The biggest day in the shopping calendar is upon us and in many countries across the world people are flocking to high streets and online retailers in search of a dynamite deal.
Here Guinness World Records shares some record-themed tips and shopping achievements to prepare you for the inevitable chaos of Black Friday.
1. Fastest motorized shopping trolley
Matt McKeown’s motorised supermarket trolley is just what you need if you want to get to as many stores as possible this Black Friday.
On 18 Aug 2013, Matt drove his super-fast shopping cart at a speed of 70.4 mph (113.2 km/h) at Elvington airfield in North Yorkshire, UK – smashing his previous record of 73.61 km/h.
2. Largest paper shopping bag
You’d have to buy a lot to fill up this whopping 22.5 m (73 ft 9.8 in) long, 15.4 m (50 ft 6.2 in) wide and 3.36 m (11 ft 0.2 in) deep shopping bag.
Created by Jon Marling and the Paper Bag Co (both UK), the bag was an accurate scale replica of a normal-sized paper bag, complete with twine handles.
3. Fastest time to gift-wrap a Guinness World Records book
If you’re out shopping today, now’s the time to pick up the perfect Christmas gift – Guinness World Records 2017 Edition (even if we are a bit biased).
The fastest time to gift wrap a GWR book is 18.28 seconds and was achieved by Chris Thompson (USA) on the set of Guinness World Records: OMG! in Los Angeles, California, USA on 30 January 2013.
4. Largest motorized shopping trolley
Powered by a 7,439-cc engine, this mammoth cart is the perfect vehicle to take Black Friday shopping.
Built by Frederick Reifsteck (USA) in 2012, it measures 8.23 m (27 ft) long, 4.57 m (15 ft) tall and 2.43 m (8 ft) wide and incorporates 3,265 kg (7,200 lb) of stainless steel.
It’s not the largest shopping trolley overall, though. That honour goes to a 9.6-m-long (31-ft 5-in), 13.6-m-tall (44-ft 7-in), 8.23-m-wide (27-ft) behemoth created by Migros Ticaret A.S. in Istanbul, Turkey, the same year.
Frederick’s titanic trolley has a capacity of 27,332,836 cm³, making it 227 times bigger than a typical 120,000-cm³ shopping cart.
5. Fastest time to scan and bag 50 shopping items
If you’re on the other side of the tills this Black Friday, why not have a go at this speed challenge?
The fastest time to scan and bag 50 shopping items is 1 min 53 sec and was achieved by Rosilda Ferreira (Brazil) at Prezunic Supermarket in Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 6 February 2009.
The rules for this title state that the last item scanned must be a Guinness World Records book.
6. Longest chain of plastic bags
The longest chain of plastic bags consisted of 40,174 plastic bags and was created by pupils from D.F. Malherbe High School in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, on 9 March 2015. The chain was 15.387 km (9.56 miles) long.
If everyone that goes shopping this Black Friday tied their plastic bags together, they could certainly break this record.
7. Largest collection of gift cards
To make shopping trips with mom more interesting, brothers David and Aaron Miller (USA/CAN) started to collect gift tokens, and by 2013 they’d amassed 3,215 different cards.
8. Fastest person with a pricing gun - 1 minute
Mari Mohede Berg proved herself to be the ultimate shop assistant after pricing 29 books in just 60 seconds at the Nordstan Shopping Mall, Gothenburg, Sweden on 24 November 2007.
9. Most expensive bathtub
Harrods in London isn’t taking part in Black Friday so you might be better going elsewhere if you’re looking for a good deal.
In fact, the luxury store sells the world’s most expensive bathtub at a staggering £530,000 ($845,000).
It was cut from a 10 ton (20,000 lbs) and weighs more than 2 ton (4,000 lbs) when full.
10. Tightest parallel parking in reverse
Car parks are likely to be busy during the Black Friday rush so being able to slip you car into small places is a handy skill to have.
British stunt driver and multiple record holder Alastair Moffatt was on peak form at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, UK, when he attempted a parallel park… in reverse.
Driving a classic Mini, he accelerated backwards to 40 mph (64 km/h) then pulled off a handbrake turn, spinning a full 180° and, in one seamless manoeuvre, sliding between two parked Minis.
The space he slotted into was a mere 1 ft 1.3 in (34 cm) longer than the car he was driving, breaking the existing world record.