Starting with Thanksgiving it will be a very busy few days. Most retailers will close Wednesday evening and won’t reopen until early Friday morning. But some are keeping reduced Thanksgiving hours on Thursday, Nov. 28, in case you run out of milk or need to get out of the house to avoid family members discussing politics. Try to be prepared so you don’t need to make last-minute store visits. Do whatever pre-prep and cooking that you can before the big day, so you have time to relax and enjoy your day with family and friends. If you do need to run out for ingredients or you have the urge to shop, check first to confirm that the store is open.
The day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday. It is the biggest retail in-store shopping day of the year. Traditionally it is considered the beginning of the holiday buying season. If there is some particular holiday gift that you are shopping for, do your retail research now to get the best Black Friday deals. Marketing experts recognized how popular Black Friday has been and followed it up with Cyber Monday, a second day of mega-sales focused on online shopping, and then Small Business Saturday — making the period after Thanksgiving famous for its blitz of deals.
In 2012 the United Nations Foundation hoped to provide a respite from the rampant consumerism following Thanksgiving with a philanthropic opportunity, Giving Tuesday. When it launched, it was just an idea, some publicity, a social media hashtag, and a package of advice and branding for organizations anywhere that wanted to participate. The resources were released for any nonprofit to use.
Giving Tuesday went viral almost immediately with over $10 million donated that first year. With increases each year since, even during Covid. It is available in over 80 countries. The total U.S. Giving Tuesday donations to non-profits in 2021 were over $2.7 billion. Even so, that is just a small portion of the total U.S. charitable giving of $484 billion that same year. Most people who donate also participate in making the world a better place by volunteering.
Take the opportunity of Giving Tuesday on December 3rd to discuss volunteering for your favorite non-profit and be sure to donate.