Midnight Madness!!

It truly was madness at midnight...but I LOVED it!

The outlet mall close to my house as a Midnight Madness sale on Thanksgiving Night. I tried to go last year...well, actually I DID go last year...just on the wrong night! I pulled up to an empty parking lot and then it hit me. Dumb blonde moment, I guess.

This year, my friends Derrick & Chrissy were in town for Thanksgiving and we desperately wanted to get together. It was hard finding time because they had so much family to try and see. When Chrissy mentioned about going to the outlet sale, I was SO excited!

So we met at my house at 11:30 and made the 20 minute trek to the outlets. When Chrissy and Derrick used to live right down the street from me, we made frequent trips to the outlets.

Nothing could prepare us for what we saw as we drove up on the outlets. There was about a 2 mile back up to turn into the outlets. Fortunately, we knew a back way in, but when we actually pulled in the parking lot, there was not one empty parking spot in the whole lot and the parking lot is huge!

Derrick finally just dropped us off while he went to park the car. Poor guy had to park at a strip mall next door!

Whew...so we finally made it in about midnight. Now the real madness had begun.

Several of the higher end stores, Coach, Banana Republic, etc., had lines just to get in the store! Then once you got into the stores, there was another line to pay!

I spent most of my night in line at Gymboree. This is my absolute favorite kids clothing store! Their color combinations are very unique and so, so cute. Anyways, back to the madness. Poor store only had 2 registers...both were working at full capacity, but they were no match for the masses of people shopping in the store.

So I only got 1 little item. I can't tell you about it or post it, because it's a christmas gift my little niece Megan, but I will definitely spill the beans after Christmas!!

For this one little gift, I stood in line (which wrapped around the inside of the store!) for 1 1/2 hours! Yes, I realize to some that may seem idiotic, but I was determined to get this because I just couldn't pass it up and I know I wouldn't find it anywhere else.

Yes, it was madness and yes it was crazy, but I loved it!! It was the madness that is fun to share with the people you went with. Chrissy, Derrick and I just laughed and were in awe at all the people we saw!

I definitely want to go again next year, but here's a few things I learned:

-definitely dress in layers: It was chilly outside, but all the stores had their heat blasting! I thought I was going to pass out in line at Gymboree. Luckily, the hour and a half line took us by the thermostat and the lady behind me actually turned the air on! It felt great!
-bring a water bottle: see above
-have your list in mind: Luckily, I did have a list and it made it easier! There was just too many people to leisurely browse.
-go with a group: This was crucial because as you walked into a store, one person could immediately go stand in line (because, yes, most stores had very long lines!) and the rest could shop around. Then you could switch out places.

So I got home at 4 am (!) and slept till about 9:00 am. Then I got back out on the road at about 9:30 to hit my local mall and Target. Target had movies on sale for $3.98!!

I love Black Friday! What did you do on Black Friday?