KEPPELER: Into the fray on Black Friday

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November 19, 2009

Anonymous The Tonawanda News Thu Nov 19, 2009, 12:45 AM EST

A week from today, I’m going to be pretty busy.

A week and a day from today, I’m going to be crazy.

At least, that’s what I suspect. You see, on Nov. 27, mere hours after cooking a full Thanksgiving dinner for my family, I’m going to break the vow of a lifetime and tiptoe out the door at an ungodly early hour, coffee in one hand and ads in another, hopefully with a good friend by my side ... and I’m going to drive into hell.

Yes, that’s it. I’m going to go shopping on (cue dramatic music) Black Friday.

I’m not quite sure how it came to this.

I keep telling myself that it can’t be that bad. Right? I have family members who hit these sales every year, and who have done so for decades. And they’re survived. They’ve even made it through with sanity intac ... hmm, wait, bad example.

I never opted in on these outings. In fact, I laughed at them. Loudly, in fact.

What could be worth that — the pushy shoppers, the early hour, the stampede-like mentality? I was a kid during the heyday of Cabbage Patch Kids; I’ve never forgotten it.

Now ... well, frankly, I’m the one who wants a particular gadget. And the only way I’m going to set hands on that gadget within my budget is to get a darned good deal on it. A Black Friday sort of deal. Hence, the broken vow.

But if I’m going to be out there at 4 a.m., I’m going to have something to show for it, darn it. So, I’m preparing to make a day of it and polish off a good portion of my Christmas shopping, and hopefully make it through the experience with sanity and sense of humor intact.

To that end, I’ve condensed my three favorite Black Friday tips from various sources. While I’m not one to suggest — ever — that you blindly follow anything gleaned from the Internet, these seem like good ones:

• Do your research. I like this. If you can’t wait for Thanksgiving evening to pour over the day’s ads, there are Web sites online that preview them. Make a list once you do have copies of those ads. And take them with you. If there’s any controversy about a sale, it’s always good to have a hard copy.

• Take a friend (or significant other, if your significant other tolerates shopping better than mine does). One, they can help guard your cart. Two, the right one can help you keep a sense of humor about the whole mess. My Black Friday shopping buddy has been specifically chosen for her ability to point out the ridiculousness of any given situation.

• Make sure you’re not just buying something because it’s a good sale ... or because it’s hard to find.

My parents walked into a toy store weeks after the height of the Cabbage Patch Kids frenzy, found a new shipment of the things on a shelf and walked out with two for my 8-year-old self. No muss, no fuss, no point in trying to beat other parents up.

The irony? I wasn’t even a doll sort of kid. The poor things sat in my closet for years. For all I know, they’re still there. I have no desire to buy my sons the Cabbage Patch Kids of 2009.

Reasoned, orderly bargain-hunting? Good. Craziness that gets people hurt? Not good.

Happy hunting.

Jill Keppeler is a page designer for the Tonawanda News. She can be reached at jill.keppeler@

tonawanda-news.com.

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