With leftover turkey and pumpkin pie gone, now starts the time of serious holiday shopping, which for many students has already begun via the Internet. Several Sacramento State students said they are avoiding the busy, crowded stores this year and have started their shopping for the holidays online.

The shopping frenzy typically explodes the day after Thanksgiving, a day many people deem as “Black Friday.”

Sacramento State student Jennifer Ortiz, senior multimedia major, works at Best Buy and said she didn’t shop on Black Friday because she was working. Ortiz said she doesn’t like shopping in crowded stores and enduring the long lines, because “there are too many people bumping into you.”

“I had to work it (black Friday) and had to be there from 4 a.m. to 5 p.m. and only on 3 hours of sleep due to having a late Thanksgiving night,” Ortiz said.

The super sales are not all they are advertised to be said Jackie Geist, sophomore business finance major. Geist said if she has to shop in a store she goes to Target, because “they have something there for everyone.” Geist said she couldn’t brave the masses of people this year, but said she already begun her shopping online.

“There are just too many people,” Geist said. “I have never done the day after Thanksgiving thing and I don’t know if I ever will.”

Online shopping for others is a way of doing a preliminary wish list. Nicole Smith, senior Environmental Studies Major said she hates shopping when there are too many people around her and said she scopes out ideas for gifts online and then buys the items in the store when the stores are less crowded. Smith said just by looking around online saves her a lot of time.

“I get the ideas for what I want for Christmas and I just e-mail the links to my boyfriend, and he e-mails me his links” said Smith. “It works and I don’t have to deal with all the people.”

Crowded stores are not the only factor keeping students from shopping, for many students finding the time to shop before finals is a task worth procrastinating. Smith said because she is busy with school she waits until finals are over, usually around the third week of December, to start her serious shopping. Not all students feel the need to get a jump start on holiday shopping however and wait until last minute to buy their gifts. For Freshman AJ Lewis, music major, his holiday shopping last year was on Christmas Eve and event he said he would rather avoid all together.

“(There are) too many people and whining kids and crying babies,” Lewis said. “And usually you can’t find anything you want to get for someone because everything is out of stock.”

A good tip Smith said was to shop on weekdays early in the morning. She said there are less likely to be a lot of people. Many stores will have major sales, but unless you are willing to wait in line and wake up at the crack of dawn it may not be worth it. Smith said she camped out outside of a Target when they first released the X-Box 360, but she said she won’t be doing that again.

“Unless it’s something really worth the effort I’ll go shopping and get it,” Smith said. “But, if it’s not I’d rather stay in bed.”

Adina Zerwig can be reached at [email protected]