Black Friday Family Bonding

For me, the store openings on Thanksgiving allow me to continue spending time with my family. Instead of parting ways, my cousins, sister and I go shopping. We leave after dinner and dessert when the rest of the family is ready to go home. I can see how leaving dinner to go shopping at 6 p.m. can take away from the meaning of the holiday, but if done in a way that doesn’t interrupt Thanksgiving dinner, I believe that shopping on Black Friday can be a way to bond with family.

My family loves to get a good deal while shopping. We are always looking for the latest sale, and Black Friday is a major holiday in our minds. After Thanksgiving dinner, I sit with my mom, aunt, and grandma to look through the advertisements showing the deals at each store. When I was younger, my parents would get up at five o’clock in the morning to meet my aunt and get to the mall right when it opened. My sister and I would sleep at my grandparents since we were too young to endure the chaos that comes with the mall on Black Friday.

Now, our tradition is to go shopping after Thanksgiving dinner is over. For me, Black Friday has become a way for me to bond with my family. However, many would argue that it takes away from family time, with stores opening at around five or six on Thanksgiving.

According to an opinion article published in the Daily Journal, author Bill Crawford writes that “Yes, super shopping day Black Friday seems to be more top of the mind these days than family-friendly holiday Thanksgiving. Guess that’s just another example of how our lives have become much more transactional than relational.” Crawford argues that the focus on the deals people will get later in the night takes away from the focus of the family.

According to him, we focus on the result, looking for what we get in return rather than living in the moment. However, I would disagree with Crawford, since he fails to recognize how people may bond through experiencing the Black Friday craziness.