Chips and salsa.

That was Thanksgiving dinner for Anna Marie Snow of Middletown who decided to forgo the turkey and dressing to be first in line at the Toys “R” Us in Miamisburg, where she was among the first wave of about a dozen shoppers waiting for the doors to open at 8 p.m on Thanksgiving Day, which has usurped Black Friday for many national retailers as the traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season.

Toys “R” Us joined Target, Kmart and Sears, among others, in opening for at least part of the day on Thanksgiving, while Macy’s, Best Buy and Kohl’s postponed their holiday shopping launch until Midnight Friday.

Walmart, the nation’s biggest retailer, opened for regular hours on Thursday, with early bird shopping specials starting at 8 p.m., two hours earlier than a year ago.

“I’ve been here since 1 o’clock,” Snow said. “It’s the first time I’ve done this. I guess I picked the right year. I’ve heard horror stories about people standing outside overnight for hours in the cold and the rain. This isn’t bad.”

Temperatures hovered near the 60s most of the day Thursday, and the skies were mostly clear and sunny.

Snow said she came mostly for the free gift bag that Toys “R” Us promised to hand out to the first 200 customers in line at each store. She said The Great Big Goody Bag packed with gifts worth about $30 would go a long way toward satisfying the Christmas wish list of her two children, ages 3 and 5, while allowing her to keep more money in her pocket.

“I have to watch my budget,” she said.

Not too far back in line, Melody Hogue of Springboro — a Black Friday veteran who had been standing in line since 3 p.m. — said she planned to shop all day Thursday and Friday.

“Thursday is OK, but you still get the best deals on Friday,” Hogue said. “The economy still stinks so you gotta make your buck go far. I’ll be finished shopping this weekend because of the deals I’m getting now.”

Hogue, who was shopping for a Skylanders video game for her 8-year-old son, Nicholas, and Calico Critters animal figures for her daughter, Jenna, 9, brought along help — her mother, Fran Bender.

“I’m wondering what’s wrong with me,” Bender said as she eased back in the lawn chair she brought along to stay off her feet. “I usually keep her spot in the checkout line while she goes shopping. One year, I was pushing three carts in line, and she kept filling them up.”

For some early-bird shoppers, standing in line isn’t all about landing the best door-buster deals.

“I want to get an Xbox (video game console) for my boy, but we’re basically just hanging out having fun,” said Chris Morrow of Dayton, who set up a Cornhole bean bag toss game in the parking lot outside Target near Dayton Mall.

Morrow brought the game to entertain his family, including his uncle, his dad and his cousin, who had been waiting in line with him since 3 p.m.

“We brought some games, and my wife brought us all Thanksgiving dinner while we’re waiting in line,” he said.

Not to be outdone, the family in front of the Morrow’s ordered a pizza while standing in line.

“We get these calls all the time on Black Friday,” said Jim Minor, who delivered the pizza for Papa John’s. “It’s becoming one of our busier nights.”

Although the holiday shopping kickoff has crept into Thanksgiving Day, it was originally referred to as Black Friday because it was the day retailers finally begin making a profit for the year, shifting from being “in the red” to being “in the black” in accounting terms.

For some retailers, the holiday season can represent anywhere between 20 percent and 40 percent of annual sales.

In 2011, holiday sales represented 19.5 percent of total retail industry sales, according to the National Retail Federation, which predicts this year’s holiday sales will climb about 4 percent from last year to $586.1 billion.

That figure was bolstered by the early start to the holiday shopping season on Thanksgiving Day, according to the nation’s largest retail trade group.

By 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, most of the parking lots in the Northpark Center outdoor strip mall were empty.

However, the the cars, pickup trucks and SUVs took up two-thirds of the parking area outside of Gander Mountain, which was open on Thanksgiving Day.

Around 5:30 a.m., Tisha Harner, a 34-year-old Springfield resident, started shopping for Christmas presents with a friend. The duo planned to make the “shoppingfest” an all day event breaking only for a turkey dinner and a nap, she said.

“My mom did it,” Harner said. “That’s how I got started.”

Harner wanted to take advantage of the bargain prices on hunting gear.

Harner and her friend planned to drive from store to store Thursday night and early Friday morning; she had no interest in online shopping deals.

“Its more fun this way,” Harner said.