Birthday Freebies – 2022 edition
Welcome to the 2022 edition of the birthday freebies list! Every year as I share my progress in raking in as many goodies as I possibly can, someone always asks how to find these freebies. So I’ve started making a blog post with what I get each year.
There are tons of freebies or discounts to be had just for being born – and some of these places offer good deals or freebies year round! I try to note which places do more than just at your birthday. This list is in order of when the offers arrive. Some are good all month, some beyond your birthday month, some a much shorter time, and a few on the day only.
A couple tips – if you don’t want your inbox flooded, you can always create a dedicated email for rewards programs. If you don’t want to log into multiple emails, you can always import the second email into your gmail and have rules set up so those emails are shifted to a special label and don’t fill the inbox. I also make sure to log in to a lot of these programs a month before to make sure the account is still active and my birthday is in there still (some of these rewards programs update and birthday settings get lost – I did have to update a few).
On to the freebies! Of course, this is just the start and this blog post will be updated over the next couple of weeks until the 17th when the last of my offers come in.
Adagio Teas – 5% off all online orders until the day of your birthday (this came about a month ahead of my birthday). https://www.adagio.com/ – sign up for an account on their site, and you get the 5% off for your birthday. They also send coupons and occasional freebies throughout the year (like, free sample of this new tea if you make a purchase or sometimes free sample just pay the shipping).
DSW Shoes – $5 off, good all month. This came in regular snail mail about 3 weeks ahead of my birthday. Sign up for their VIP program at https://www.dsw.com/ or in store and you can earn discounts plus free shipping.
The Melting Pot – 6 free dipped strawberries in restaurant with purchase, good until January 2nd. Sign up for their Club Fondue list at https://www.meltingpot.com/ – they also send the occasional coupon or highlight special meal deals all year.
Outback Steakhouse – $15 off (2 entree minimum, dine in only), good until the end of January. This came as a postcard in the mail, end of October. Definitely a great expiration date – that’s three whole months from when I got the card! https://www.outback.com/ – you can also earn points for spending and get discounts year round.
Superdawg – free Supersandwich and large drink, good for 30 months after birthday month. This is a local Chicago institution and on many lists of places to see before you die. Definitely a must-visit I think! https://superdawg.com/ is their website but I think you have to fill out the form in the restaurant – there’s two, one in Chicago and one in Wheeling.
Hollywood Palms Cinema – 4 free tickets, good all month. Sign up at https://www.hollywoodpalmscinema.com/ or by filling out a form in the theatre. This is a local dine-in movie theatre, with excellent food delivered to your seat during the movie.
Star Cinema Grill – 2 free tickets, good all month. I guess it’s sign up at their website, but I never did – it seems they bought Hollywood Palms when Palms & Blvd split, and since then I get a birthday offer from Star Cinema.
IHOP – 5 free PanCoins, no expiration given. PanCoins are the reward points in their program, and is equivalent to a free full stack of pancakes (though I had enough built up to pick myself up a free burrito bowl). Sign up at https://www.ihop.com/en or in their app. Orders earn PanCoins and can be redeemed in their “Stack Market” for rewards. (PanCoins can be earned in other ways too – I had some that were a T-Mobile Tuesdays freebie)
Tokyo Otaku Mode – $5 off, good until 12/1. https://otakumode.com/shop is a website for purchasing merchandise from Japan.
Potbelly – free cookie or shake, good for 30 days from email. Sign up at https://www.potbelly.com/ or in their app, and you can get rewards and discounts year round.
Kohl’s – $5 Kohl’s cash, good all month. Sign up for Kohl’s rewards at https://www.kohls.com/ or in their app. Kohl’s has a really good program, and it’s easy to save if you keep an eye on sales. I love stacking discounts on discounts with a side of discounts there. Protip – sign up for their credit card. You often get extra discounts for using the Kohl’s credit card.
Denny’s – free Everyday Value Slam, good all month. Seems to be in-store only. Sign up at https://www.dennys.com/ or in their app; they do send out the occasional coupon at other times of the year.
Crayola – $10 off a $15+ order on https://shop.crayola.com/ – sign up for an account on their site. They also send out alerts of sales and coupons year round.
Andy’s Frozen Custard – free cone, good all month. Sign up at https://www.eatandys.com/ or in their app. I just joined this one last month so I’m not sure if they have good deals year round yet!
Lou Malnati’s – free 4 pack of Carol’s cookies, good all month. Sign up for their loyalty program at https://www.loumalnatis.com/ or in their app. This one is pretty decent because you earn points for orders and can earn free pizzas – which is a pretty good deal considering one slice of their pizza is pretty much a meal for me! (yes, in the Chicago Pizza debate, I’m a Malnati’s girl through and through)
Sketchers – double points on any shopping during your birthday month. Sign up at https://www.skechers.com/ or in their app. This loyalty program is pretty decent, I haven’t bought many shoes yet, but I managed to get pretty good deals on everything I’ve bought so far!
Krispy Kreme – free dozen glazed donuts, good all month. This is always one of my favorite offers every year, who doesn’t love Krispy Kreme donuts? Worth the little bit of a hike to my nearest one. Sign up at https://www.krispykreme.com/ or in their app. You can earn freebies year round based on purchases.
Dippin’ Dots – free small cup of Dots, good all month, as well as 10% off online orders. Sign up for their mailing list at https://www.dippindots.com/ I don’t get Dippin’ Dots too often, but I do try to get this one every year because they are yummy! A small cup is usually plenty for me – the bigger sizes usually melt before I can finish them.
AMC Theatres – free large popcorn, good all month. Sign up for any level of their AMC Stubs rewards, at https://www.amctheatres.com/ or in their app. If you go to see movies in the theatre regularly, this is a pretty decent program even at the free level. Definitely worth taking advantage of their discount Tuesday tickets if you can!
TGI Fridays – free dessert, good all month. Sign up at https://tgifridays.com/ or in their app. If you’re a TGI Fridays member, you get free chips & salsa when dining in. Plus you can earn free menu items with points – I’ve gotten so many free dinners out of this! (I mean you still pay for drinks and tax and tip and such but getting a free chicken dinner is so satisfying)
Marvel Insider – bonus points and digital wallpaper, no expiration date given. Sign up at https://www.marvel.com/insider and you can get all kinds of goodies depending on how hard you work to build up points.
Starship Restaurant & Catering – free 1/2 sandwich, good all month. This is a local single location restaurant in Forest Park, IL, that has good sandwiches and soups plus some really cool scifi memorabilia in the restaurant. Their website is at https://www.starshiprestaurant.com/ and just sign up for the birthday club at the link up top.
Box Lunch – $5 in rewards, good until 12/16. Sign up at https://www.boxlunch.com/ They have pretty good sales year round, and you can earn Box Lunch Money at certain times of the year.
Medieval Times – code for discounted birthday tickets. Sign up at https://www.medievaltimes.com/ for their mailing list. They send out discount codes year round. The tickets aren’t cheap but it’s definitely a fun place for a celebration – I think the best was the time I went for the holiday party for an anime convention I was on staff for. They put us all together in the black-and-white Knight’s section and we were the most obnoxious cheering section in the whole place!
Tropical Smoothie Cafe – double points until November 7th. Sign up for their reward program at https://www.tropicalsmoothiecafe.com/ or in their app. I’m not quite sure why the points are only the first week of the month and not up to my birthday (which is correct in my account), but still it’s points. I hope I can get over there before the 7th for a smoothie. This is a brand new place, they just opened very recently in my neighborhood, so I’m new to their program. I’ve already gotten a free smoothie and some good deals though!
Hot Topic – $5 in rewards, good until 12/16. Similar to BoxLunch’s program (they’re under the same ownership as I understand it). I gotta get over there to shop – I have some Hot Cash I earned with my last order and a coupon for doing an online pickup order! Sign up at https://www.hottopic.com/ for their reward program.
Build a Bear – $10 off a $30+ purchase, not sure the expiration (it was blank in my email). I think it’s good for a little while past the birthday though – you can put family members down under your account and you’ll get coupons for their birthdays as well and the ones earlier this year were good for a couple months. I think for kids there’s an option to get certain animals for their age – so $5 for a 5-year-old kid – but for adults it’s this coupon. Cuz most of their animals are a bit under my age! Still, a decent program and I get coupons at other times of the year. Sign up at https://www.buildabear.com
Torrid – $10 off, good until 12/1. This is a good reward and I usually go get me some new leggings or tights when I get this each year. If you spend a lot at Torrid you can get lots more rewards but I haven’t been buying quite as many clothes lately because where am I going? Sign up at https://www.torrid.com/
Jewel-Osco – 2X rewards points all month when shopping. This is not bad – if you spend enough and build up points you can get free grocery items or really good discounts. Plus the Jewel reward program will send out occasional free items or good coupons, often personalized to what you tend to buy (I get lots of Dr Pepper coupons, can’t imagine why) Sign up at https://www.jewelosco.com/ or in their app. The app is really worth it because it makes clipping coupons easy.
Cinemark Movie Theatres – free large drink, good all month. I haven’t really used this much because I signed up just before the world kinda shut down. But hey, free drink! https://www.cinemark.com/ is their website.
Broadway Direct – $10 off Broadway tickets. I’m not even quite sure why I got this, I must have signed up for updates about Broadway at some point? The email pointed to https://broadwaydirect.com/ (naturally I won’t get to use this because I don’t think I’ll be getting to New York anytime soon)
Red Robin – free birthday burger, good all month. Sign up at https://www.redrobin.com/ This used to be one of my favorites but I haven’t been in months because the last time I went to my local restaurant, I specifically marked “NO ONIONS” on the order and there were onions buried in the cheese, so they very deliberately did the opposite of my note. Not exactly inclined to return there anytime soon. But hey, if you don’t have allergies or dietary restrictions, this is a good offer! Plus every 10th burger is free.
Kellogg’s Rewards – free birthday token. This reward program is ending soon so it’s not really worth signing up anymore, unfortunately.
Buffalo Wild Wings – 6 free wings, good all month. Sign up at https://www.buffalowildwings.com/ I haven’t gone there in a while, mostly because there’s not one super close to home (used to be close to my knitting group), but the rewards program is decent. And the wings are yummy!
IKEA – free frozen yogurt, as well as a $10 off coupon, good all month. This came as a postcard in the mail. Sign up for their IKEA Family program in store. They don’t tend to send emails much, but there’s a kiosk in store where you can scan your card and get coupons.
Golden Corral – free buffet with purchase of an adult buffet, good until 11/24, only dine in. Sign up for their email list at https://www.goldencorral.com/ This is a really good coupon if you and a friend have healthy appetites!
Flat Top Grill – Buy one stir fry get one free, good all month. Sign up at https://www.flattopgrill.com/ for their mailing list. This is another one of my favorites because I just love their food – it’s a build your own stir fry place where you select what you want, add your sauces, and they cook it up.
Tsukasa of Tokyo – $15 off minimum $50 bill, good until 11/17. This is another local place in my area, up in Vernon Hills, IL. They’re a Japanese teppanyaki style restaurant (similar to Benihana). Their website is at https://tsukasaoftokyo.com/
Buca di Beppo – $20 off $40+ purchase (dine-in or to go), plus free colossal birthday sundae for dine-in only, good until 12/3. This has long been one of my favorites because I love Buca’s food and since my birthday is very close to Thanksgiving (and I work a convention that weekend which is located in the same shopping center as a Buca) we often go have Thanksgiving dinner at Buca and get my birthday dessert. Bring a crowd – that sundae is MASSIVE. I’m not kidding. Last Thanksgiving before the pandemic, my parents & godmother & I had a hard time making a dent in it! Sign up at https://www.bucadibeppo.com/ or in restaurant.
Olive Garden – free dessert with entree purchase, good until 11/24. Sign up at https://www.olivegarden.com/ for their mailing list.
Charley’s Philly Steaks – free drinks, good for 15 days from email send (which was 11/3). Sign up for their rewards program at https://www.charleys.com/ or in their app. They send lots of coupons year round so it’s a decent rewards program and their sandwiches are delicious. Plus I LOVE their lemonades – both the blueberry and the strawberry ones.
Container Store – 15% off purchase, good all month (one time use). Sign up for their rewards program at https://www.containerstore.com/ or in store or in their app. They just changed their rewards program so I’m not sure how good the new program is yet. But 15% off is a decent discount, especially if you are stocking up!
That’s it so far! Tune back in for more in the next couple of weeks!