Black Friday, Small Biz Saturday Gift Buying Guide

Today is Black Friday and if you are planning to do any shopping today hopefully you are rolling in some green as you make your way to stores. And, Tomorrow is Small Business Saturday, so consider buying local and independent while shopping.

We took a walk around Downtown Naperville and made stops at a few area stores to peruse the wares and offer some ideas for shoppers. We found some interesting items of varying price ranges at the stores visited.

Have a great time shopping out there today. Remember shopping should be a little bit fun!

Here are some gift ideas for your loved ones. Feel free to add your own ideas in our comment section.

Store:

Specials: On Black Friday the store will have 25 percent off on men’s items, according to the store staff.

 Goods:

• For the kids, an old-fashioned (circa 1970s) long-board skateboard is the rage. The price tag is $220, but they will love you for it.
• For cruising around town the store sells some sweet looking cruiser bikes, the patchwork bike we liked was $499 and definitely for someone on Santa’s nice list.
• If you already have a sweet bike, consider a Nantucket basket to hold all of your essentials. The basket is a reasonable $40.
• With winter around the corner, the store has a variety of funky winter hats, many priced at $28.
• Cool shoes for men and women including Sanuk and Smartwool. Prices range and we saw a few from $65-$75.

Store:

Goods: Spices and more spices!

• For the kind person in your life, the Kind Heart spice gift set comes in at a reasonable $7.95 and offers a box set that includes four spice blends such as 33rd and Galena, a Southern-style seasoning perfect for a chicken and pork rub.
• For the salad lover, there’s the Salad Lover’s gift box, $21.95, which includes the fixings for an Italian vinegar and oil, buttermilk ranch, green goddess and creamy peppercorn.
• If your favorite cook needs to watch the sodium, but likes a little flavor, the International Salt Free gift box, $43.95, will bring some spice to life without any bloat. The eight jar box includes an adobo seasoning, jerk chicken/fish spices, chili powder and more.
• If you know a cook who just moved out on their own and is starting out in a new home, the Starter Set gift box, $41.95, offers eight jars of the basics for cooking, whether making tacos or cooking pasta.

Store:

Goods:

• If you’re buying a gift for a techie who enjoys grilling, consider purchasing the iGrill, $99.95. This little gadget is a wireless thermometer, allowing the grillmaster in your life to monitor the temperature of meat and fish on their iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch using Bluetooth technology.
• Remember back in the day when every stereo system had head phones, those huge, massive headphones? Well, everything old is new again. The Skull Candy headphones will make any music lover enjoy those beats even more and they better enjoy them because these headphones are not at 1970s prices. You can pick up a set at the Apple store for $150.
• Maybe your techie also is a health freak – we mean that in the best way possible. Now there is an app and a gadget to monitor blood pressure using the iPhone. The Withing Smart Blood Pressure Monitor, $129.95, connect to an iPhone and allows the user to keep track of their blood pressure and also share the information.

Store:

Specials: Shoppers can get 20 percent off on everything in the store from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Black Friday. Shoppers who bring in items to donate to the store’s Hero Box collection for a troop of U.S. servicemen and women will receive an extra 10 percent. Donation items can include nonperishable food items such as beef jerky and hard candy, toiletries such as baby wipes and body lotion and extra goodies including DVDS, magazines and brown undershirts. See bellacaley.com for full details.

Goods:

• Add a little color and style to winter wear with some fingerless gloves, $12, in a variety of colors and sparkles.
• Maybe a scarf is too long and bulky for your trendsetter. Consider buying a scarfless scarf that is one loop and full of bling, $37.
• The store sells a variety of baubles perfect for the fingers, ears and wrists. Some of the more sparkly items are from Teru Amaro, which makes stretch rings with crystals along with earrings.

Store: Rue Noir

Specials: The store will have special deals on Black Friday, including 70 percent off all Sophie B and Rene Rofe lingerie, 30 percent off all other brands. Accessories and robes are 30 percent off – with some exclusions and the store will offer 25 percent off Liberator products including special orders.

Store:

Goods:

• If you have a runner in your life, buying shoes might be too expensive and too difficult, but for $10 you can buy them a cool Christmas ornament and $5 goes to DuPage PADS. The ornaments say things like 26.2 and 13.1.
• For safety’s sake, the store is selling Nathan Vitaband, $20, which is a durable, waterproof and hypo-allergenic wristband that stores personal information, which might be vital in an emergency. It also gives access to cash through a pre-paid debit chip. And, did we mention it comes in cool colors?
• For the runner who does long distances, the compression sock is the way to a quicker recovery. The store sells a variety of socks and sleeves ranging in prices from $40-60.
• If weather is not going to stop your athlete, consider a windproof and waterproof jacket, $140. They’ll be so happy you bought it when they are running into a stif wind with rain pelting them.