After a certain age, we might not be quite as enthusiastic about birthdays as we once were. Sure, it beats the alternative, but it can be hard to admit that the number of candles on the cake is going up!
On the bright side, a lot of your favorite products, stores, and restaurants will use your birthday as an opportunity to reward their loyal customers who have registered their email address and/or store loyalty card. Many restaurants will send you a coupon for a discount or a free appetizer or dessert. Stores may also send you a special discount (make sure to register your kids’ birthdays too–I get four discounts for Children’s Place throughout the year that way!) Sometimes product web sites will also send you a birthday coupon if your birthday is registered with them.
Starbucks will treat you to a freebie on your birthday when you register a gift card. Panera loads a free treat onto your card, and for my last birthday I got email offers for free CinnaStix at Pizza Hut, a free mocha drink from Cinnabon, a free small popcorn from Cinemark, a free dessert at Longhorn…and the list goes on. (Apparently they want to give me an extra 15 pounds for my birthday…don’t worry, I won’t use them all!)
Make sure to keep an eye on your spam folder the month, and especially the week or your birthday–that way you won’t miss anything that would help make your birthday special.
Here are other birthday freebies suggested by our fellow Sisters and Misters the last time we talked about this. For most of these you need to sign up for some kind of email club or special rewards program on the store or restaurant web site:
- Applebee’s
- Arby’s
- Auntie Anne’s
- Build-a-Bear
- Benihana
- Bob Evans
- Bonefish Grill
- Boston Market
- Buehler’s Restaurants
- BW3’s
- Caribou Coffee
- Carrabba’s
- Chili’s
- Cold Stone Creamery
- CVS
- Dairy Queen
- Das Dutch Kitchen
- Denny’s
- Driscoll’s Berries
- Finish Line
- Friendly’s
- IHOP
- Little Caesar’s (Massilon location)
- Lucky Shoes
- Menchie’s
- Old Navy
- Red Robin
- Rockne’s (kids’ meal)
- Ruby Tuesday
- Sephora
- Sonic
- Spaghetti Warehouse
- Starbucks Ice Cream
- Steak n Shake
- TGD (Canton area)
- TGIFriday’s
- Toys R Us
- Victoria’s Secret
So…did we miss any? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook, and I’ll add them to the list!
