Canada Birthday Freebies

Free Birthday Stuff Canada

Is your birthday coming up? If so, happy birthday! Looking for free stuff on your birthday? You’ve come to the right place.

Many stores offer great birthday freebies to their customers, so be sure to take advantage of some this year. Below is a list of over 45 different birthday freebies that you can snag. Go get ‘em!

Last Updated: January 13, 2013

Restaurants/Fast Food:

Applebee’s – Free dessert shooter on your birthday. Must show ID.

Baskin Robbins – Buy 1 Get 1 Free ice cream cone on your birthday. Join the Birthday Club.

Boston Pizza – Your choice of 3 starters: pizza bread, cactus cut potatoes or yam fries.Join mailing list.

Casey’s – Free entree (up to $15) and free beverage.

Coldstone Creamery – Free ice cream creation on your birthday. Join mailing list.

Dairy Queen – Get a coupon for a B1G1 “treat”. Join the Blizzard Fan Club.

Denny’s (various locations) – Free entree on your birthday. Join the Birthday Club..

East Side Mario’s – Spin the wheel and win a prize.

Garden Buffet (Windsor, Ontario) – Enjoy a free meal on your birthday.

Imperial Buffet (Toronto, Ontario) – Buy 2 Buffet Meal, get 1 free. Only valid on actual birth date. Must show ID.

Jack Astor’s - Free dessert on your birthday. Join VIP Club.

The Keg – When dining at the restaurant, mention that it’s your birthday and you will get a free slice of Billy Miner pie.

Mandarin – Wear a hat, receive a photo and a piece of cake.

Marble Slab – Will be sent a coupon for a free ice cream on your birthday (good for 1 week).Join mailing list.

Milestone’s – Free entree when you purchase 3 others (so bring 3 friends or family members). Must show ID. Join Milestones Club.

Montana’s – Free dessert on your birthday.

Panera Bread – Free pastry on your birthday. Must pick up a membership card and register it.

Pizza Delight - Free meal (choose from birthday menu).

Pizza Pizza – Free slice of pizza and can of pop. Join Kids Club. (Kids Only)

Pomodori Pizza – Free slide of pizza (in Rothesay NB)

Quizno’s – Free cookie with the purchase of any sandwich (must present an email printout that they send to you around your birthday). Join the club.

Red Robin – Free burger on your birthday. Join the E-Club.

Steels Cafe & Grill – Free meal when you show ID. Visit their website here

Swiss Chalet - Free dessert on your birthday and Kids eat free on their birthday.

The Firehall (in Oakville’s Bronte village) – Free entree up to $15 for the Birthday person

Tony Roma’s – Free entree & mini dessert (maximum $15 off your entree). Must sign up at the restaurant before your birthday and you will receive an email with a coupon to print around your birth date.

Tucker’s Market Place – Free meal on your birthday.

Tutti Fruti – 50% off breakfast on your birthday.

What A Bagel – Free dozen bagels.

Beverages:

Booster Juice – Free regular smoothie on your birthday. Join Booster Nation Club.

7-11 – Free small slurpee on your birthday.

Blenz (Vancouver) – Free drink on your birthday. Must show ID.

Orange Julius – Free premium fruit smoothie or Julius fruit drink. Join QuenchClub.

Starbucks – Use your Starbucks card and get a free drink on your birthday. Get your Starbucks card.

Timothy’s Coffee – Free baked treat with any medium coffee purchase. Must present coupon sent to your email. Join the club.

Shopping:

American Eagle – receive 15% off your purchase during birthday month. Sign up for AE Rewards

Cleo – 10% off all merchandise (including sale & clearance). You can combine this discount with other in-store promotions.

Giant Tiger – One free gift. Choose between 3-4 items.

Home Outfitters – Receive a coupon for 10% off your entire purchase.

Party Packager’s – Your child will receive a FREE ready-made loot bag, filled to the brim with goodies or a 10% discount on purchase (you have a choice of which coupon you would like to use). Parent receives 10% discount on next purchase just for signing up. Join the club.

RW & CO. – 25% off the last ticketed price on all merchandise (must present an email printout that they send you around your birthday). Valid ID required. Join the club.

Sephora – Benefit mascara and highlighter. (with your beauty insider card). Get a Beauty Insider card.

Shopper’s Drug Mart – Coupon for 8,000 Optimum points when you spend $50. You can also get a FREE makeover or beauty consultation (update your profile with your birthday and you will be emailed this coupon).

The Body Shop – Free “Love Your Body” membership (which entitles you to 10% off all year). If you already have the card, you will receive a $10 off coupon to use.

Value Village – 20% off on your birthday if you’re a member of the Super Savers Club.

Other:

Menchies – Free Frozen Yogurt (up to a $5 value) when it is your birthday.

NeVaeh Kids Spa – Receive a free cupcake with sparklers at no charge when you bring your little one in for a service on or near their birthday. Visit website.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory – Free gift (usually a chocolate bar) if you include your birth date when registering your Rocky Card.

Semperviva (Vancouver location’s) Free Yoga Class

Swagbucks – 50 free swagbucks on your bday

Entertainment:

Chuck E Cheese – Will be sent a printable coupon for free tokens for child’s birthday and a coupon for childs 1/2 birthday.

Cypress Mountain (BC) – Free skiing, just show ID at ticket counter and receive a free lift pass. Visit website

Medieval Times – Free feast and tournament. Join the Birthday Fellowship.

If you know of any other birthday freebies in Canada, please let us know!

10 Tips for Using Affiliate Programs on your Blog

We’ve now looked at a number of popular affiliate programs for bloggers and today I’d like to finish off this series by giving a few tips that should help bloggers get the best results out of any affiliate program that they choose to run with.

 

1. Consider your Audience

It almost goes without saying – but it’s worth putting yourself in your readers shoes and consider what they might be looking for as they surf by your blog. Are they shopping for specific products? Might they be looking for related products or accessories? What would trigger them to purchase? Start with your reader in mind rather than the product. If you take this approach you could end up doing your reader a favor as well as making a few dollars on the side.

 

2. Genuine Recommendations and personal endorsements always work best

There are literally hundreds of thousands of products and services for you to choose from to recommend to your blog’s readers but making money from them is not as simple as randomly adding links to them from your blog. Your blog’s readers come back to your blog day after day because something about you resonates with them – they have at least some level of trust and respect for you and perhaps the quickest way to destroy this is to recommend that they buy something that you don’t fully believe will benefit them.

The best results I’ve had from affiliate programs are where I give an open and honest appraisal of the product – including both it’s strengths and weaknesses. The most successful affiliate program I’m involved with here at ProBlogger is Joel Comm’s e-book which I reviewed here. If you read the review you’ll see that I not only tell readers who I believe the book is for but I also mention those it is NOT for. In a sense I critique it. On a surface level one might think that this wasn’t a wise move and that I should have given a glowing review – however the sales that I’ve had through the program have proven otherwise. People want to know what they are buying first and even if they know a product has limitations they will buy it if it meets their particular need.

 

3. Link to Quality Products

We all like to make sure we’re buying the best products money can buy – your readers are no different to this and are more likely to make a purchase if you’ve found them the best product for them. Choose products and companies with good reputations and quality sales pages. There is nothing worse than giving a glowing review of a product only to send your reader to a page that looks cheap and nasty.

 

4. Contextual Deep Links work Best

When I started using the Amazon Associate Program I naively thought that all I had to do was put an Amazon banner ad (that linked to Amazon’s front page) at the top of my blog. I thought that my readers would see it and surf over to Amazon and buy up big – thereby making me a rich man. Nothing could have been further from reality – I was deluding myself.

I always says to bloggers that I’m consulting with that they should learn something from contextual advertising when it comes to affiliate programs. The secret of contextual ads like Adsense is that a reader is reading a post on a particular topic on your blog and when they see an advertisement for that same product they are more likely to click it than if they saw an ad for something else. The same is true for affiliate programs. A banner to a general page on every page on your site won’t be anywhere near as effective as multiple links throughout your blog that advertiser products that are relevant for readers reading particular parts of your blog.

So if you’re writing a blog about MP3 players and have a review for a particular product – the most effectively affiliate program that you could link to from within the content of that page would be one that links directly to a page selling that specific model of MP3 player. This is how I use the Amazon program today. It is more work than contextual advertising because you’re not just putting one piece of code into a template but rather need to place individual links on many pages – but I find that it’s been worth the effort.

 

5. Consider positioning of links

One of the things I go on and on about with Adsense optimization is the positioning of ads. I tell bloggers to position their ads in the hotspots on pages (like the top of a left hand side bar – or inside content – or at the end of posts above comments etc). The same principles are true for affiliate advertising.

 

6. Traffic levels are Important

While it’s not the only factor – traffic levels are obviously key when it comes to making money from almost any online activity. The more people that see your well placed, relevant and well designed affiliate links the more likely it is that one of them will make a purchase. So don’t just work on your links – work on building a readership. Not only this, consider how you might direct traffic on your blog toward pages where they are more likely to see your affiliate links.

 

7. Diversify without Clutter

Don’t put all your affiliate efforts into one basket. There are plenty of products out there to link to so there is no need to just work on one. At the same time you shouldn’t clutter your blog up with too many affiliate program links. If you do so you run the risk of diluting the effectiveness of your links and could disillusion your readership.

 

8. Be Transparent

Don’t try to fool your readers into clicking links that could make you money. While it may not always feasible to label all affiliate links I think some attempt should be made to let people know what type of link they are clicking on. I also think consistency is important with this so readers of your blog know what to expect.

 

9. Combine with other Revenue Streams

Affiliate programs and advertising programs are not mutually exclusive things. I’ve come across a few people recently who have said they don’t want to do affiliate linking because it will take the focus off their Adsense ads. While there is potential for one to take the focus off the other – there is also real potential for both to work hand in hand as different readers will respond to different approaches. You should consider the impact that your affiliate links have on other revenue streams – but don’t let one stop the other.

 

10. Track results

Most affiliate programs have at least some type of tracking or statistics package which will allow you to watch which links are effective. Some of these packages are better than others but most will at least allow you to see what is selling and what isn’t. Watching your results can help you plan future affiliate efforts. Keep track of what positions for links work well, which products sell, what wording around links works well etc and use the information that you collect as you work plan future affiliate strategies.

Source: Darren Rowse at ProBlogger

 

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