If you want free stuff on your birthday, you have to start planning months in advance. You can search for restaurants/companies that will give you a birthday reward, but this website has some excellent ideas: https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/birthday-freebies/
Here are some birthday (and other) rewards I’ve redeemed in the past few weeks:
I got a $10 birthday reward from Victoria’s Secret. You can’t get much for $10 at Victoria’s Secret, but I found something. I went to Ulta for my free birthday reward. They were out, but they gave me a free mascara. I went back a few days later, and they had my “real” birthday reward: a giant box with a tiny lipstick! I got a free birthday gift box from Sephora.Kohl’s gave me a $5 birthday reward. I found something that didn’t break the bank.Sheetz gives you a $0.05/gallon bonus savings for your birthday. Sheetz also gave me 250 birthday points, which I redeemed for a free drink. Ruby Tuesday gave me a free meal for my birthday! I ordered the Ruby Tuesday salad bar for free, but my partner sprung for this monstrosity.This wasn’t an “official” birthday gift, but I did redeem a free coffee reward from Starbucks the week before my birthday.Starbuck’s then emailed me about a free birthday reward, but it was only available on my actual birthday.It’s always more difficult than it should be to get my free Starbucks birthday coffee. I left early for work, and I tried to go a Starbucks near my house. However, they were doing major repairs in the Walmart parking lot where Starbucks is located, and I got stuck in a line of cars inhaling asphalt and listening to construction noise for 15 minutes. I couldn’t figure out how to get back out of the parking lot without taking 20 minutes to circumnavigate traffic. Next, impatient and late for work but determined, I went to another Starbucks near my office. It was again difficult to get through traffic to get there, but I finally got my coffee!BGood is a “healthy” restaurant chain! It is a great option for a healthy lunch. This is their “new” vegan Thai noodle salad with tofu and zucchini noodles. Their seasoned fries are great, and their ketchup has NO hfcs. Victoria’s Secret sent me a second gift – a free pair of underwear. Woo hoo! I’m not a big fan of decorative packaging – just give me the unwrapped item and I’ll put it in my purse! But there’s something magical about the pink Victoria’s Secret bag. I should re-use it for my sad desk lunch — coworkers are flummoxed when they see it in the office fridge — it makes me laugh. Jason’s Deli sent me a coupon for $5 off an item. I used the coupon to get a salad bar for only $3.78! I love Jason’s Deli’s salad. Sometimes, when you get a salad to go, you can fit enough salad in there for 2 meals! This isn’t specifically a birthday gift, but I got a $40 rebate for buying Cooper Vision contact lenses, and the rebate arrived during my birthday week. I used part of it to buy a BK gift card. At the first BK I went to they said, “We are not a participating location for this gift card.” The 2nd location redeemed my coupon. I got the Impossible burger combo, and they replaced the fries with a side salad for the same price. I spent the entire $10 gift certificate at BK by purchasing a second side salad because I didn’t want to find another participating location!Panera sent me an email that I was getting a free birthday drink. Somehow I also had a free pastry on my Panera account so I got all this for free!I also redeemed some Starbuck’s points and ordered these bacon Gruyere egg bites. There would have been $4.45, but I got them for free! Finally, GNC sent me a coupon – spend anything in their store, and get a $10 reward! The first time I went in and bought a discounted protein bar, but I forgot to give the store manager the coupon code and I didn’t get my reward. I had to go back a second time and buy another item. I spent a total of $2.88 but I now have a $10 reward to spend on anything in the store!
