Birthdays mean presents right? Come on, that’s the best thing and we all know it – it’s certainly not getting older. What’s even nicer is that many businesses love to celebrate with you too by offering birthday freebies. Restaurants often provide complimentary meals, desserts, or drinks if you’re buying another main meal. Coffee shops might give you a free cup of your favourite brew or slice of cake. Some shops offer birthday discounts or gift cards, and online retailers may provide free shipping or exclusive deals. Additionally, amusement parks, movie theatres, and even beauty salons sometimes offer birthday treats (but I haven’t found any of them yet). My sister in law suggested I try and see how many free things I could get for my birthday and write about it.
So that’s exactly what I did. The majority of these birthday freebies I tried to get in one day but there’s also things I know about that I either didn’t register in time or haven’t collected yet so I’ve added them on the bottom too:
Free burrito at Tortilla
Possibly the best of them all and what we got first. If you register with the Tortilla rewards programme you get a free burrito on your birthday. You have that option of regular or large (why wouldn’t you go large?!) And their usual upgrades are still chargeable (beef or guacamole are about £1 extra for example) but what would usually cost you £8.20 was completely free, and I was pretty full after devouring mine so it was definitely a strong start!
Free sweet treat at Greggs
Simply download the Greggs app (which comes with a LOT of perks anyway if you visit Greggs often anyway) then you get a free sweet treat added to your account on your birthday and you have a month to redeem. I went for the GOAT of sweet treats; the double chocolate donut. But hey if you just want one of those plain old jammy biscuits, no judgement here, it’s your birthday, you do you!
Free donut at Krispy Kreme
The big corporations can give away donuts willy nilly and it doesn’t make an ounce of difference to them. And whilst the fact I think Greggs donuts are far superior to Krispy Kreme is a hill I will die on, that doesn’t mean I will look a birthday gift horse in the mouth. I let Dave choose a double salted caramel donut and by the time we got home, all the caramel frosting had melted off. Doesn’t happen with Greggs that’s all I’m saying. Again just register on the Krispy Kreme app more than a month before your birthday for your freebie (also valid for a month). And eat it straight away would be my advice
£5 voucher at Hotel Chocolat
The Hotel Chocolat in Newcastle isn’t the biggest store on earth so we were limited with choice from a larger store however £5 off a purchase of £5.01 or more meant we got a bag of dark chocolate almonds for only £1.50. And very nice they were too. Similar rules apply, just register for free for Hotel Chocolat’s loyalty programme and get your voucher about 2 weeks before your birthday.
Free slice of cake from Costa
Simply sign up for their app and a weeks before your birthday a free cake will appear in your rewards, regardless of whether you’ve bought anything with them, and you don’t need to buy anything else in the same visit. A shame Starbucks doesn’t do something similar as I heavily prefer their coffee to Starbucks however I couldn’t fault the Eton Mess Blondie I go from them – it was pretty tasty!
Free hand wash at Rituals
Being an Aldi Lacura girl, Rituals is somewhere I just quite simply assumed I couldn’t afford however their loyalty scheme is actually very very good! I registered with them more than a month before my birthday and instantly received a free full sized body wash – just for registering. Then for my birthday freebies got a full sized hand wash with any purchase. And when they say any purchase they mean – any purchase. I bought a trial sized hair oil for £7 (which, as an aside is brilliant on my dry post surgery straw hair) and I got two full sized items for free. It’s certainly made me want to shop there more often – which I guess is the whole point.
Free bottle of prosecco with Vintage Inns
Full disclosure, we didn’t use this offer this year but have done the previous two years. If you sign up for Vintage Inns mailing list you get a free bottle of prosecco to use two weeks either side of your birthday when you buy two or more main meals. It’s not often that any booze – let alone a whole bottle – I available so this is quite a good deal if you live close to one.
25% off any full price item at H&M
H&M is one of my favourite shops – as Pauline, our local Evri driver will attest to. So getting 25% off any item you choose is a good deal to me. You need to be an H&M rewards member (free to join and you get free delivery on everything year round so that in itself is worth it) and it’s only valid on your actual birthday so be quick. But definitely something worth planning for.
So, I’m sure you can agree, that’s a canny haul for one day’s graft. Here’s also a few other birthday freebies I found, but just never got round to booking or signing up for:
- Free Lidl donut when you register with their Lidl Plus app
- Free Muffin break muffin when you register for their rewards scheme
- Free meals at and Frankie & Benny’s, Cafe Rouge, Zizzi or Las Iguanas when you buy another main. Sign up to newsletter
- Free glass of prosecco at Miller and Carter via their steak club newsletter – sign up at least 2 weeks before your birthday
- Free cocktails at Friday’s – download the free Fridays UK rewards app to get up to six free cocktails or mocktails. You’ll get one freebie for each main course you buy, for up to six people including yourself for your birthday
