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This weekend will be huge for U.S. retailers. The day after Thanksgiving — now dubbed “Black Friday” — has become something of a ritualized cultural shopping experience. Many people view the day as a chance to grab stellar deals on Christmas gifts. But others scorn it as a crass display of commercialism, antithetical to the spirit of the holiday season. Some go so far as to celebrate the day after Thanksgiving as “Buy Nothing Day”.
I tend to side with the latter camp. For the past decade I’ve elected not to shop on Black Friday. It’s one way for me to avoid consumerism. Subscribing to a consumerist mindset helped to put me in debt in the first place. I don’t begrudge others their bargains and shopping fun, but I choose not to participate. (The day after Christmas, on the other hand…)
Those who plan to go shopping this weekend may want to pay attention to Consumerist, which has been running all the Black Friday info it can find, including advertisements. The Bargainist is a good source of info if you plan to shop online. If you do go shopping, please spend responsibly: buy only what you need and can afford — avoid debt.
If you’re curious about Buy Nothing Day, check out the wikipedia entry, or head over to the Buy Nothing Day blog at Adbusters.
Whatever you do, I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite holiday.
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November 22nd, 2006 at 6:30 am
Everyday is Buy Nothing Day for me.
November 22nd, 2006 at 6:39 am
After working in retail for a couple of years, I pretty much gave up on ever going anywhere on Black Friday. Yet, even though I’m at a point in my life where I don’t buy a lot of things anymore (living in a 400-square-foot apartment will do that to you), I have made my peace with BF. It’s still an important day for my mom, my aunt, and my grandmother — we all go out for a nice, long breakfast, and then go to Target or wherever. Admittedly, since they live in a relatively small place, The Frenzy isn’t as bad as it was in the malls I used to work in, but there’s still a lot of activity in the stores there. Mainly, though, I just focus on getting to spend time with my family. It’s important to them to go, so it’s important to me to go, to. I almost never buy anything, but I don’t worry about Black Friday anymore.
November 22nd, 2006 at 6:59 am
Nov. 23–the day you’re supposed to be thankful for everything that you have.
Nov. 24–the day you’re supposed to be dissatisfied with all you have and spend huge amounts of money getting better stuff.
Yep. Makes sense.
But if I stay home, it’s in large part because I can’t STAND crowds.
November 22nd, 2006 at 7:58 am
I hate the huge crowds, insane shoppers, and crazy parking lots, so I don’t go. I am hopeing that NewEgg or some other online computer part retailers will have some extra sales though.
My wife needs a new computer, and I’ve had the parts all priced out for several weeks. So, if there are any good one-day sales, Friday may be the day we buy.
Maybe Nov. 24 is the day we’re supposed to be thankfull for a chance to save money (on stuff we would have bought anyways).
November 22nd, 2006 at 8:29 am
“If you do go shopping, please spend responsibly: buy only what you need and can afford — avoid debt” - I love it- we treat debt like drinking and driving- another thing to be extra aware of during the holidays- and really it makes sense- people can destroy their lives and the lives of those around them by mismanaging money.
On Black Friday- I have never participated- I’m with the “dislike crowds of frenzied shoppers” crew. However- I have always been tempted to go the day after Christmas!
November 22nd, 2006 at 10:06 am
never bought in with all the after thanksgiving sale hype..
i’ll be home sleeping in and being a couch potato friday =)
November 22nd, 2006 at 11:48 am
When I was little, my dad and I used to go get our Christmas tree (at a cut-your-own kind of farm) the day after Thanksgiving. On the way out, we would sing holiday carols and songs. On the way home we would get hot chocolate.
When I graduated and moved out of the house, we stopped doing that and really missed it. We tried to go look for trees but decided we were better off with artificial trees. Save the trees and get something flame retardant at the same time.
I proposed we go shopping the day after T day and then get hot chocolate on the way home. We have been doing this for several years now. It’s fabulous. We never notice the crowds.
And yes, we sing in the car on the way there. 
November 25th, 2006 at 6:08 am
Loved the point about “crass display of commercialism” appearing directly under an advert for Best Buy!
November 23rd, 2007 at 9:43 am
I love the point about the “crass display of commercialism” as well. In our household, we don’t participate with black friday shopping after thanksgiving. Maybe because where I grow up- we don’t celebrate Christmas with lots of gifts. The thought of having our family around in Christmas and our family are healthy is what matters most.
Normally, after Thanksgiving- I’m likely home and sleeping.
November 23rd, 2007 at 11:07 am
Everyday should be Buy Nothing Day, Earth Day, Be Polite Day, Drive Safely Day, and so on. Don’t wait for someone to declare a “Day”. Let’s observe these “Days” on a daily basis, not just once a year.
November 23rd, 2007 at 5:13 pm
I tried to go to KB Toys & the line was super long, since I needed only 3 more presents. I decided to go home, my list of presents was short since I had started shopping much earlier around July.
But I didn’t go out shopping anywhere else this time. I also hate the ideas of seeing good deals & thinking I may need it so it was much better to stay home with the kids.
November 23rd, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Here’s a Black Friday tip:
For those extremely limited quantity big-ticket items (TVs, computers, etc.) the stores will now hand out vouchers to those first in line to prevent shoving and trampling on the way back to the display case.
My brothers and I waited out in front of Staples this morning for less than an hour and got vouchers for their $349 laptop, which we promptly sold to the highest bidders at the end of the line.
Thanksgiving, capitalism, being frugal and not buying the computer yourself…what’s not to love about this story?!