Thrifty Birthday – The Best Birthday Freebies, Deals and Treats!

This weekend was absolutely brilliant; not only was it my thirty-first birthday, it was also Poppy’s tenth birthday! I celebrated like most thirty-somethings with some retail therapy, a few drinks and a spot of lunch. My birthday shopping and dining had a retail value of around £130… However, me being me, I had a few tricks up my sleeve and got £90 worth of that for FREE!

The secret of my savings? Birthday freebies! There are so many companies who want to treat you on your birthday just because you’ve signed up to their newsletter or if you join their membership clubs. It’s literally that simple! Some businesses offer 10% off discount codes or bonus points on loyalty cards which is good, but the ones I love are those that actually gift your something that requires no – or very little- minimum spend.

There is of course a little bit of preparation needed as it requires you signing up to the different loyalty clubs, newsletters and apps. I’ve been signed up to a lot of these companies for years and stupidly signed up with different email addresses. So if you’re new to this, my first tip would be to create a new email address specifically for birthday freebie sign ups. That way, your regular account won’t be clogged up with promotional emails and when your birthday rolls around, you’ll be able to find all your birthday deals in one place.

There are a crazy number of deals out there, I’ve claimed just a few of mine whilst out and about this weekend and made huge savings whilst still being able to treat myself and get the thrill of leaving a shop with a bag of goodies.

Here’s what deals I have claimed so far:

• A FREE bottle of prosecco from Majestic Wines saving £9.99 thanks to the Vodafone VeryMe rewards. This wasn’t a birthday freebie, but it was a well timed deal the VeryMe Vodafone rewards. This was available to all people on Vodafone along with lots of other fab deals.

• A FREE box of Hotel Chocolat Happy Birthday chocolates saving £8 using the Simple Be Perks birthday offer. Stupidly, I forgot to sign up to the Hotel Chocolat VIPme club which also offers a birthday freebie.

• A FREE Hobbs Umbrella that was originally £20 reduced to £14 and a FREE pair of Hobbs socks that were originally £6 reduced to £5. These we bought using the Hobbs Together £20 off anything birthday treat. The umbrella came in very handy as it rained for the majority of the afternoon!

• A FREE main meal at Yard and Coop. I was able to claim my freebie as I was dining with Shane – you have to purchase another main meal to get the offer. That saved me £11.50 and it was absolutely delicious!

• A FREE Box of Lindt chocolates from Shopmium as they offer a birthday cashback deal for gold members. That was a saving of £4 as I purchased the chocolates from Tesco.

• A FREE chocolate muffin from Greggs saving £1. If you download the Greggs app you get a free sweet treat on your birthday.

• A Sandalwood and Amber candle for just 1p from Argos. The candle retails for £5 and Argos give customers a code for £5 off on their birthday. I used the code online and in order to checkout the balance has to be above zero, that’s why it cost 1p rather than being completely free.

• A FREE Body Shop Drops of Youth Sheet Mask. The Body Shop Love Your Body club also give customers five pounds off on their birthday, I claimed this offer in store and chose £5 sheet mask. There were lots of other items I could have claimed it on but I love the Drops of Youth range.

• A H&M maxi dress for £21.24 down from £34.99. This was a bit of deal stacking, I used a 25% off one item birthday code from the H&M app which took the price down to £26.24. I also had a £5 off £25 spend voucher from their garment collection scheme, That took the total to £21.24, I always get H&M vouchers off my future in laws so I used a £20 gift card to get the dress for just £1.24 of my own money!

• I also claimed two birthday treats for Poppy from the Pets at Home VIP club. She got a pouch of James Well Beloved worth £1.19 and a pack of five peanut butter Smart Sticks worth £5.29 for FREE.

There are still a few deals that I haven’t been able to claim but I might get a chance over the next few weeks. Those deals are:

• A FREE Rituals 10ml perfume that usually costs £9.90
• A FREE £15 manicure from BLOW ltd or a £15 Oxygen facial blast from Elizabeth Arden from the Debenhams Beauty Club.
• A £5 voucher from the Paperchase Treat Me club.
• A £5 voucher from the Hobbycraft Club.
• A £5 Ikea Family voucher (no minimum spend).
• A FREE Subway cookie from the Subcard club.
• A FREE Krispy Kreme doughnut, from Friends of Krispy Kreme
• A FREE bottle of prosecco at Pizza Express, All Bar One, and Zizzi.

There are of course lots of other places that offer amazing deals, these are just some of the ones I have received. What is your favourite birthday freebie or deal?

Thrifty Clair x