The Great Hunt at Target

We had a desire this year to buy more Christmas lights to decorate our house for next year, and we knew the best time to buy them is the day after Christmas when they go on sale, but sometimes stores are sold out of them, so...

At Target, we saw LED icicle Christmas lights as we scoped out the store's stock on the 23rd and noticed that the lights were already 30% off. We asked a sales associate if we could buy the lights that day, then come back on the 26th, return them, and re-buy them at an even more discounted price. "Sure!"

So we show up on the 26th and ask to do so, but get the ol' "I'm sorry, but we can't do that." So we decided to return them, and then check the store again later in hopes they have not been re-purchased by someone else.

We came back that evening and spent an hour scouring every aisle and shopping cart in Target (shopping carts that had lots of items needing to be put out on the shelves), but didn't find them. We tried asking the "lazy duuude" (teenage punk looking kid working the customer service counter) if there were any lights in the shopping carts behind the counter (where returns are placed)...without even turning around to look, "Nope, sorry dude, we don't have any lights back here." We give up for the day.

That night, I had a dream...that we found the lights at Target. So I asked Michael if we could try one more time that morning. So off to Target we go.

Again, we checked in the Christmas section and all the shopping carts nearby with items ready to be put back on the shelves. No luck. So we head for the customer service counter and then were about to split up so that Michael would go check a bunch of shopping carts located near the checkout lines full of non-shelved items while I would head to the customer service counter, but just before parting, I notice a box of lights sitting on the bottom of one of those shopping carts...Michael got closer and checked - "THIS IS IT!!"


Pure bargain excitement. A family watching us take this picture laughed at our silliness - their loss!

So in summary, we went home with a total of 8 boxes of lights that were 50% their original price for a total net savings of $25 (compared to the 30% off price we first bought them at)...$25 dollars for the two hours spent searching all of Target. Worth. It.