I hopped around New York City on my birthday to eight different restaurants to see how much free food I could get just for being born. Following is a transcript of the video.
Emma Fierberg: Here are the free things you can get on your birthday.
The key to getting free stuff on your birthday is signing up for loyalty programs. Here's where I went on my birthday.
My first stop was Au Bon Pain. If you're a rewards member, they give you a free sandwich or a salad on your birthday. Hell yeah. I ordered a black bean burger, showed them my ID, and they gave it to me for free.
Next up, I went to Panera. They give you a free pastry on your birthday if you're a rewards member. So I got a free cinnamon scone. It was okay. It was really sugary, but it was free!
Then we went to IHOP. I hadn't gotten my birthday coupon yet, but they gave me a free stack of pancakes anyway.
So, next we went to Moe's Southwestern Grill. I ordered my burrito, got to the cashier, scanned the QR code for my free burrito in the Moe's app, it disappeared from the app, and she told me it didn't work. She called over her co-worker. He told me they're not a participating location. So, I ended up having to pay for my birthday burrito. So, if you're going to go to Moe's for your free birthday burrito, check if they're a participating location first.
Next, I went to Jamba Juice. All I had to do was punch in my phone number after having signed up for their loyalty program, and I got a free smoothie. It was chocolate peanut butter banana. It was so good. Minus the plastic straw. Those are bad for the ocean.
As if I hadn't had enough sugar yet that day, it was time for Krispy Kreme! I had downloaded their app. You get a free doughnut just for signing up, and you get a free birthday doughnut. I got two free doughnuts. TWO!
So I had done all this bopping around getting free stuff, but all I really wanted for my birthday was cake. We found a Sprinkles Cupcakes. Once again my birthday coupon had not come through yet, but they honored it and gave me my free birthday cupcake anyway. It was red velvet. It was pretty good.
Last stop was Wendy's. I had read online you get a free Frosty on your birthday at Wendy's! I got in line at Wendy's, got to the register, said, "Hello it's my birthday. Can I have a free Frosty?" And they looked at me like I had four heads. So he went and got his manager. The manager came back and said, "Chocolate or vanilla?" And I said, "Chocolate" and it was free!
I don't know if this works everywhere or if they just felt awkward or bad for me, but I did get a free Frosty on my birthday. By the end of the day, my brother had had enough. There are so many places I didn't even get to like Dairy Queen, Ben & Jerry's, Cold Stone, Pinkberry, Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts … there's so many. Endless possibilities. If you'd like to go to those places, more power to you. Enjoy your birthday treats. Treat yourself. It's your birthday.