Black Friday is just a few days away, and Blackhawk Technical College students, staff, and faculty are ready to shop. Nov. 28 will bring some deals and create some lasting memories.

A recent survey of 80 students, staff, and faculty showed 39 people are going to do their shopping online. A quarter of respondents declared they love deals and are shopping in-person for Black Friday. As tempting as the deals may be, 21 people are planning to skip Black Friday entirely.

Small Business Saturday is popular for 16 respondents, while 22 are waiting for Cyber Monday deals. Two dozen people said they plan to shop on all the special shopping days. A minority of 11 said they’re not into consumerism and will not be shopping. Seven ridiculously honest respondents admitted they prefer to wait until the last minute to do their holiday shopping.

Here are a few of the favorite memories shared by those surveyed:

• Spending the night outside of ShopKo with my family.
• I took my oldest daughter one year … she begged to go. Two hours in and she was so tired and sat in Kohls on a shoe bench while I was in line to pay. Haha 
• Many! Waking up at 3 am to drive to Madison with my friends on Black Friday. Standing in line, chatting, and enjoying our day together.
• Staying up after Thanksgiving dinner planning which stores my grandma and I are going to stop at. 
• Being at Mall of America and being with the crowd and having a hot cup of coffee with my friends.
• I lived in San Antonio, and Walmart close to home had a great deal on a TV and some toys my kids really wanted (this was around 2010). I wanted to upgrade my big old-school TV for a flatter one. I had never taken part in Black Friday before. It was crazy. People were crazy. Hundreds of them running and pushing–I got the TV and toys I wanted, and the price was good–but worth it? Nope! That was my last in-person Black Friday!
• Black Friday is always when we would put up the Christmas decorations, and bring out the Christmas music. When I was a kid, we would go cut the tree on Friday.

• Going shopping with my cousin after Thanksgiving, and we got pulled over and let go with a warning for the holidays.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Marketing and Communications team’s survey. Have a safe, happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the holiday shopping season whether you shop early, late, or not at all!