Make Black Friday a National Holiday

Thanksgiving may have the food, and Christmas may have the gifts and the lights and the trees, but only Black Friday captures the true spirit of the holidays: unchecked consumerism. For more than a decade, families and friends have been gathering under the warm glow of neon superstore lights to fight, grapple and grab their way to insane savings on the year’s hottest items. Black Friday has become an unavoidable tradition of our country’s holiday season, so it may surprise you to learn that Black Friday is not an officially recognized U.S. holiday. But should it be? When it comes to making sure the holidays are special, no one works harder or spends more than the moms and dads of the world. They’re the ones cooking, decorating and, of course, shopping. The holidays would lose their magic without all of their hard work. If they need to take one day off dedicated to grabbing gifts for their loved ones, don’t we owe it to them?

Do you think Black Friday should be a national holiday? Sign our petition to show Congress you support having an extra day of family, fun, and shopping!

Need some convincing? Check out our infographic on why we’re championing this movement:

After all, one in every three American adults will go shopping on Black Friday. That’s 33% of the entire nation. In that one day alone, we spend a whopping $59.1 billion, almost 15% of the country’s whole holiday budget. That seems like more than enough justification to nationally celebrate the Friday after Thanksgiving.

In fact, a lot of our country already gets Black Friday off, with 48% of American states giving their residents the day after Thanksgiving off as a paid holiday. That means the lucky residents of California, Texas, Florida and a few more places can go shopping on Black Friday and not worry about seeing a dip in their next paychecks. For the unlucky 52%, Black Friday savings can mean sacrificing a sick day or begging your boss for a few hours off in the morning. That seems downright Scrooge-like to us.

Not everyone agrees, however. According to a national poll conducted , only 39% of Americans think Black Friday should become a national holiday, which may seem odd — you’d figure most Americans would want any day off they could get — but when you look a little more closely at the data, the findings become more telling. While 74% of people older than 55 feel that Black Friday shouldn’t be a national holiday, that number drops considerably when you move down into younger demographics. National Retail Federation market research shows older shoppers engage less in Black Friday festivities, so it makes sense they wouldn’t see the need to get the day off. The numbers change even more dramatically when you start looking at more specific demographics. A healthy 68% of all parents think Black Friday should be a national holiday, and that number jumps to 75% when we look just at moms.

So not everyone feels we need a Black Friday holiday once a year, but enough people do! Let’s make Black Friday a national holiday and give the hard-working parents of the world a holiday gift they’ll truly appreciate!