By Thish De Zoysa, Their Perfect Gift
Does Black Friday fill you with anticipatory dread and excitement in equal measure?
Here’s our friendly guide through the frenzied 24 hours of the Black Friday sales.
1. Take plenty of water
If it’s not in the sales you don’t have time to stop for it. Water is free, so take your own bottle. Despite the cold weather, it is important to stay well-hydrated through periods of extreme physical exertion. After the fourth or fifth scrum or tug-of-war the body temperature and thirst rise sharply. Be prepared and you’ll stay ahead of the competition.
2. Snacks, or fasting
The main thing is not to take up too much room in your bags with unnecessary ‘stuff’. Naturally, stopping to eat is out of the question. There remain two options: take snacks – (nori seaweed comes in very thin sheets) or, commit to a day of fasting. The advantage of fasting is that a hangry shopper is an aggressive shopper, and aggression wins on Black Friday. (We are not encouraging violence – just the single-mindedness that can come from focussing our hangeryness.)
3. KYR – Know your route
Repeat: K.Y.R. Black Friday is a day for efficient, dead-certain movement along only the shortest routes between one incredible bargain point and another. This is no day for window shopping. Speed is of the essence. Also, with nothing to eat and a limited supply of water, energy conservation is vital. Practice the night before by going over the route in your mind palace – so you waste no time staring at your phone.
4. Electronics first
Electronics are some of the best, biggest deals on a Black Friday – they also sell first and fastest. So, if there’s an electronics shop item on your list, do that first. Also, go in cold. Winter wear is another popular Black Friday purchase. Leave the house wearing as little as (decently) possible and layer up as you buy, fewer bags to lug around.
But here’s the best tip:
5. Stay home and shop online instead
The chaos that some of us have witnessed in the news over America’s Black Fridays of season’s past – make going anywhere near a shop on Black Friday an absolute no-no, no way. In fact, the UK’s Black Friday is bigger online than it is in the shops. If your Black Friday is not all you dreamed it would be, do not despair! There’s always Cyber Monday, the other biggest shopping day predicted for the UK in 2018.
Whether you’re bagging bargains on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, make sure you’re shopping safely.
For those who already have everything they need (really?) and are in the spirit of giving, bosh some cash on a card for a loved one and let them loose on the shopping spree of their bargain-filled Black Friday dreams… there’s a little something in it for you too.
Visit www.theirperfectgift.co.uk today!
