I Deserve a Gold Medal

For some crazy reason, I decided at Thanksgiving dinner last night that going to Toys R Us at midnight when they opened was a smart idea. I'm a night owl anyway, so it's not like I'd have to torture myself staying awake. There wasn't anything really in particular there that I was going for, but I am excited to start preparing for my favorite holiday and want to be, for the first time in my life, finished with my shopping early. I left a sleeping husband at home and didn't get there until 12:30. There was no parking at all outside. I had to circle, but found a good spot. It didn't appear to be too crowded outside, so I headed in. No carts anywhere. So, I went it alone and that's when I was shocked to see that the line to check out wrapped around every single aisle in the entire store. That's right- the ENTIRE store. And you know how big this store is! I couldn't really get into any of the aisles unless you wanted some dirty looks from people. And I didn't even have a cart! My arms got too full, so I had to put things down, run outside, and follow 2 ladies to their car, watch them take 10 years to unload, and then take their cart. Luckily my stuff was still at the counter when I returned. The things that were 75 or even 50% off were mostly gone early. But there were still a few things with good prices. But nothing in particular. I walked around forever and ran into our babysitter, Brenda's son. He was flirting with a girl in the Go Diego Go! aisle. He told me Brenda and he had been there since 11:00, but that she was still in line to check out. Okay, it was now 2:00 AM! I called her and found her only about 1/2 way through the line. She had been there for 2 hours! I finally said that it wasn't worth it and started to go home. She was nice enough to take 2 things for Libby that were on sale and buy them for me. These things actually got cheaper at 4:00 AM, but I figure she was still in line at that point!

I left and drove past Wal-Mart since it's in the same shopping center. There were lots of cars, but looked like it wasn't too busy. I thought they didn't open til 5AM. Their sales didn't start til then, but apparently they opened early (or maybe stayed open all night) to avoid crowds and trampling. A woman at Toys R Us had told me that Wal-Mart would accept any competitor's prices as long as I showed the ad. So, I brought in my Toys R Us ad and found a few things. People were lined up and even sleeping in certain roped-off lines there. They spread these lines throughout the store in areas not too busy- like menswear and food. They gave out tickets and closed the line after the number of special products they had were accounted for. What a great idea. It was really controlled and they even let you leave the line to go to the bathroom if need be. You just gave them your name. But I wasn't interested in any $200 laptop or TV. I found some toys for other family members for really good deals here. I got some for $10 when they are normally priced at $24! As I went to check out after I could barely function from fatigue, I heard an employee saying that the computer was actually accepting some of the 5AM prices early. So, I had walked around fighting sleep to try and make it til 5 all this time! Sure enough, I used my Toys R Us ad and the other items did ring up at that crazy low price at 4:15 AM. Awesome!

As I headed home in the cold and drizzly weather, I drove past Target and Best Buy in the same shopping center. They weren't open til 5 and they had those HUGE crowds in front of them like you see on TV. It was strange seeing it in person. I said a little prayer for them at that moment... "Dear God, please let your people know that standing in 40 degree windy and drizzly weather at the very high risk of 1) being trampled, 2) being disappointed to find there are only 2 $100 laptops in the store, or 3) both... really isn't worth it. Please show them that being at home sleeping in their warm beds really IS what you should be doing at 4:00 AM on a Friday. Having said this, God, please be sure to be with me when I decide to do the very same thing next year. Show me that I'm just out of my mind and caught up in the excitement of saving $5 or so. Let me know that there really IS a better way. It's called Cyber Monday."

Oh, speaking of... Cayenne Paper has a 20% off discount all day today (11/27) and free shipping on $100 or more til 12/31! So get your shopping done the safe and warm way in the comfort of your own slippers.