Black Friday is traditionally the start of the holiday shopping season in America. It is a once a year experience that eager shoppers gear up for in advance. They spend hours waiting in line, rush retail store entrances and do whatever they can to bring home bargain deals on all sorts of products.

Consumer electronics in particular bring out a special type of Black Friday shopper. For some reason, when those ads hit the streets, shoppers line up sometimes 12 hours before a store opens to get the latest deals from their favorite electronics store. This type of shopping is frenzied, hectic and can drive some shoppers crazy. The amount of money saved on Black Friday is like no other deal on the market. This is the primary reason why people get involved in the craze.

There are three parts to the Black Friday shopping weekend. First, you have Black Friday, which is always the day after Thanksgiving. Stores open early, they have door busters and other special offers that draw consumers to flock their stores at the wee hours of the night. The next day is called Green Saturday, while the deals are not as great, they still offer some of the best shopping of the holiday season. Finally, you have Monday. Monday is known as Cyber Monday. This is when online retailers, including brick and mortar web sites, offer exclusive deals to online customers online.

For some, Black Friday is a family tradition. For others, they want to take advantage of the insane deals most stores offer. In other cases, people just want to experience the adrenaline rush of breaking full speed into a store with a bunch of other consumers all wanting the same deals, products and specials. No matter what reason you take part in Black Friday, you are taking part in one of the retail traditions in American history.

There are several steps to take to prepare yourself for Black Friday. If it is your first Black Friday shopping trip, you have to mentally prepare yourself for what you are about to take on. Most Black Friday shoppers have done this many times before. These professional Black Friday shoppers will eat you for breakfast if you are not ready to take them on with everything you have. Therefore, preparing for Black Friday is the most important step you can take before shopping that day.

In order to prepare for Black Friday, you want to come up with a plan of action. This includes setting up a schedule, finding a shopping buddy, finding leaked Black Friday ads and knowing what your budget is. You want to make sure you know exactly what you are doing and where you are going for the day. Otherwise, you may find yourself overwhelmed by the experience and the shoppers surrounding you.

First and foremost, you want to find someone to go Black Friday shopping with you. If you can find someone who has shopped this weekend before, you will be ahead of the game. If not, you want to find someone who is willing to stick with you throughout the day. This will give you someone who has your back throughout the day, and you can work to get the best deals together as opposed to doing it all on your own.

Next, you want to get your hands on leaked Black Friday ads. Most ads leak a week to two in advance, even though they come out in the Thanksgiving Day paper. These ads are generally the actual ads for the day, although every once in awhile companies will release fake ads to throw off shoppers. If this is your first year shopping on Black Friday, stick with the ads in Thursday's paper to ensure you are battling for the right deals at your favorite retail stores instead of being lured by false promises in fake advertisements.

Then, once you know what you want to try and buy, you can begin mapping out your plan of action for the day. Pick the stores you want to visit, then gauge which deals you want the most. Those deals will determine what order you visit stores and how early you will need to get there.

Finally, get plenty of rest the night before. You are going to need it! Plan on getting up very early, waiting in the cold and fighting other shoppers to get into the store to get your goods before they do. While this is not the safest way to shop, it is the way Black Friday tradition works.

The day of Black Friday

The day of Black Friday is going to start before the sun rises. The general rule of thumb for consumer electronics Black Friday shopping is to get there before midnight. Yes, midnight. Depending on where you live, and which store you are going to in the area, you may need to get there even earlier than midnight. Once you do get there, guard your spot in line like your life depended on it. If it is cold, bring blankets; if it is warm, dress accordingly. No matter what you do, even if you have to go to the restroom, do not leave the line. If you do, you will forfeit your spot. Trust me, nobody will save a spot in line for you.

Most stores will hand out tickets for the big deals of the day. This is a first come, first serve basis. This is why your spot in line is precious. If you are not one of those with a ticket, you will not have a shot at those deals. In some cases, once you have a ticket, you may have a certain amount of time to buy a particular item. In other instances, you may have to buy right then and there or lose your ticket. It is up to the particular store to determine its policy, and you may not even know how it will work until that morning.

When the doors open, be as careful as possible. Black Friday can be hectic; everybody will be rushing forward at once to get the best deals. Try your best to be as cautious and aware of your surroundings as possible. Expect pushing, shoving and a general sense of panic as people rush around you. Try and remain as calm as possible and do not cater to that same behavior. It may save you from getting banged up yourself.

Post-Black Friday shopping

If you survive Black Friday, you still have the rest of the weekend to go. Green Saturday does not offer the same deals as the day before, but it can still offer deals that will make you want to go out and shop. Expect the same sort of hastiness but without the dire urgency to get it all done at once. Since these deals will not be as limited, you will not have to worry about rushing to the store when it first opens. You can go about your shopping at a more leisurely pace.

Cyber Monday, too, boasts some incredible deals online. Web sites like Amazon.com offer deals similar to Black Friday as do other online vendors. If shopping online is your thing, Cyber Monday is the right fit for your weekend shopping needs. You should be able to find what you want, get decent shipping fees and get most of your holiday shopping completed this route.

Black Friday shopping does many things for different people. Depending on what your purpose is for being out shopping that day, you may be taking part in tradition, you may do all your holiday shopping in one day or you may just be looking for the best deal for yourself. No matter what way you look at it, Black Friday is a day like no other when it comes to shopping.

You get what you take from Black Friday. Perhaps, you come home with something for yourself or for someone else. Maybe you managed to get all your holiday shopping done in one day. Maybe you enjoyed the rush of the day, being surrounded by so many people and trying to be one of the lucky consumers coming home with the deal of the day. No matter what reason you go out on Black Friday, you set your own goals and reap the benefits from them that day and that weekend.

What happens after Black Friday?

After Black Friday, you will still be able to find holiday-based deals at most retailers. They will not be as low or special as that particular day, but they will still help you get your holiday shopping done. In most cases, you will need some time to recover from the day, especially if you are one of those early rises who waited outside a store to open from the get go. No matter what you choose to do Black Friday, it is a once in a lifetime type of experience you will never forget. Then, again, you may not survive it either.