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Happy Birthday to Me! (You know I’m not above celebrating myself.)
You know I’m also not above going out of my way to get something free.
Whatever.
You’ve probably seen lists of all the places that offer something free on your birthday. The problem I’ve run into with the “Birthday Freebie” Google search, is that many lists are out of date, and often include tons of places I don’t even have in my town. Or worse, these lists include tons of “freebies” that aren’t fully free, aren’t worth the hassle, or aren’t even good, like an appetizer at a restaurant I don’t even like.
So today, for my birthday, I’m sharing only my favorite birthday freebies. These are the ones that are good or simply convenient enough, to take the trouble to make happen.
One piece of advice I wish I would have given myself before sitting down and signing up for any/all of these is this: If I’d have really thought it through, I would have told each of these places that my birthday was the 15th of all the different months, and spread out the free birthday love over a year.
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I know.
I know.
You have to be able to live with that. And when I hit the month of August, which is notoriously busy with back-to-school everything, not to mention that I still have all four kids at home all day, I would have been absolutely able to live with the little white lie of changing the month of my birthday to avoid the pressure of all those ridiculous expiration dates. (I would say you are also completely justified if your birthday falls in the month of December. You have already gotten the Christmas/Birthday shaft, why not accept some half-birthday attention in June?)
As it is, according to Starbucks my birthday is actually in September, because, Pumpkin Spice, duh. This is the only one I actually thought about.
Listen. Do whatever you want. Just note, none of these places actually check your ID, because what kind of a human lies about his birthday in the absence of alcohol, amiright? You have been warned.
Birthday Freebies in Your Email
*The following freebies will come as a coupon to your email. One downside is that you also start getting a whole bunch of spam email from the same companies throughout the rest of the year. Use your college hotmail address to sign up and then just remember to check it during the month of your said-birthday.
1. Biscuitville Club: free biscuit on your birthday. Any biscuit so go ahead and get the bacon. Expires end of same month.
2. Baskin Robbins: free scoop of ice cream or soft serve and 15% off an ice-cream cake. Send your husband through Peter’s Creek Parkway on his way home from work. Expires 5 days after birthday.
3. Sephora: free cosmetic/product gift during the month of your birthday. Often 2 or 3 different options to choose from. Redeem online or in store by providing your email address. Expires at end of birthday month. *Note: I love this freebie and always redeem in store. They wrap it up really nice and in my experience, have been very chill about the expiration date.
Birthday Freebies For Smartphone Only
*For the following freebies, you must download the company app on your smartphone and keep it current by using it at least once a year.
4. Starbucks: free drink or food of your choice plus 15% off of Starbucks dot com. Any drink or any food, so go ahead and get a triple shot Venti and also go ahead and say your birthday is in whatever month your favorites are featured. I’ve recently switched from the PSL to the Gingerbread when it comes to favorites, so my “September” birthday isn’t even late enough. Expires 2 days after your birthday.
5. Dunkin Donuts: free drink. Any drink. 3 month expiration.
6. Krispy Kreme: free donut of your choice and free small Krispy Kreme coffee. 30 day expiration. Krispy Kreme actually gives away free donuts all the time. Join their email list to be alerted.
7. Moe’s: free burrito for your birthday. This one has actually entered my “not worth the hassle” list because Thruway is a pain. But maybe you love Moe’s. Expires in 2 weeks.
Other Birthday Freebies
*This is the final list of freebies I receive that are not exclusive to email or app.
8. Panera Bread: free pastry. Become a member of the MyPanera Rewards program. 2 month expiration.
9. Kohl’s: $5 YesToYou Reward and $10 YesToYou Reward. These came separately to my email on the same day, and can be used together for a total of $15. I have a Kohl’s charge card (which I use regularly) and I have the Kohl’s app on my phone. Not sure which is tied to which, but both may have to do with the fact that I am a Kohl’s MVC.
The UnderToad 