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Tub Time George wasn't on sale, but I bought him for the kids on Black Friday anyway

So for the first time in my 33 years on earth, I went out shopping on Black Friday.  I don't know what possessed me but I made plans with a friend for us to go together.  I picked her up at 7 am and off we went. 

Which brings me to lesson #1:  7 am isn't early enough.  Some of the stores opened by 4 am, and the crowds were already in full force when we got out.  By the time we did drive-thru Starbucks and pulled into the first parking lot, there were insane amounts of people out and about.  Next year we're going at 5 am.  Okay, maybe 6.  But definitely before 7.

Lesson #2:  first go to the places where they have "Doorbusters" and morning sales. The first store we went to was Learning Express, which is an awesome children's store.  They were having 20% off everything in the store for the entire weekend -- it didn't matter that we were there at 7:30, we could have gotten the same deal in there Sunday too.  Later Friday morning, when we hit Toys R Us and saw how picked over all the sale items were, we realized we should have planned our stores accordingly and gone to the stores with these morning sales and doorbusters first, as we were too late to get the good deals by the time we got to them. 

Lesson #3:  Lock your doors and watch your bags.  One of my son's Christmas presents was stolen.  I can't believe I'm even typing this, as it seems unfathomable with the whole Holiday cheer thing and all.  But it's true.  My friend and I had placed our bags on the ground while she was helping me fold up the stroller (there was no shopping carts in this particular store), when I came back around to the side of the car, someone had taken one of the bags.  Unfortunately for me, it was a big $100 toy as well.  It's unfortunate but the holiday season can be a stressful time for a lot of people and with the chaos of Black Friday you really have to watch your back.  (But as a positive and a better story about holiday cheer, I went back to the store and spoke with the store owner - he was generous enough to sell me the same toy at wholesale given my circumstances.)

Lesson #4:  Go with a friend, and please-oh-please, don't bring your kids.   I hate crowds.  I hate lines.  Pretty much everything about Black Friday should have sent me running.  But I went with a friend and you know what, we had a blast.  When we stood in a line in Target that wrapped around the corner, during a time I normally would have been going stir-crazy and abandoning my to-be-purchases out of sheer annoyance, we chatted and laughed and had such a good time we're already planning next year.  Plus, it was so nice to have another Mom to bounce ideas off of.  We talked each other in and out of purchases at almost every store we went to.

And I say don't bring your kids for your own sake.  My friend and I actually commented that we saw hardly any kids out -- until we got to Toys R Us.  And really, it was a blast for the kids but the Moms and parents looked just so horribly frazzled with the whole thing.  And with the lines and the madness, it was enough for these parents to entertain their kids while they waited.  Much more peaceful for you and your children if they aren't out.  (and a lot easier to hide presents if they aren't peering into the cart!)

Lesson #5:  when all else fails, order online.  There were deals to be had online.  I comb the web for coupons and sales all the time and I found probably just as many online as you could find in-store.  Of course, if you don't get free shipping you have to pay for that -- and you have to wait for your package to come.  So there are some advantages to shopping in-store as well.  But when the crowds are too much - or there just isn't enough time (5 hours later and we both got about half of our Christmas shopping done) -- the Internet just makes it all easier.

Find more stories and tips for the holidays at Family.com's Yule Blog