Occupy Black Friday

Image: Occupy RenoThis Thursday night, while many families are still wrapping up Thanksgiving leftovers, the annual Black Friday shopping frenzy will begin, with 74 million people expected to head to stores over the weekend. But Friday also marks the 20th anniversary of Buy Nothing Day, an alternative celebration that invites us to “wean ourselves off of mega corporations, put our money back into the local independent economy, and live for a different kind of future.”

Given that Buy Nothing Day was dreamed up by the folks at Adbusters magazine — the same crew that spawned Occupy Wall Street — perhaps the day of austerity will take off on a larger scale this year.

My family liked the idea of Buy Nothing Day when we first heard of it, about 10 years ago. Because sitting at home and buying nothing in and of itself is not particularly exciting, we started a tradition of holding an at-home film festival on Black Friday. Watching three or four (high quality, carefully selected) movies in a row and noshing on Thanksgiving leftovers became a fun way to keep us at home enjoying each other’s company instead of out contending with the frantic masses downtown.

Figuring other Grist readers probably had their own sustainable spins on Black Friday, we asked you to share some of your day-after-Thanksgiving traditions. Here’s a sampling of what you told us on Twitter and Facebook. Share other post-Thanksgiving rituals with us in the comments below!