my favorite birthday freebies.

everybody knows that the best part about birthdays is all the free stuff places will give you just because its your birthday. and if you didnt know this, im about to blow your mind: TONS OF PLACES WILL GIVE YOU FREE STUFF JUST BECAUSE ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY. 

seriously. if you google "places that give free stuff for your birthday" youll find TONS of super-long lists of free birthday treats like this one. 

the only thing is, like 95 percent of these free things are food, and as you know, im allergic to pretty much every food. so a big chunk of these freebies are lost on me. BUT NOT ALL OF THEM!!!!

in honor of my birthday, i thought id take a minute to share my personal favorite birthday freebies with you:

1. sephora. if you join sephoras (free) beauty insider program, two things happen: 1. every dollar you spend at sephora earns you a point that can later be traded in for prizes (not very useful unless you spend a lot of money at sephora) and 2. a deluxe sample sized (meaning, like, half the size of a regular product) free gift during the month of your birthday! and the gifts are usually pretty good. one year i got a trio of lip glosses, last year i got two wonderful lip balms, and this year theyre giving out a set with benefit mascara and highlighter:

2. daphnes. if youre not familiar with daphnes, its a california chain of what can best be described as healthy greek fast food. and they have this stuff that they call "fire feta" that is literally the best food on the entire planet. anyways, if you join their pita points loyalty program, you get FIVE FREE DOLLARS of daphnes for your birthday. i know that doesnt sound like a lot, but five dollars is the exact price of a family-sized tub of fire feta (for me to eat entirely by myself). 

3. benihana. if youve been reading this blog for a while, youre probably familiar with this totally embarassing story from about six months ago (until very recently it was my most-viewed post), if not, i would like to remind you that benihana totally gives you a free $30 gift certificate for your birthday. you just have to sign up for it in advance. 

and this last one, i actually missed out on, because i didnt realize it was only valid on your birthday (and we spent my birthday at disneyland) but, 

4. yogurtland. so i just found out that yogurtland (my favorite place for dessert when we have a few extra bucks) has this super awesome rewards program, that lets you earn free yogurt. you get 3 free ounces just for joining and three free ounces on your birthday (and if you buy a lot of yogurt, the amount of free birthday yogurt goes WAY up). and um.... with the way we like yogurtland..... well probably get to platinum level (16 oz of free birthday yogurt) by next year.

so those are my favorite birthday freebies, what are yours?