How to maxamize your Birthday

So the past month has been busy but on the whole uneventful, just trying to balance university work with part-time work, but one exciting event in February was my Birthday. Don’t worry this isn’t a post about me telling you the wonderful gifts I received and how incredible my birthday was. This post is to tell you how many things you can get free just because you were born and hopefully if you have a birthday coming up this will help make your birthday a little bit more special.

The most important thing is to see which businesses are in your area, but for me here are a few things that I managed to get free just because it was my birthday. Also all of these items had no catch, i didn’t have to buy anything first i just received it for free.

So I mainly focused on places where i could receive something without having to purchase something first, this is also UK-based so in other countries it will vary. Here is a breakdown of places i found where you can get a freebie and also how to receive your freebie.

1. Ed’s Easy Diner – Free Shake (Download the Ed’s Club Loyalty app and receive your free shake in your rewards section on your birthday, also for signing up you’ll receive an email with a free regular burger included)
2. Gregg’s – Free Sweet Treat (Download the Gregg’s app on your birthday it’ll appear on the rewards section, also for signing up I received a Free coffee and coca cola zero)
3. Millies Cookies – Free Cookie (Sign up to their newsletter and receive an email with your free cookie, simply show the cashier and receive your cookie)
4. Krispy Kreme – Free Doughnut (Download the Krispy Kreme app on your birthday it’ll appear on the rewards section, also for signing up I received a Free glazed doughnut)
5. Paperchase – Free £5 Spend (Pick up a Treat Me card in store, once registered on your birthday you’ll receive a £5 voucher, also for signing up you’ll receive 15% off your first purchase)
6. Patisserie Valerie – Free Cupcake (Sign up to their newsletter and you’ll receive an email, just show the cashier the email and you’ll receive your cupcake)
7. Debenhams – Free Benefit Brow Wax (Sign up for a Beauty Club Card, once registered you’ll receive a free brow wax on your birthday)
8. Boost Juice Bars – Free Smoothie (Sign up to a Vibe Club Card you’ll then receive your free smoothie)
9. Barburrito – Free Burrito (Register with the Barburrito loyalty scheme and receive a card, then you’ll recieve an email with your free birthday burrito, just show the cashier and receive your free burrito)
10. Table Table – Free Main Meal (Sign up to a Tasty Rewards Card and you’ll receive an email with a free meal on your birthday as well as rewards once you reach 500 points on your card)
11. Space NK – Free Gift (Sign up their N.Duldge card and receive a free gift on your birthday)
12. shepherds Neame Pubs – Free Meal (Join their Birthday Club and receive an email with your free meal)
13. Benugo – Free Coffee and Muffin (Sign up to their newsletter and you’ll receive an email, just show the cashier the email and you’ll receive your coffee and muffin)
14. Hungry Horse – £5 voucher (Sign up to their newsletter at least 28 days before your birthday and receive a £5 on your birthday)
15. Frankie and Bennys – Free Pasta or Pizza (Sign up to their newsletter and receive an email with a free meal on your birthday)
16. Beefeater grill – Free meal (Sign up to their reward card and receive a free meal on your birthday)
17. Las Iguanas – Free Main Course (Sign up to their newsletter and you’ll receive an email, this offer is only for their evening meals not lunch, also one other main meal must be purchased, just show the cashier the email and you’ll receive your main meal, all meals are included except the rib eye. I picked the Picahna which costs £16.75 so they definitely don’t scrimp just because it’s free)
18. Brewers Fayre – Free Main Course (Sign up to their Bonus Club Card and receive your free meal)
19. Subway – Free Cookie (Download the Subway app, it’ll appear on the rewards section, show the cashier and you’ll receive your free cookie)
20. All Bar One – Free Champagne (Sign up to their newsletter, to receive your free bottle of Champagne three or more people must purchase a meal, this deal is only really worth it if you want to have dinner at All Bar One)

 

These are just a few I found, their are many more out there just google what can i get free for my birthday and lots of posts with similar lists come up, i just went on there and compiled my own list of what i felt were the best. I hope this will be useful and let me know if you ended up using any because of this post.

A Sunday filled with exploring and new experiences.

Although I am yet to fulfill anything on my bucket list (although we are still in January) I did spend my Sunday trying new things and exploring the beautiful city of Bath.

It started with the most important meal of the day, breakfast. Two of my housemates are vegans and after seeing them cook countless meals I was curious to try it, and so they made me a wonderful vegan breakfast. Many of the components are the same are your traditional breakfast such as beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, hash browns. But the part I was most excited about were the vegan sausages and tofu. I was surprised at how much the sausages tasted like your standard sausages from the supermarket (even better than some I’ve had before). The tofu was pleasantly nice, the texture was unusual but could be compared to that of very soft scrambled eggs. Although i may not be converting to veganism any time soon, i will be starting to reduce my consumption of meat in favor of vegetarian and vegan substitutes as in all honestly the majority of the time you simple can not tell.

After a somewhat traumatic bus journey in which our bus broke down and we had to get another I made it into town. My housemate had to search charity/antique shops for a project so i accompanied her to explore Bath. It never ceases to amaze me all the quirks of the little side streets, independent shops, remnants of old advertisements on buildings, and discovering little areas of the city that you’ve never seen before. We discovered an adorably tiny pub called The Bell Inn where a live band was playing, they were selling records outside and the add to the atmosphere there was a chef preparing and cooking fresh pizza in their beer garden. We found out they have loads of live events so we will definitely be revisiting it. One of the main reasons i love Bath so much is its uniqueness, there is an abundance of independent shops owned by real people not companies, in which you can pretty much buy anything you may want or need. If you don’t mind walking and hills, there are some beautiful parts of Bath and the views are simply breathtaking. It is well worth the visit although I’d say bring a pair of trainers or walking shoes.

After a long day in which we walked 10,000 steps, I’m very proud of myself. My housemate was craving some traditional chip shop chips. Once we managed to find one with the help of google maps I treated myself to a hearty meal of chicken and mushroom pie and chips. It was everything I’d want from a chip shop, it is also award-winning so we were in good hands. On a side note, Bath is even more beautiful at night.

I was once again treated to another vegan meal this time apple crumble. My housemates spoil me. It was honestly delicious and I could of eaten it all, right now being a vegan doesn’t seem a hard as i previously thought, although I’m not sure whether i could give up cheese.

Thank you for reading through all of this. Well that was my Sunday, a day spent wandering, exploring and being treated to wonderful food. Lastly I’ll leave you with this poster I discovered on my adventure today.

 

First Ever Blog Post

So I’m not sure how to start…Dear Diary suddenly pops into mind. Anyways Hello! I’ve decided to take to the plunge and start my very first blog EVER!!! It will mainly be for myself, a way to voice my inner thoughts, to document things I get up to and hopefully lots of adventures that i can look back on with fond memories which i can share with any readers i may end up having.

Last year I suddenly woke up and realized that although i was doing a Degree i love i was letting life slip by and not really experiencing it as i should. So i vowed to try to do everything that I’ve always wanted to do but always said I’ll do it after this, i need to save up more, or just that’s something I’ll do one day (I know many of us are guilty of that.)

Two of the things I have always wanted to do was appear on a Television programme and do a Skydive. I completed my Skydive for a wonderful charity called Ditch the Label and took part in a BBC show called Can’t Touch This.

As Third year became shall we say busier and a tad stressful I spent more nights in studying rather than out having adventures. Now that it is a New Year, i am picking up where i left off by compiling two bucket lists, one to complete in the next few years and one to complete by the end of 2017. The difference this time will be that I’ll have this wonderful blog to document my journey through 2017 and lets see how many items i tick off my bucket list this time next year.