Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Columbus, OH

Even though money is tighter than it has been in years, we've still got shopping to do for Christmas gifts. For my family, much of our shopping is accomplished in just one day. The day after Thanksgiving, also known as Black Friday, is well-known for offering some of the best deals of the year. Stores will often offer one or two big ticket items for a significant discount, along with several smaller items also marked down lower than any standard sale. Many of these specials are early-bird deals, and stores open earlier than normal for this kick-off to the holiday shopping season. Years ago 6am was the standard opening time - now some stores are opening as early as 4am!

Going shopping on Black Friday has become a tradition for my family. If you're planning to dive into the shopping frenzy, I recommend being prepared. Here are a few tips to make your shopping easier:

Start your research early! Before the age of the Internet, we had to wait until Thanksgiving day to go through the ads. Now there are websites like bfads.net, blackfriday.info, and black-friday.net that get the inside scoop on deals weeks before the big day.

Create wish lists and order them. Go through all of the ads and write down deals on items that tempt you. Make sure to note which store is offering the sale and the price. If you see the same item cheaper somewhere else, make a note of that, too. Then look at your lists and see if there's one store that offers more of what you're looking for than others. If so, that's probably the store you should stop at first. There's no sense in running around from store to store if you're only looking for one little item at each store, unless that item is marked on your list as the must-have item. If there are one or two items that are must-haves, give them top priority. It's likely the best deals will also have limited quantity, so if you want that really cheap flat-panel TV, plan to go to that store first.

Select your locations carefully. If there are several stores you want to shop at, try to find a location in your city that has the highest number of those stores in close proximity. You also might consider traveling to a more rural store location for better chances at limited quantity items.

Set your alarm early. Very early. Those of us who shop for those incredible deals know you have to be there before the store opens for the best chance. Lines often form a half hour or more before a store opens. The better the deals, the earlier the lines form. Get your coffee ready and prepare for an early morning. For those with young children, you might need to designate one parent to be the early morning shopper while the other stays home until the kids wake up. In our house my husband is generally the before dawn shopper.

If you don't get the deal, keep looking. There have been many times we missed the deals. It happens. If you don't get what you were looking for, keep checking weekly sales. With such a bleak financial forecast, retailers will likely keep the deals coming all the way through December.  

Christina is the City Editor of Being Savvy Columbus and writes product reviews at Mommy's Must Haves. When not blogging or shopping for deals, she's a mom to two girls and working on her final quarters of nursing school.