store. That's not moving.

This was the slowest line EVER. We found out it's because people are matching ads. Really!?! On Black Friday!? Next time you get your own lines and you can wait years. Then we find out after waiting an hour and a half that yeah...that line we waited in? Useless, there was no line!! People are just going wherever the want, and the line we waited in was to one register. So I did what any person would do.

I stared directing traffic / carts to correct lanes. I was literally out there telling people where to go.


SOMEONE had to do it!

I had people moving to other lanes, finding people with cash for the cash only line. I did this for oh about 30 minutes, till finally it was our turn. I even had someone ask me to do a price check for them thinking I worked there. Uh, no. I just want to get the heck out of here!

I. hate. Wal-Mart.

2:30am - Target

Target doesn't open until 4am so it's more waiting in lines for us. My mom had some big ticket items to get here though so we had to get in early.

Well. I'm going to name names but someone in the group had to go to the bathroom. Let's just say it wasn't a #1. Did I mention it's 20 degrees outside? Whew. Poor girl, and of course they don't let you go out of line and come back. I think they were crying by the time we got in, and they were fighting more than anyone to get inside.

This was fairly drama-free. The lines were great, Target was super organized (especially compared to the horrible store called Wal-mart.) We again got most everything we wanted, but we were running out of steam. I almost bought a TV just because we were in early enough to get them so I wanted to brag.

But we don't need a TV. At the time when everyone ELSE wants it makes ME want it.

5am - Lowes

In and out, 15 minutes. That was after 15 minutes of me bitching that we had to waste time in the first place, it was really fast. Oh except that somehow us three knowledgeable women managed to bust my truck's tunnel cover to our truck and tailgate latch, not that we knew it at the time. Keith was thrilled. 


6am - Bed Bath N Beyond.

Running out of steam here. At this point none of us gave a crap what deals there were, we all just wanted to go night night but didn't want to be the party pooper. We leave and decide, as I'm falling asleep at the wheel, it's probably time to go to sleep.


Will I do it again? Yes! But all night? I don't know. I am too old for this crap. But we did get a crap load of gifts!

And a crap load more that we just bought because they were on sale. (oops!)