Sales ending soon on candles, lotions, original art

Black Friday creep has major retailers offering a slew of pre-Black Friday specials, but those deals could last until Cyber Monday and beyond in some cases. Savvy shoppers also know that many small businesses set special dates each year for discounted merchandise. Here are some of the get-them-while-you-can deals this weekend.

Minneapolis-based Thymes continues its fall warehouse sale through Saturday. It includes candles, lotions, soaps and diffusers at 50% to 75% discounts. It also includes other brands since parent company Curio merged with Capri Blue and Aspen Bay. Prices are $1 to $15 and include retired scents, products with the previous season's packaging, samples and overstocks. The sale continues 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in the former Herberger's at Rosedale Center in Roseville.

The annual Minneapolis College of Art and Design student art sale continues from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the school. The sale attracts all types — from the apartment dweller who wants something original, fun and affordable to put on the wall to the art collector in search of promising talent. The best part, besides the thousands of pieces for sale, is that the average item sells for $125 and nothing can be priced higher than $1,500. The school said the sale started with 7,000 pieces of art from more than 400 student and alumni artists. Eighty percent of the sale price goes to the student, and because Saturday is the last day, some will discount their works.

Want to give your kitchen knives a sharper edge before holiday meals? Eversharp Kitchen Store on Taft Street in Minneapolis is holding a knife-sharpening sale through Dec. 7.

Get knives sharpened while you wait for $3 per straight blade, $5 per serrated ones. Overnight service is $1 or less per knife.

Local and national chain restaurants have begun their annual "free bonus gift card with gift card purchase" promotions. Check your favorite eating spots for freebie offers that can be given as gifts to others or yourself. Hell's Kitchen and Taco John's offer an extra $5 with a $25 gift card purchase.

Parasole restaurants such as Manny's, Salut, Pittsburgh Blue, Good Earth and Burger Jones offer a free $25 bonus card that can be used at any of the restaurants with a $100 gift card purchase. Most of the bonus gift cards cannot be redeemed until after the holidays and may not be offered online.