Birthday Perks!

Several posts back, I listed perks that students receive when using their college ID. I recently had a birthday and didn’t realize how many perks there are on your birthday as well. I’m not a big fan of the ritual of servers singing, clapping, and making a spectacle while bringing a free dessert to your table (and, honestly, I don’t think they really are either). What I can be a fan of, however, is getting a coupon in the mail or by email that I can just carry in and redeem. A few emails that I received last week made me wonder just how many of these offers there are, and I even found a Web site that has many of the entertainment and restaurant birthday offers in one place. Go to FreeBirthdayTreats.com to sign up for perks that range from free desserts, drinks, and entrées to discounts and gift cards.


This isn’t necessarily something that I seek out, but if I had known about it when I was a college student, I wouldn’t have eaten so many awful meals in the campus cafeteria. Living on campus, I was required to buy a meal ticket, which meant I would eat the salad with wilted, brown lettuce and scrambled eggs that crunched when you found a stray eggshell. The purpose of requiring a meal ticket as part of campus housing was good, but the execution lacked severely. These birthday perks are something I would have jumped on back then and, if you’re in college and on a tight budget, you should too.

A popular birthday freebie is a coffee from Starbuck’s. I should be getting mine in the mail anytime. Another of my personal favorites is a free bowl of noodles from Noodles & Company (I love the Pad Thai noodles). Apparently, because I signed up and played fantasy football this fall, ESPN has me on their list and I received a free Sports Center theme ringtone. My massage therapist (when you get old, you have massage therapists and chiropractors on speed dial) sent me a happy birthday email and $10 off my next package.

Go to the FreeBirthdayTreats.com site and you can also get a free dinner from Captain D’s, a burger from Red Robin, chips and salsa from Qdoba and Chili’s, a bogo meal from Sweet Tomatoes, and free desserts from a variety of different places.

So, if you are a college student on a budget or just like a freebie now and then, be a kid again and take advantage of your birthday. Before you know it, you’ll move right into those senior discounts…something for everyone!