The Halloween candy has barely been eaten, but early Black Friday deals are already popping up across retailers. That includes Target, everyone’s favorite store to peruse while you’re supposed to be running errands. Thankfully, the store is offering a holiday price match guarantee from October 22 to December 24, so you don’t have to worry that something will get cheaper during actual Black Friday. Make sure you keep your receipts!
We’ve rounded up Early Black Friday Mattress Deals, Best Deals from Best Buy. Check our Black Friday shopping tips for more advice.
Updated November 15, 2023: We’ve added more deals, including the Delonghi Stilosa espresso machine, select Legos and Magna-Tiles, and Christmas decor.
WIRED tests products year-round and handpicked these deals based on the actual discounts, not just the discounts retailers claim to offer. Products that are sold out or no longer discounted as of publishing will be crossed out. We’ll update this guide through November.
Smart Home and Home Good Deals
We’re not sure if smart displays will be around forever, but if you want one, Google makes some of the best. This second-gen Nest Hub (7/10, WIRED Recommends) doesn’t have a camera, so you have some privacy peace of mind. It’s compact with a 7-inch screen, which makes it ideal for your bedside table. It has sleep-sensing tech to track your sleep quality.
The Echo Show 8 is good if you prefer Amazon Alexa over Google Assistant and want to video chat. It was $10 less in October, so it may get cheaper again as we get closer to the actual holiday. The 8-inch screen is perfectly sized, and is big enough to read recipes and maybe even have a movie playing as you cook, but it doesn’t up precious counter real estate.
A good budget espresso machine is a rare find, but this one is our favorite. You’ll get a solid portafilter, a reliable steam pump, and a steaming wand in a pretty compact body. Unlike other cheap machines we tried, the Stilosa didn’t show signs of slowing down. I was gifted this after I got married and it’s easy to use whether I want to brew espresso or just stream milk for my coffee. It also takes up very little room on our counter.
If your store list includes items like toilet paper, laundry detergent, and cleaning supplies like a Swiffer Duster, you can get $10 back in the form of a gift card. Target does these kinds of deals often, and we’re already seeing them change slightly from the beginning of this Black Friday sale. They usually include items you’re going to buy whether there’s a deal going on or not, so it’s a nice bonus.
If you need to pick up a few things like shampoo, moisturizer, or hair gel, you may be able to get a $5 gift card out of the deal. There’s a good variety of products included like our favorite weighted eye mask from Nodpod.
Origin Dyson models are paired down with fewer attachments—this one comes with only a combination tool attachment—so you can save some money if you don’t need all the extras. It still converts into a hand vac. The V8 isn’t as powerful as some other, pricier Dyson vacuums, but it does the job with a 40-minute run time.
TV Deals
The LG C3 is one of our favorite TVs for gamers. It’s been this price since October, so it’s not a super uncommon deal but still a nice chunk off a pricey TV. Our tester said the picture is vivid with high contrast and loaded with detail but never overblown. Response times are fast at 9.2 milliseconds and it supports all current gaming console features across its four HDMI ports.
If you watch mainly Amazon Prime content, the Fire TV Stick is the streaming device you need and this one was just released at the end of September. You can stream from any service, of course, but it’s heavily geared toward the company’s own content. This 4K Max is faster, with 16 gigabytes of storage versus 8, but if you want to spend less and stay in the Amazon ecosystem, the also-new 4K Stick is on sale for $25 ($25 off).
Christmas Decor Deals
Photograph: Target
Artificial trees can save you money in the long run, since you aren’t buying a new one every year. Plus, you can keep them up longer. We can’t speak for the quality of all of these, but there is a wide range of sizes and types of trees that should fit most people’s homes and needs, like a 3-inch little spruce or this 6-foot slim Virginia pine that one WIRED family bought last year.
Target makes some of my favorite Christmas decor, and it being on sale before the holiday instead of immediately after is a nice way to add a few things to your rotation this year. This deal includes string lights, the Target birds (I bought the mini three-pack), and the popular vintage-look ceramic trees. I also love the “Everyone is a Santa” collection, which includes Santas with different skin colors and genders, and Santas that use wheelchairs.
Photograph: Target
Like the decor, Target also makes great ornaments from pretty, to silly, to just plain cute. This year, I added a Bloody Mary and a half-dozen oysters to my ever-evolving collection, and have been on the lookout for the felt Ghost of Christmas Future.
If you’ve got trees, lights, and decorations going up for the holidays, you may need to stock up on extension cords, power strips, or timers to make them all work. Right now, they’re a few bucks off.
Toys and Entertainment Deals
Magna-Tiles are some of our favorite STEM toys. The colorful, translucent pieces click together so kids can build whatever their little hands can construct, be it houses, animals, or a kingdom for their stuffed animals. There are tons of sets, some of which are also discounted right now, so you can grow your kid’s collection with their imagination. WIRED editor Adrienne So says the return on investment has been staggering, and even after years of owning Magna-Tiles, her two kids occupy themselves for hours with them.
Legos are more than just multicolored plastic bricks. You can build things like a dried flower centerpiece or a Christmas house. These sets can be quite expensive—I think I actually gasped when I saw the $209 price tag on this adorable Atari Console—so we wish there was actually money off each one like we saw during Prime Day. Still, $10 back isn’t terrible either if someone on your gift list is a Lego enthusiast.
You need to save this offer to your Target account first to activate it. Some of our favorite toys and games are the Bluey Squishmallow, Scattergories, or a Magic 8 Ball (it’s never too early to start your kid’s mystical future). Classic books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Rainbow Fish are included, too.
There are books included in the above deal too, but this one works for stocking up on a few new titles like Britney Spears’ new memoir The Woman in Me for $21. Some other popular books are:
The list of items included in this deal covers toys like Play-Doh, as well as games and books for kids and adults. Here are a few of our game recommendations.
