Tips to Help You Prepare for Black Friday

Black Friday shopping without a plan is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Don’t let this be you! Use these tips to help you prepare for Black Friday and make sure to download your free Holiday Gift Organizer to help spare all your marbles this holiday season. 

Can you believe it’s going to be Thanksgiving in two weeks?!?! My son, Zach, said he feels like Thanksgiving is the forgotten holiday. I kind of have to agree with him on that one. It seems like the minute November 1st comes around, the stores shift to Christmas and it goes full speed ahead.

This makes me sad! And this year, in particular, I’m even more bummed about it. 

Here’s why.

I might be the only person on the planet to feel this way, but Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! From watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade to eating delicious food with family, I look forward to this holiday each and every year.

This year, I decided to go all out for Halloween and did a ton of decorating around the house. I actually impressed myself with my black, white and teal Halloween decor!

I loved the decor so much I kept it up way after October 31st…Okay, that’s the story I told my husband, Patrick. The truth is I was too lazy unmotivated to take everything down. 

So what did Patrick do? He took everything down for me on Friday night and placed it all on our bar. That’s where it sat until this Monday when I finally put it away. 

With just two weeks until Thanksgiving, there’s no way in H-E-Double hockey stick I’m going to first pull out my fall decor, take the fall items down and then do Christmas decor all in that short amount of time!

So I made the very depressing decision to skip fall decor altogether this year and go straight for a Holly Jolly Christmas. It’s kind of depressing. 

To compensate for the lack of fall decor in our home, I’ve been doing my best to still embrace the season by making yummy fall-inspired recipes and getting geared up for Turkey Day. 

And with Thanksgiving comes Black Friday!

Believe it or not, I look forward to Black Friday shopping. It has become a tradition for our family to ALL go together on Thursday evening (not really Black Friday if we’re being technical) to Target and a few other stores in our area. 

We eat a pretty early dinner, clean up a bit, and then head out to shop. We work off some of those mashed potatoes and turkey just in time to come back from shopping and indulge in dessert. It’s a perfect plan, don’t you think?

Every year, while immersing myself in the shopping chaos, I find myself feeling like I can do a little better at being more prepared for Black Friday. 

I’m determined to get ahead of the game this year once and for all!

Tips to Help You Prepare for Black Friday

Here are the 5 things I plan on doing, THIS WEEKEND, to get myself in order for Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping. If you do the same, you’ll be cooking with oil, my friend!

1. Fill out my holiday gift organizer. You can get the free printable by clicking here or filling out the form at the bottom of this post.

This printable will help you organize the people you plan on buying gifts for this holiday season. You can also decide on a budget, jot down gift ideas, and even keep track of the clothing and shoe sizes for your family members. 

Having this figured out before heading out on Black Friday will help keep you focused on what you need to buy.

True story. Someone in my family ALWAYS ends up buying $4 towels at Target “just because”. Seriously, no one needs towels but we buy them because we feel the need to purchase something.

That’s what happens when you have no clear focus. 

Please tell me we’re not the only ones?!?!

2. Inventory your holiday wrapping supplies.

Check your leftover supplies from last year and determine what you need to buy for this upcoming holiday season. Think about gift wrap, gift bags, tissue paper, tape, bows, tags, etc. You will see many deals on these supplies over the holiday weekend so you’ll want to take advantage.

Michaels, Joann’s Fabric and Hobby Lobby are my favorite places for these items. 

3. Figure out what decorations you need or want for the holiday season.

Do you need ornaments, lights, trinkets to display on your mantle? Now is the time to buy these things as well. They’re discounted heavily on Black Friday.

Looks like this is a plus for me this year actually. Since I’ve already decorated for Christmas, I know of a few places in the house I’d like to add a couple of new pieces to. 

I guess there are positives to decorating super early!

4. Figure out the crafts you plan on making this holiday season and make a list of the supplies you’ll need.

Check Pinterest and figure out what crafting projects you plan on creating this holiday season. Michaels and Joann’s Fabrics always have AMAZING deals on Black Friday and you don’t want to miss out!

5. Purchase food containers for homemade holiday gifts.

Will you be making any edible gifts this season? If so, don’t forget to purchase cookie tins, festive cupcake holders, and adorable holiday sprinkles. Again, I always find these cheap at Michaels and Joann Fabrics.

And a little trick I’ve learned over the years. All these crafting, cooking and gift wrap supplies become heavily discounted the day after Christmas. You can stock up on many of these items at 50% or more off.  I simply pack up the supplies I purchased when putting away my holiday decor for the season. The next year, it’s like Christmas morning finding all the items I bought the year before.

It might seem a little overwhelming, but I promise you it will be worth it! You’ll save so much time and money when heading into the Black Friday weekend with a well thought out plan. 

I hope you’ve found these tips to help you prepare for Black Friday useful. Black Friday is crazy on its own…anything you can do to make it more tolerable is worth it. 

Happy Shopping! 

PS

Don’t forget your free Holiday Gift Organizer!

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