Kim and I aren’t really into the Black Friday fanfare. Four or five years back (just for fun) I went with my two brothers to some stores at a ridiculously late hour just to see what was going on during the BF craze. We came away seeing lines that seemed to go on forever and lots of annoyed people, all waiting for some bargains, but are they really???

This year we used our Black Friday to straighten things up at home. However, we did make a few unexpected purchases online.

When it comes to American Express Small Business Saturday, we participate every year. Who wouldn’t! Free money is more fun to spend than your own! A couple of times in the past, we’ve combined our SBS card credits to purchase larger items. This year we tried to make a really fun day out of our free money courtesy of Amex!

Here is what we bought on Black Friday and Amex SBS:

Black Friday:

I didn’t go into the day looking to really purchase anything. It was more a day to be a bit more productive at home and relax after eating just a little too much during our Thanksgiving dinner!

Around 2:30 PM I came across a tweet from Dan’s Deals which was very interesting. One of Lucas’ favorite toy brands, Green Toys was on Amazon with a price mistake offering an incredible 75% off! (Check out one of his Green Toys in the post Lucas’ Little Airplane Fleet.)

I immediately logged into Amazon and started ordering. In total, I got him six new Green Toys at bargain basement prices. Best of all, a huge box was delivered on Saturday with 5/6 of the toys. The last toy arrived yesterday!

Here are Lucas’ new Green Toys:

• Helicopter- paid $3.05, reg. price $11.19
• Recycling Truck- paid $5.17, reg. price $18.99
• Train- paid $5.44, reg. price $19.99
• Ferry Boat with Mini Cars- paid $5.23, reg. price $19.22
• Fire Truck- paid $5.17, reg. price $19.00
• Sandwich Shop- paid $3.80, reg. price $13.96

Overall, I spent $27.86 on six toys for Lucas. This is definitely my idea of a fun way to do some Black Friday shopping. 🙂

Otherwise, Kim did some shopping on Tom’s. They were running a 25% off sale plus through TopCashback there was a 7% cashback offer!

Amex Small Business Saturday:

I ended up having four American Express cards which allowed each card to get three $10 credits for a grand total of $120 free spending money.

We decided to head to Downtown Brooklyn and spread our free money around at a few businesses.

Our first stop was Prime Meats (for lunch) which is a great restaurant that I highly recommend. Lucas slept through the meal and Kim & I shared a couple of items. Along with one drink our bill came to $40.28 This did not include the tip.

When I asked to split the bill with four cards, there was no problem doing so. Once the receipts came back, the waiter laughed at bit as did I. I then split the tip among the cards.

We then headed a few blocks away to Momofuku Milk Bar for a dessert stop. If you haven’t been to one of their locations in NYC, then you are missing out. They have some really interesting items like soft serve cereal milk, cornflake marshmallow cookies, crack pie and more!

We spent something like $10.50 on one purchase and then bought a $10 gift card to use for another time.

We then drove close by to an excellent cheese shop- Stinky Bklyn. The shop sells a variety of cheeses, meats, breads, beer and other fun things. We spent a little over $20, split among two Amex cards.

I was now down to one $10 credit per card to use.

Just a few blocks away is one of our favorite clothing stores, Brooklyn Industries.

Kim was surprised they were a part of SBS but I knew they were in years past. Just to be sure, we double checked on the map on the SBS site.

After looking around, our purchase was an easy one. We love their hoodies for Lucas so we got him one a size up for next year. The whole store was on sale for 25% off which was nice. Brooklyn Industries is definitely a bit pricey but Lucas’ hoodie, original price $48 was now $36.

To pay, I bought a $40 gift card, split among my four cards. I then paid with the gift card and have $4 left for a future purchase.

For every purchase we made, American Express sent out a “Thanks for participating in the Small Business Saturday offer” e-mail. Each arrived pretty much, instantly.

Overall, Black Friday turned out very well for Lucas (although he’s only received two of his new toys so far) and Small Busines Saturday was a ton of fun.

I hope that you all had a nice holiday weekend!

Let us know if you got any deals on Black Friday and how you spent your Small Business Saturday.