An Ignoble Experiment: [Parent Hacks] 2 new posts in Parent Hacks

2008/10/31

[Parent Hacks] 2 new posts in Parent Hacks

Hello, ignoble.experiment@arconati.us, and thank you for subscribing to Parent Hacks. Got a hack you'd like to share? Send it to hacks@parenthacks.com, along with your name and Web address (if you'd like us to link to you).

Do your "Black Friday" holiday shopping online (and sleep in)

Craig passed along a potentially money-saving tip for the hardcore holiday shoppers among you:

I would like to remind folks that many, if not all stores, now start their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving Thursday. And according to the Consumerist, some Black Friday prices are actually starting at Halloween this year. [Consumerist calls this "the creepiest of all Christmas creeps." -- Ed.]

We've always done our Christmas shopping on Black Friday because we're at the grandparent's house so they can watch the kids while we sneak out early in the morning and buy all the gifts. We then hide them in the storage bins in the van (we have one of those vans where the seats can fold down and that space is used as storage when the seats are upright). The kids are none the wiser and we're completely done with all or nearly all our shopping. Last year we did it all online on Thursday while the kids were distracted somewhere else in the house and we didn't have to get up and go out at all. Well, we did for one thing, but that's it. This year my goal to not have to go out at all.

If you've never heard the term, Black Friday refers to the day after Thanksgiving when retailers drastically cut prices and offer massive markdowns to lure holiday shoppers.

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On Parent Hacks at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/parenthacks/~3/437906413/do-your-black-f.html

Hollow out the Jack-o'-lantern pumpkin with an ice cream scoop

Pumpkin carving is fun, sure. But does anyone really enjoy the initial step -- scooping out the seeds and gooey bits? I just stumbled upon the perfect tool for the job: an ice cream scoop. I use this OXO Good Grips Points scoop, and the squared-off corners made short work out of scraping the pumpkin innards. I was done in no time!