Black Friday is HERE, and while there are huge savings to be had on big-ticket items - mattresses, TVs, tablets, stand mixers - for me, it’s the cheap kicks that are perfect for a quick thrill.
A cool new gizmo or practical home accessory will streamline your life without seeing you dip into your overdraft or wreck your Christmas shopping budget - and with only one payday to go until December 25, who doesn’t need that?
With practically every brand under the sun engaging in some kind of Black Friday offer, you can pick up everything from new threads, stocking fillers, birthday gifts, decorations, booze and more at discounts so heavy you’ll rub your eyes in disbelief.
Prices have been tumbling since the start of the month as retailers rush to join the Black November bonanza. But now that the event has kicked off - at 00.01am on November 29, if you want to get precise about things - I’ve gathered what I think are the real gems here in a personalised shopping list. The best part? The majority won’t cost more than £20.
Whether you’re after inspo for your own Black Friday shop or you’re just curious to know what a professional shopping expert spends her money on, take a look at my selection below.
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Kill Bill: Volume 1 LP
This is one of my favourite movies of all time and aside from the action, the soundtrack slaps. Even though I could download it for a lot less, there's something nice about having a physical vinyl. Plus that artwork? Iconic.
Was: £23
Buy now £20.00, Urban Outfitters
Jo Loves A Miniature Fragrance Discovery Collection
My new hack for always smelling good on the go? Chucking a few mini sprays into various bags and pockets so I’m never without a fresh spritz. Jo Loves’ discovery collection is in Cult Beauty’s Black Friday sale at 30 per cent off. There are seven vials including White Rose and Lemon Leaves, a light and elegant scent that transports me to sunnier climes.
They’re also a great way of packing various perfumes into 100ml airport liquid bags.
Buy now £20.25, Cult Beauty
Nutrition Geeks Turmeric Tablets 2000 mg with Black Pepper & Ginger
Curcumin has an interesting effect on the body. When consumed, it has a therapeutic effect, increasing body temperature and thus burning calories as well as lowering blood glucose and lipid levels and reducing inflammation and oxidative stress. It is packaged up in this supplement in a high-strength extract - 95 per cent - and set alongside ginger and black pepper. This is all while remaining relatively tasty to slip easily into your diet.
Buy now £5.89, Amazon
SonicScrubber Household Electrical Cleaning Brush
Save yourself the elbow grease and clean your bathtub, shower, sink and toilet in less than half the usual time with this electrical cleaning brush.
The AA battery-powered SonicScrubber blasts through difficult-to-reach and difficult-to-clean areas laughably easily, leaving you with a clean space in up to 57 per cent less time. It comes with a set of brush heads to use on everything from mouldy tile grout to the underside of taps as well as toilet bowls and baths.
Use with cleaning sprays and products for results you won’t be able to stop talking about. Just don’t mix it up with your toothbrush.
Alternatively, you can buy this set of cleaning brushes that attach to a drill for £16.99 at Amazon.
Buy now £17.95, Amazon
Coca Cola Zero Sugar 24 x 330ml Cans
If you're partial to a 4pm Coke break like I am, now's the time to bulk buy cans.
This multipack contains 24 full-size cans, ready for a guilt-free serve when you fancy it. The price works out to 29p a can - not bad when you consider most London sandwich shops price them up to £2.20 a hit.
This is the cheapest they’ve been all year so I’ll stock up while the going’s this good.
Was: £17.50
Buy now £7.00, Amazon
Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack Tennessee Whiskey, 700ml
This double-mellowed whiskey is a premium expression from Jack Daniels. Best enjoyed neat to fully appreciate those round maple, fruit and vanilla flavours. A crowd-pleasing gift for the whisky drinker in your life.
Was £36
Buy now £20.00, Amazon
ORAL B CrossAction X-Filaments Replacement Toothbrush Heads
It’s about time I replenished my stash of heads for my Oral-B electric toothbrush, and Currys has this four-pack at £9 off.
Incredibly, the retailer will also throw in four months of free AppleTV+ viewing, which would otherwise cost just under £36 (it’s £8.99 a month). This freebie is only for a limited time, but it doesn’t appear to require a minimum spend so I can’t see it hanging around for too long.
Was: £19.99
Buy now £9.99, Currys
Amazon Echo Dot
For the smartest clock around, look no further than Amazon’s Echo which acts as a PA to tell you the time, the weather, traffic updates, or answer any random questions that pop into your head, like “Can dogs understand each other?”. You can also use it as a speaker and to control compatible tech, like lighting and heating. Available in three colours, it’s currently more than half-price.
Was: £54.99
Buy now £22.99, Amazon
Tigi Bed Head Superstar Queen For A Day
This isn’t a new launch, but it has cult status amongst those in the know for adding extra glorious inches to your head with just a few spritzes. Simply spray onto towel-dry hair along the roots and comb through, then use a round bristle brush to blow dry hair up and away from your head as far as your arms can possibly stretch. The result? Full-bodied hair that is strong enough to balance a tiara, all on its own.
Was: £15.99
Buy now £12.78, Sephora
Bombay Sapphire Gin
Famous the world over, for some gin aficionados, nothing but Bombay will do. The vapour-infused gin is a classic, with lively citrus notes mingling with juniper for an elegant flavour we'll never tire of.
Was: £23
Buy now £17.05, Amazon
RockSeed Cross Laser Level
This upgraded level device uses lasers to help you level things like wallpaper, panelling and installing bespoke cabinets. There are two modes - self-levelling and manual - which you can switch between depending on the task. The high visibility laser offers excellent accuracy, even at 110° wide angles.
It’s anti-splash and shockproof to one metre, handy if it gets knocked off a ladder or surface when you’re working.
Was: £24.99
Buy now £19.99, Amazon
Livelynine Blue Wallpaper
I’ve become obsessed with kitchen vinyl wrap videos and want to try the cheap and easy look to update my kitchen cabinets. This peel-and-stick wallpaper is the perfect shade of powder blue and it should work just as well on cabinets and drawers as it will on walls. Plus, I’ll avoid splattering everything in paint.
Into my basket she goes!
Buy now £9.59, Amazon
Command Medium Picture Hanging Strips 12 Sets Value Pack
Got pictures to put up but don’t want to blemish the walls? Command Strips to the rescue!
These Velcro strips come with a sticky back that sits between the wall and your picture frame or clock, bearing an impressive level of weight while keeping your surfaces drill-free. When it’s time to change pictures or remove them, pull down the wall tabs to remove them without leaving behind any trace.
Was: £11.29
Buy now £6.99, Amazon
Nutravita Organic Turmeric 1440mg (High Strength) with Black Pepper & Ginger - 180
Harnessing the power of an organic form of turmeric, this supplement from the experts behind Nutravita is a high-strength formula. The label has created the ingredient line-up with a team of pharmacologists, chemists and research scientists using premium components. This includes the named turmeric but also ginger and black pepper.
These elements work to improve metabolic function in unique ways. Turmeric is said to increase bile production in the stomach, while ginger enhances calorie burn and is an anti-inflammatory and black pepper may improve fat breaking down in the body.
Buy now £13.59, Amazon
Ariel All-in-1 Washing Pods
It’s not the most exciting purchase in the world - well, unless you think saving is money exciting (which I very much do) - but this giant 120-pack of laundry pods means I won’t have to think about buying some for a good long while. Yes, it’s over £20, but at 35 per cent off it’s a no-brainer.
Was: £36
Buy now £24.55, Amazon
Grenade High Protein, Low Sugar Bar - Jaffa Quake
Grenade is one of the most popular protein bar brands and you’ll see them at the counter of most gyms. The eye-popping packaging is immediately recognisable but if you’ve ever taken a bite, you will no doubt associate it with an extremely sweet flavour.
We felt the same until we tried Jaffa Quake. This combination makes for a tasty treat – and it’s packed with 22g of protein per bar too. The offset of the chocolate with the zesty orange is welcomed.
Honourable mention goes to Cookie Dough too.
Buy now £16.99, Amazon
STYLPRO Facial Ice Globes Cryotherapy
Once you have experienced the soothing joy of facial ice globes, there is no going back. We always have a set stashed away in the door of our fridge so we can work their cooling magic in an instant. Whether you have had a restless night or a few too many drinks out-out, massaging the STYLPRO duo across the complexion has an immediate depuffing effect that restores skin.
Made from handblown glass and filled with an unfreezable liquid, the icy temperatures rolled over the skin encourage circulation and lymphatic drainage, while easing headaches and minimising the appearance of dark circles.
Buy now £22.00, Amazon
Cable Fixation Clamp
Funnel TV and streaming box wires through this self-adhesive cord concealer which keeps wires neat and tidy against the wall. While the stick-and-peel is fairly strong, nails on either end mean you can keep it fixed to the wall for additional security.
Buy now £5.99, Amazon
Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky High Mascara
This drugstore favourite from Maybelline has reached cult status by those in the know and it’s kind on the bank balance too. XXL lashes are just a few swipes away where the jet-black formula creates a false lash effect, coating each hair from root to tip.
Lash extensions without the faff, fuss or financial hit, this is the kind of mascara that people will stop and ask you what you are using. Word to the wise, it applies best on clean lashes to prevent clumping and isn’t the most buildable on this list but once on, it has all-day lasting power and also easily washes off at night.
Was £12.99
Buy now £6.49, Amazon
When is Black Friday 2024?
Black Friday is always the day after Thanksgiving. This year, that was Friday, November 29.
When does Black Friday end?
Online shoppers can expect deals to last the entire weekend – right up until the exclusive tech sales event known as Cyber Monday. The end of the sale is marked by this final discount day on December 2, known as Cyber Monday.
Why is it called Black Friday?
There are many theories around this. One is that post-Thanksgiving sales event is credited with bringing businesses up out of the red and ‘into the black’ just before the end of the financial quarter.
