Search Results for: blog what kind of parents take their kids shopping on black friday

Christmas Nightmare: Shopping with Kids

  It’s hard to play Santa when you have kids hanging from both of your arms and one of your legs. Running into a store to pick-up a handful of necessities can be a frustrating and exhausting experience when you have young kids in tow.  However, having them tag along while you Christmas shop can be a downright nightmare. No parent willingly chooses to purchase a long list of holiday gifts while their kids are present, but if you are working under a strict deadline and can’t find childcare, then you do what you have to do. Fortunately, there are … Continue reading →

High-Tech Holidays

Christmas has come early for tech-savvy parents the world over: Pinterest has invented secret boards where you can feature all the goodies you want Santa to place big red bows on and stick under the tree this holiday season. Technically, the site limits you to three boards worth of gift ideas, but that’s plenty of room to showcase your must-have holiday wishes. If Santa is part sugar daddy, then Springpad may be better suited for your ever-growing gift list. The high-tech digital assistant allows you to organize your list, in addition to those created by your kids, parents, siblings, colleagues … Continue reading →

Black Friday Moves to Labor Day

And next year it’s moving to April Fools’ Day. No joke. Well, maybe. But, very few parents are laughing. News that several major retailers are planning to move the start of the Christmas shopping season to Thanksgiving evening rather than wait until Friday morning is no laughing matter for millions of parents who are employed by the likes of Sears, Wal-Mart, Target, and Kmart. Those working moms and dads were the same ones who initiated a public outcry last year when their employers opened at midnight on Thanksgiving. You know, the holiday that is traditionally set aside for families to … Continue reading →

Holiday Shopping: Is Layaway Right for Parents?

Parents comprise the bulk of holiday shoppers. No surprise there. I don’t know many moms or dads who look forward to disappointing their flesh and blood on Christmas morning. On the contrary, the majority of parents–regardless of their socioeconomic status–are willing to do just about anything to ensure their children enjoy a very merry holiday. Despite the fact that millions of Americans are out of work and the economy is still in the dumpster, retailers are still pushing their wares–mostly to pint-sized customers. So what’s a cash-strapped parent to do when her kid’s wish list is taller than the actual … Continue reading →

Are You Ready for the Holiday Hysteria?

“Turducken,” “Festivus,” and now, “OctoNovemCember”. Let the holiday cra-zy begin. Oh, wait, it already has. In fact, seeing Target’s new Christmas commercial last night is nothing compared to seeing Santa stockings hanging next to Halloween candy in Wal-Mart on the day after the 4th of July. Okay, maybe it was July 9th. Regardless, mega-popular couponing website, RetailMeNot.com has come up with a new term for the holiday-inspired retail frenzy which seems to start earlier and earlier each year. The new trademarked catchphrase: “OctoNovemCember.” Get it? To help those who aren’t quite there yet, the company has created a matching mascot … Continue reading →

The Dreaded Super Market Run

Chocolate. Lots of chocolate. That’s how you survive grocery shopping with five kids under the age of seven. Trust me; I am living proof that chocolate and a very short list will keep you from filling out paperwork for the local loony bin. As if wrangling a cart full of kids is not bad enough when you are trying to gather ingredients for dinner, add in long lines, rude store employees and high food prices, and you have the recipe for disaster. Or at least a solid promise that you will never again attempt to grocery shop with your offspring. … Continue reading →

Christmas Shopping as a Single Parent

It’s the week before Christmas. Normally, I have the majority of my Christmas shopping done by December 1st. I find that if I work ahead I can just sit back and enjoy the Christmas season while everyone else is out there frantically searching for everything on their Christmas lists this year. But here I am, six days before Christmas, and you guessed it, I’m still not done with our Christmas shopping. As a single parent, it isn’t always easy to make it to the store without your kids. So quite often you pack them along with you, even though it’s … Continue reading →

Stress-Free Black Friday with the Kids

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again… and again: I don’t know what kind of parent takes young children shopping in the wee hours of Black Friday. Clearly, we can deduce that the parent is frugal, as he or she is willing to do whatever it takes to score a sizeable discount on Black Friday merchandise. In addition, it is probably safe to say that said parent is a law-abiding citizen, especially if the only other option she has is to leave her baby home alone or locked in an unattended car. Both could lead to an … Continue reading →

Moms and Black Friday Madness

A mom in Wisconsin showed her dark side on Black Friday Eve and got arrested for it. The incident took place not far from where I live and just goes to prove that insanity festers when you combine cold temperatures, red-hot Black Friday deals and warm-blooded parents, who want to make their kid’s Christmas, extra special. According to reports, 21-year-old mom Lanessa Lattimore, really, really, really wanted to surprise her toddler daughter with the toy she’s been begging for, so she headed to a Toys R Us store in Madison on Thursday night. The store opened at 10 p.m. Thursday … Continue reading →

Black Friday Fun at Home

No one, and I mean no one, despises the thought of a parent dragging his or her child to the mall on Black Friday more than me. For years I was paid to cover the Black Friday shopping madness while working as a local TV news reporter, and I will never forget the looks on the faces of the kids, who were ripped out of their warm beds and forced to stand in the freezing cold, so their parents could be first in line to score a 40-inch TV for 400 bucks. There are better ways to spend Black Friday. … Continue reading →