Apparently it’s Black Friday today. It’s an American phenomenon and is the day after Thanksgiving when the traditional Christmas shopping sprees begin. Retailers open early and give discounts to tempt shoppers in. Even Apple usually joins in offering rare (but small) discounts (not on Ipad Minis though...). As with most things it’s come over the UK with British retailers trying to jump on the bandwagon with online and in-store discounts. After a hard few years, retailers are doing their best to get us spending again.

To keep the momentum going, it’s Cyber Monday after the weekend when online sales go crazy. Though, in the UK Monday December 3^rd is supposed to be our peak day for online shopping. To be honest, these are both events promoted by retailers to increase sales but they do mean that there are some great discounts to be had. Shhh, don’t tell the boss but we’ve had fun perusing the 50% sale at Penguin books this afternoon and playing with the Red Letter Days Christmas! All of these are good examples of businesses creating events that generate PR and sales. On the flip side there are campaigns like Martin Lewis’ “Say no to Christmas Presents” that are trying to stop the excesses of Christmas. Bah - Humbug!! I think there is probably a balance to be found. Don’t go crazy and spend money that you haven’t got, but it's nice to buy some presents... and if they are a bargain...