I’ve been to a lot of events in the last few months. Sometimes, when you’re lucky, those events have little freebies they give out. For example, Circle Brewing Company’s #BeerForAll event gave out three beer tokens to people who bought tickets. The ATX Bacon Fest gave out two coupons – one for free Yellowbird sauces and one for free Shake Shack shakes.
One event in particular, however, gave out a TON of incredible freebies. Kelsey’s book release party gave out bags STUFFED with goodies. If you haven’t already, you should get her book. It’s basically what I want this blog to be, just in print form. It’s pretty incredible – Austin Food Crawls: Touring the Neighborhoods One Bite & Libation at a Time.
We’ve all been there, though, with our coupons. The intention is so pure! I can’t wait to use this, you say excitedly. But then… life happens, you forget the coupon, they expire, they end up in the trash. Unused. How sad.
So here’s a fun idea – what if I took all the freebie coupons I’ve accumulated over the last few months and used them all in one day?
Let’s do it. Here’s the current situation.
Now obviously, that’s too many to use in one day, but I tried to use as many as I possibly could. I prioritized the simple freebies over restaurant deals, for starters. I made a Yelp bookmark place with all the locations so that I could strategically work my way from north to south and back north again. I really thought this through. My goal for the day was to claim 8 freebies.
I started at Whole Foods 365, right around the corner from where I live. There were two things I could claim there – two bottles of Yellowbird Foods Spicy Condiments and a pretzel from Easy Tiger (conveniently located inside the Whole Foods). Check and check – success.
Next, I drove down 183 to the closest Amy’s Ice Cream shop. I could get one small ice cream with one crush’n. Obviously, the Texas heat claimed it almost immediately… It still tasted delicious. I got Reeses mixed into chocolate ice cream and yes, I ate the whole thing.
After drinking my ice cream, I drove south to Lamar Union. At Lamar Union, I was able to use two freebies (I tried to be strategic!) I got a drink from Caffe Medici and a shake from Shake Shack (which I also drank). I hung out a bit at Caffe Medici to let my two ice creams settle and sorted the photos I’d taken so far. I also storied the whole day on Instagram at @discoveringATX. It was fun having people follow along with me!
From Lamar Union, I drove about a mile to Churro Co. on South 1st. I picked up a Hippie churro (seriously, so good). I got it packaged to go and took it to Brian who was working at the EMS station down the street. After picking up churros, I walked across the street to Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop where I could get a free cookie! I also left this with the guys at the EMS station.
For my final stop, I made my way back up north to Circle Brewing Co., where I used a drink token to get one of my favorite beers, a Circle Blur. I still tipped – don’t worry! The brewery was my 8th and final freebie for the day. It took about 5 hours. Not too bad!
Shout out to all the local Austin places that are supporting events and bloggers by giving out free stuff! It’s wonderful to be in a city that’s so supportive of creatives.
How about you – are you good with using your coupons before they expire? Or do you need to do your own Freebie Crawl?
