Monday 28 December 2015

Boxing Day Sales! What was I thinking?

I had my first experience of Boxing Day sales on Saturday!!! Mind you, it was all accidental. My daughter, the girls and I went to Spotlight during the week and I showed one of my granddaughters some fabric with cute dogs on it and asked her if she would like a skirt made with it and her older sister pointed out some fabric she would like as well. I told my daughter I would wait until the next sale and then buy a metre or so as it was quilting fabric and reasonably expensive.


As we were busy for much of the week I didn't watch TV very much but I did happen to see an advertisement for 40% off at Spotlight on Boxing Day so thought I would take advantage of the sale after the family left for the beach. I had briefly seen an ad for a sale at Harvey Norman which is in the same complex but as they advertise so much I didn't take any notice of it.
 
 So I went on my merry way out to the Harvey Norman Centre just to buy a couple of metres of fabric but when I got to the parking lot I couldn't believe my eyes! People were driving round and round looking for parks. I have NEVER seen the centre so busy and all of a sudden it twigged that I had turned up in the middle of the famous Boxing Day Sales which I have always avoided like the plague. LOL! Unbelievable!
 





Thankfully Spotlight was fairly quiet and I bought my fabric then decided I would walk up to Harvey Norman and see what all the fuss was about. When I stepped inside it looked like hundreds of party poppers had been let off and the floor was just covered in shredded paper. Then I saw the line up of customers waiting to go through the check out. I then decided that it was a bad move to visit that store and promptly turned around and retreated to the comfort of my car...far away from the madness I had just been exposed to ;-) Too much stress for me! I always thought the big sales were at the major shopping centres and it never occurred to me that these smaller centres attracted such huge crowds. 
 
 
 
 However, I did get 40% off the fabric I wanted and plan to make a skirt with the animal fabric plus a pair of shorts for the baby who is now really a toddler I guess. I bought a pattern for shorts from MADE by Dana some time back and have never used it so this will be a good opportunity. Dana now has a video on How to make a pair of shorts or pants for any age.
 
 
 
 While the children were here I finally got the chance to take them to Laurel Bank Park to see Thomas the Tank which I usually take photos of during the Carnival of Flowers. 

 While the flowers aren't blooming like they were back in September during the Carnival of  Flowers we still had a lot of fun checking out the various gardens including the scented gardens. The playground was also a great attraction. The weather was quite cool last week so it was nice to be able to stay outdoors without getting sunburnt.
 
 

 With the family gone again it is back to normal here so the Christmas decorations came down today and the angels were packed up in their box for another year...

 
...and the Christmas cards were also taken down and will be kept until I decide how I am going to repurpose them. There are so many ideas on this Pinterest page that it will be hard to choose where to start. The young girl on this blog Junk Mail Gems makes recycled Christmas placemats by cutting cards, gift wrap etc. into 1.5 inch squares which are glued onto placemat sized paper then laminated. Just one idea of the many that come up with a Pinterest search.

I hope that everyone had a nice Christmas with their family and didn't overeat! Oops! There have been some recent catastrophic weather events in Australia with the bushfires in Victoria, flooding in England and tornadoes in the US to name a few that I know of. I hope all my readers are safe as the weather is so unpredictable these days. 










29 comments:

  1. Hey sweet friend. The fabric looks so pretty. I also avoid big sale days. I find that I end up spending more than if I just go buy what I wanted on a regular day because I see to many deals and I have a problem with restraint. Haha!!! In all seriousness we have had a lot of that bad weather. A lot of the Tornadoes were very close like next city over to us. I haven't taken my decorations down yet but it is on my list for this week. Blessings my friend.

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    1. Chrissy, the fabric is pretty. One granddaughter is crazy about dogs and she will love wearing a skirt with doggies on it.

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  2. The rag angels are fantastic! Ha ha - boxing day sales....my girls went and got us some excellent deals but it is all too scary for DW and I. The sad thing is the stores are still making a profit even with 60% off.....the poor old manufacturer

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    1. Phil, the sales are only for the very brave. I think young people enjoy the hustle and bustle of the sales.

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  3. Oh the dreaded Boxing Day sales! I made a similar mistake yesterday and it wasn't even Boxing Day. I took my mum to Sunshine Plaza for a coffee then found I'd left the disabled sticker at home. Parking was horrendous and mum was a bit traumatised. Think I'll just hibernate for a week or so! Love the doggy fabric!

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    1. Hutchy, I avoided Sunshine Plaza when we were up there. The Kawana shopping complex was busy enough for us and we didn't stay long. Must be getting old :-)

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  4. Thanks for the link to the Christmas card repurposing page. I've never been to a Boxing Day sale. I don't think I'm brave enough. Have a happy 2016.

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    1. Tracy, I am yet to decide what to make with the cards as there are so many options. Perhaps something that will store easily till next Christmas.

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  5. hahaha! I went in to our local Big W the day after boxing day and it was madness, trolleys piled up high full of toys and so forth. I only went in to buy a nice wicker basket for the toys in the lounge to pop in the corner and some chocolates for a friend I was on my way to visit. The checkout took forever. And I forgot the plastic baskets to go in the old wardrobes to help organize them which means another trip! This one I think I might do later on in the day....

    xx

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    1. Emma I got some plastic, woven look, from my local Woolies that I use in the wardrobes.

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    2. We are going there today, Emma. Hopefully it will have quietened down by now.

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    3. Hi Nana Chel, I was in Toowoomba over Christmas staying with my brother and his family. Hubby was buying me a fishing kyak for Christmas. As we were coming home via Bjeke Peteson Dam he thought he'd buy it for me at BCF on Boxing Day. We went, we looked, we left. The sale was great but the line was seriously long. This was our first Boxing Day sale in many years and it will also be our last. My daughter went to Grand Central and was saying how manic it was. I love the fabric you have bought for your grandies. They will look gorgeous made up.

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  6. Hutch, I think you could photocopy and laminate the original disabled sticker and keep the copy in the glovebox....I am pretty sure that legally you have a couple of days to produce the original if it is questioned by authorities.

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  7. Hi Chel, if you need any more fabric or yarn etc. Lincraft are having 40% off whole store from today. A good time to buy knitting needles or other craft supplies.

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    1. Thanks Margaret, I saw that about the sale but it is such a hassle getting there with the problems with parking in the CBD now. Sometimes it is quicker to drive out to Spotlight :-)

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  8. my daughter took me to Costco on boxing day, it was too bad, plenty of parking, i will not go to a regular store on boxing day anymore as they have sales all through the year these days, plus spotlight & lincraft have sales all year too. just too mad & totally unnecessary i feel. glad you survived though :))
    thanx for sharing

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    1. I am a bit long in the tooth to cope with the crowds, Selina ;-)

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  9. Oh you were very brave Chel, i wouldnt do boxing day sales if i was paid to do it lol Years ago i tried and people bumping into you to get to things was enough to drive me mad, let alone trying to park the car lol Glad you survived though xoxo

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    1. Well, as I said it was accidental, Karen. I didn't know what I was getting into. LOL!

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  10. Sounds like the dreaded 'Black Friday' sales, I avoid crowded shopping as much as possible!! I don't really like shopping on the optimum days, think I'm just too impatient. (Unless it is a fabric and crafts store!! Those I could spend WAY too much time and money in!) Glad you survived!!

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    1. I have heard of those sales, Kathy and I would say they are similar.

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  11. I try to stay away from the crowded sales as well. Glad to see you survived and found just what you wanted. I will be packing all the xmas stuff and the tree on New Years Eve this year. Looking forward to a new year to start. Have a great season.

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    1. Yes, I took the Christmas decorations down early this year as normally I wait for the New Year.

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  12. Thought it was time to catch up after a very long absence. I bought three different christmas themed fabric lengths for my girls. That's next year taken care of and may be 2017.

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    1. Lovely to see you here again, Deb. Hope 2016 is a good year for you.

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  13. You could never convince me to brave the Boxing Day sales, no matter how good the bargain! At least your visit turned out well, you got what you wanted, didn't overspend and got home in one piece :)

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    1. Kelly, I would never go to one of the major shopping centres on Boxing Day as it was bad enough at this little one.

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  14. All good down here, except my plans of driving with Tom through the Otways was severely curtailed. Such a sad event though one that was overdue. You could see all the fuel just waiting to be lit. Im not sure what the solution is. I feel for all the businesses missing out on their season of trade and for all the many who lost their homes.

    Shopping - Yuk!!! Though all those crafty ideas that you come up with need materials at some point.

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    1. Lynda, good to see you again. It would have been sad to see the aftermath of the fires and there are more to come by the sounds of it.

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