As many enjoy friends and family gathered around a dinner of turkey and all the trimmings on Thanksgiving, countless other enjoy another tradition that goes along with it: Scouring the store circulars in the newspaper for the perfect discounted item the following day.
The day after Thanksgiving, which has long been called Black Friday, gets people out of their beds early in the morning, waiting in line for hours before stores open and has them shopping all day to save money on Christmas presents.
Tammy Hayman has shopped the Black Friday sales for 10 years, shopping for gifts for her two children and her husband.
"It kicks of the holiday season. It's exciting," she said. "You're going with thousands of other people."
She always goes with her best friend, picking her up at her friend's house two blocks away, usually around 3:30 a.m. to get to the stores in time for the best sales. They'll shop until 2 or 3 p.m.
"We look to see who has the best prices and sales on what we want," Hayman said. "We call each other on Thanksgiving evening to strategize what time I'm going to pick her up and where we're going to go."
Hayman said she usually makes the mall her last stop, because the stores' doorbuster sales last longer and the stores aren't as crowded.
Hayman is looking to find a good deal on Rockband and an iPod for her 10-year-old son, a Barbie laptop for her 7-year-old daughter and a leather coat for her husband.
Amy Beane also is a Black Friday shopper. She's been doing it for about five years, as long as her children have been old enough to appreciate Christmas.
Beane said she hates to shop. However, the deals shoppers can find on Black Friday make it worthwhile.
"My kids are 7 and 8, and toys are still a big part of our shopping, so I usually always make sure to get to Wal-Mart and K-Mart first," Beane said. "I get it all done in a couple of hours."
She said she usually gets to the store an hour before the store opens, and usually gets what she wants. This year, it's the Nintendo DSi.
Beane said the best deal she ever found was two Nintendo Gameboy Micros for $40. They are usually $100. Hayman got a DVD player at Best Buy for $15 one year, and her friend got a loaded Garmin GPS system for $100.
Beane and Hayman could look online now to see if they can find deals on what they're looking for.
Many of the store circulars have been leaked online. However, Hayman said she is waiting until Thanksgiving to look at the real ads.
"I can't break tradition," she said. "I like to do it the old-fashioned way."
Hayman says shopping on Black Friday works out perfectly, because her family doesn't like to go shopping.
It's always so much fun," she said.
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