Whether you have shopped all Black Friday morning long or you find it entertaining to see your friends’ Black Friday posts on Facebook, we all know that while turkey (or ham, or duck, or tofu) is digesting, millions of people across our nation find stellar deals at wee-hours of the morning on the day after Thanksgiving.

Isn’t Black Friday in November?  Yes.

What’s all the hype about?  Particularly for big ticket items, Black Friday is one of the best days of the year to buy a television, tablet, refrigerator, washer, dryer, etc.  You can make the deals even sweeter by stocking up now on gift cards for your favorite retailers including Best Buy gift cards, Target gift cards, Sears gift cards, and Walmart gift cards.

So why think about Black Friday weeks in advance?  Now is the time to shop the Plastic Jungle discount gift card inventory so you can stack Black Friday discounts later.

If you are planning to buy Bath & Body Works lotions, Wallflowers, or anti-bacterial PocketBac® sanitizing hand gel as stocking stuffers, buy discounted Bath & Body Works gift cards now.

What if the brands of gift cards I want are out of stock?  That’s okay.  Don’t fret.  Sign up for a notification and be alerted as soon as they are available again.

Seriously?  Yep.  And if you think I’m kidding, wait just a few weeks when I share last-minute Black Friday tips and you’ll wish you had stocked up on discounted gift cards well before November.

Excitement is building as Thanksgiving Day approaches, but many of us are just as excited about the fact that we have a four-day weekend! If you are one of those lucky enough to enjoy four days of holiday enjoyment, you may be wondering how to best spend your time after the Thanksgiving festivities are over. A lot of you will have company — kinfolks like mom, dad, brothers and sisters, in-laws and other out-of-town visitors. So how do you entertain yourself and/or your company over the long holiday weekend?

Below are a couple of ideas for things to do. If you have other entertainment ideas for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, don’t hesitate to share. Just leave a comment to this post and let our readers in on your favorite things to do on the days following Thanksgiving.

• Go Shopping – You can’t navigate the internet or turn on the TV without being bombarded with posts, ads, and information on sales for Black Friday and the Thanksgiving weekend. Shopping over the holiday weekend is by far the favorite activity of many families. For those who love shopping, this is what the long weekend is all about. If this describes you, have fun, hydrate, be safe, and we hope you save a lot of money!

• Do crafts with kids – A lot of families will be spending the weekend surrounded by kids, whether it be your own or the children of family and friends. This is the perfect time for bonding and creating memories, and crafts are an inexpensive way to keep kids occupied and happy. Check out free craft ideas suitable for kids.

• Catch a flick – Taking in a movie over the Thanksgiving weekend is a big tradition for many families. Check local listings in your newspaper or online and enjoy the release that taking in a movie over the holidays can bring. Also, renting movies and watching them at home is another option. It’s a great way to pass the time and relax.

• Create dishes from Thanksgiving leftovers – If you love cooking, this is a great time to show off your skills. Take that leftover turkey and make soup, or experiment with new recipes (check out our friends at Yummly).

• Play games – What better time for playing board games or video games than when you have a captive crowd at your disposal!  Charades is a classic – and a wonderful way to laugh and have fun together without spending a dime.

• Watch Sports and Holiday Specials on TV – Forgive the cliche, but we’re guessing this is what the majority of guys will be doing over the long weekend, while their wives are shopping or cooking. That’s a traditional take on it, but many women also love sports, and often it’s the men who do the cooking. Either way, there are a lot of great sports events going on over the holiday weekend, as well as TV specials especially created for Thanksgiving and the long weekend.

• Buy and Sell Gift Cards at Plastic Jungle – Cash in gift cards you have (we pay out up to 92%). We also offer up to 30% off when you buy gift cards from over 400 retailers. If you are always working and haven’t had time to check us out, this is the perfect weekend to do just that!

• Rest – Ah..let out a huge sigh of relief and simply spend the weekend resting, reading, sleeping; just generally taking advantage of the chance for some much-needed downtime!

For serious, bargain-hunting shoppers, this is the most exciting time of year! Thanksgiving is on Thursday, November 25th, and the day after that is BLACK FRIDAY.

Curious as to how the day after Thanksgiving came to be called Black Friday, I did a little research and discovered some interesting facts. First of all, there are several usages for the term Black Friday. It was originally coined in 1869 to describe a financial crisis, a stock market catastrophe set off by gold spectators who tried and failed to corner the gold market, causing the market to collapse and stocks to plummet. (This information was found on a site that is actually called Black Friday.com, great place to find your sales information for retailers early.)

However, the definition of Black Friday we are most familiar with began with retailers and became a regular term of use in the 1960s. Believe it or not, many retailers operate in the ‘red,’ (their profits in the loss column) for the whole year until the day after Thanksgiving, the biggest Christmas shopping day of the year. When their sales skyrocket on that one shopping day, retailers finally operate in the ‘black,’ (in profit) thus the term BLACK FRIDAY. What this means for consumers is that retailers bend over backwards to get your business on this awesome of shopping days, and items can be found for rock-bottom prices.

Many consumers love the hustle, bustle and chaos of being in the midst of other like-minded shoppers on Black Friday. It is part of the enjoyment for them. There are just as many consumers who dread the crowds and only go shopping the day after Thanksgiving to find the bargains. This is where the internet can be your best friend. More and more often, bigger retailers offer early bird specials and sneak peeks at their Black Friday sales on their websites, so now is the time to start preparing for Black Friday, whether you are planning to brave the crowds or you will be shopping online.

Now is also the perfect time to buy discounted gift cards to your favorite retailers. First you save money by buying discounted gift cards for your favorite retailers at Plastic Jungle for up to 30% less than you’d pay for them elsewhere, then you save on the specials, discounts, coupons and promotions retailers are running for Black Friday, and you have banked like a bandit!

Check out the large selection of gift cards available at Plastic Jungle now in order to get your gift card in the mail (there is free shipping!) in a few days and be ready to save like crazy on Black Friday deals.  (There will be a post later this week about how and where to find Black Friday deals, so be sure to check back!)

Written by Amanda Grossman author of Frugal Confessions

Arguably, the best way to stick to your normal budget during the holidays is to have diligently planned ahead, and to have bought most of your gifts, food items, and decorations throughout the year instead of waiting until the holiday season is here.

Don’t worry; there is no judgment here. We are not all Martha Stewarts, and sometimes planning way in advance actually takes the fun out of what is supposed to be the most emotionally satisfying time of the year. So how can you stick to your budget now that you’ve waited until the holiday season is knocking down your door?

Here are some tips to get you started.

Purchase Loss Leaders

Loss leaders, or products that stores will actually lose money on in order to attract customers into their stores, are not just found at the grocery market. During the holiday season you can cherry pick extra special promotions in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Make sure to only purchase these products (and read the fine print of ads, as a few stores say you can only purchase the product if you spend a certain amount of money with the purchase). By cherry picking from several different stores, you are bound to save a decent amount of money.

Grab a Cup of Hot Joe or Tea and Partake in Black Friday

There is a reason why millions of people come out of their turkey-comas in the wee hours after Thanksgiving, disheveled and dressed in layers: the sales just cannot be beat. If you are looking to do a large amount of holiday shopping with a very small budget, then Black Friday is for you. Purchase a newspaper on Thanksgiving Day, and check out online websites that list Black Friday Deals ahead of time. Sit down that Thursday night to print out coupons, gather up your gift cards (see below), make a list, and set your plan of attack for the next day. You might find yourself extremely tired by mid-day Friday, but you will have saved a load of money.

Layer Your Deals to Increase Discounts

An easy way to get a discount on everything you purchase this holiday season from groceries, to gifts is to purchase fee-free gift cards at a discount. Let’s say you have children and know that you will spend $75 at Sears this year. Purchase a $50 and $25 gift card to Sears from Plastic Jungle at a discount of 10%, and you’ve just saved 10% on your holiday shopping. Add in store sales, promotions, and manufacturer’s coupons on top of this, and you could be looking at over 30% savings! If you used this strategy for Black Friday, your savings could be even higher.

Between now and Christmas, I will be updating Frugal Confessions with a new great Amazon.com deal each week, so check out my blog for some great deals!

And remember, it truly is the thought that counts. If your thoughts are going to be filled with buyer’s remorse three months into the New Year, then you need to reevaluate your priorities and enjoy the season for what it is, whether that is celebrating your religion, or showing the ones you cherish the most how important they are to you.