Magnificent Mile Lights Festival to kick off holiday season

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Magnificent Mile Lights Festival kicks off the holiday season on Saturday, and in a week, holiday shopping goes into high gear with Black Friday.

There hasn't even been turkey yet, and we are already in the holiday shopping season.

"I come from a large family so I am definitely thinking about it," said Jennifer McGill.

Those hunting for the perfect thing may be well advised to get it when they see it.

"The inventory is going to be a little tighter, we are seeing some difficulty in getting product into the United States through the West Coast ports," said Bill Martin, Shoppertrak.

ShopperTrak predicts the biggest in store shopping day will be the Saturday before Christmas.

For those shopping on line, check for the security websites and do your part to have a strong password or use an APP - like Keeper Security -that will help strengthen your online protection against hackers.

"This is the most popular time, so this is when they all come out," said Darren Guccione, Keeper Security.

The CEO of password management APP Keeper Security sees hackers follow the shopping trends closely. He suggests strong passwords for all accounts.

"At least six characters in length, so we like to recommend that people use letters, numbers and symbols when creating a password," said Darren Guccione.

If you can't make it down for the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival, you can watch all the fun live Saturday night starting at 6 p.m. on ABC7.