How To Make A Black Friday Playbook

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Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the perfect times to not only get holiday gifts at a good price, but gifts to give out all year. But, you need a game plan. Over the years, I’ve created a Black Friday Playbook to make sure that everyone on our Christmas list receives a gift they love, and to help me stock up on gifts to give them for birthdays and other celebrations throughout the year. Bonus? This will only take you about 15 minutes to create.

Do These Things First

• Use a Regular Notebook – You know those notebooks you purchase for 5 cents during back-to-school sales? Use one of those. I love the spiral notebooks, because you can tear out pages once the season is done, and re-use the notebook for next year’s deals.
• Sign up for Ebates – If you’re planning to shop online, a rebate site will be your best friend. Not only will you be able to cash in on the online deals, but you’ll get paid to do so. All you have to do is sign up for Ebates (<— referral link), and be sure to click through their links to the stores you plan on shopping with. You’ll get a percentage back on what you spend. You can beat getting paid to shop!

Write your Holiday List

On the first page of your Black Friday Playbook, write your Holiday List. List every person you need to buy a gift for, no exceptions. We want to make sure that you take care of everyone in one swoop, so if you need to take an extra minute or two to get this list correct, do so. You can also put your full holiday budget at the top right square, as a reminder. Yes, you should have a budget for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Place Names in the Margin

You’ll want to put the names in the margin of the page. Why? Because that leaves you space to do a quick brainstorm of what that person may want as a gift. Do this before you look at deals. Because you brainstorm before checking out the deals, you’ll have a few items in the back of your mind that would be perfect for the people on your list. Once you see them on sale, you’ll KNOW that deal will go on your must-buy list.

Give Each Person a Page

Once you holiday list is created, dedicate a full page to each person on the list. On this page, you’ll want to write their name at the top, and separate the page into 4 sections: want, need, wear, read.

These sections will make it easier for you to find personalized gifts for each person, while looking at the Black Friday deals. It’s pretty self-explanitory; place things they may want in the Want section, things they may need in the Need section, and so on. Quick tip: the Read section doesn’t have to include books. You can gift a new journal, or something else book-related. My new obsession? Adult coloring books.

Also, feel free to put the individual budget for each person in the top right square. As you find deals, and write them here, you can reference your budget to make sure that you are keeping to it. Yes, it does help if you have a budget for each person. All you have to do is evenly divide your larger budget by how many people you have on your holiday list. Or, you can do it by percentages. Adults get 10 percent of the budget, and kids get 5 percent. Whatever is best for you.

The Store List

Once you dedicate a page to each person on your holiday list, create a page with your store list. On this list you want to list ALL the stores you will be visiting on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. If you plan to utilize an online sale, write down that store too. It’s important that we need all of the places we place to spend with, so that we can decide if we have enough in the budget to do so, or if one store may have a better deal than another.

Give Each Store a Page

Just like you gave each person a page, you will do the same with each store on your store list. The best part of doing this is once you get to that store, all you have to do is turn to your page and find the deals you’ve listed.

You will want to separate the store page into 3 sections: Doorbuster, In The Aisles, and Online. The Doorbuster section will include the items you need to grab as soon as you get in the door. These are usually marked as doorbusters in the circular, and are featured on the store’s Black Friday commercials. These are also the deals that are featured at the front of the store as soon as you walk in, so you’ll want them at the top of your list.

This year, I used the Flipp app to look at all the circulars. I loved it because I could “circle” the deals in the app, and have them make a list for me. Then, I was able to cross-reference that list with my list in my playbook. It’s an easy way to make sure you don’t forget a deal.

{Related – Black Friday Savings with Flipp App}

The In The Aisles section will list the things that may not be doorbusters, but are good deals that you’d like to take advantage of during your shopping. These are also the items that you’re fine with missing out on, in case you don’t get to them in time.

The Online section will list items that will be on sale on the store’s website for Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Like we mentioned earlier, we want to make sure you have a plan for all of your shopping, even the online deals. Does your store page feature an online store? Take out the In The Aisles section, and increase the Online section. Keep the Doorbusters section, and be sure to list the first things you’ll need to put in your online cart.

Keep track of your budget, as well. If you plan ahead, you’ll be able to write the amount you’ll spend at each store at the top right of your store page. If you see that you are over that amount when you’re at checkout, double check your receipt before you leave. It’s important that we stay on budget so we don’t regret it in January. You’ll want to write the price of each item next to it, as well. These will be reminders to you to stay on budget.

That’s it! If you get this done, your Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping will be a breeze. If you are more of a visual learner, view the videos below. You can follow along and put your playbook together with me: Black Friday Playbook.