Birthday Offers

If you've ever shopped online or signed up for a store's membership club (and provided your correct e-mail address), you've probably received a flurry of "deals," "gifts," and offers around your birthday. But these birthday deals aren't always such a great deal after all. I figured I'd give you a run-down on all the birthday offers I've received and whether or not they're worthwhile.

The Offers

• Best Buy: earn triple rewards points on any single regular-priced item
  - This offer is a dud unless you need to buy not one, but two items from Best Buy in the immediate future. Personally, I almost never buy regular price items anywhere, so the chances that I'd be buying something at regular price near my birthday are slim. Even if I did have a regular price item to buy, it's even less likely that I'd need to buy something else from Best Buy not that long after, thereby applying the triple points earned and actually benefiting from this deal.
• American Eagle: enjoy 15% off your next purchase
  + This offer is significantly more useful than the Best Buy one. First of all, it provides me with a discount at the time of purchase, which means that even if that birthday trip is the only one I make to AE all year, I still benefit. Secondly, it's valid at American Eagle, Aerie, and 77Kids, both in stores and online. There are no restrictions regarding the merchandise it can be used for, meaning that I can buy only clearance items and still receive the extra 15% off. Finally, there's no restriction on the number of items, so I can get 15% off whether I buy one pair of $2.50 clearance underwear or 50 full-price T-shirts. Will I actually use it this year? Probably not, but I've definitely used it in the past.
• Rita's Italian Ice: one free regular Italian ice
  + Anything free is a good deal, especially free food. The only downside is that it's only valid for 7 days from when it's sent, so it expires 3 days after my birthday. That's a small window to take advantage of an offer. I'm going to try to use this one.
• Capitol City Brewing Company: $5 gift certificate
  + While you'll probably need to still spend some money, a flat $5 off my dinner tab is always welcome. It does require proof of ID when using it, and it can't be combined with any other offers, but it's valid for 30 days from when it's sent (which was a week before my birthday). I'm not too close to any locations anymore, but I might try to take advantage of this before it expires.
• World Market: $10 reward
  + Again, a flat monetary discount is always a welcome reward. This one requires only a minimum purchase of $10, pre-tax, which means I could buy some bags of pasta for only the cost of the tax, or I could take an extra $10 off a piece of furniture or some dishes. The deal is good online or in the store, applies to sale and regular price items, and the only items it can't be used for are alcohol and "kitchen electrics." I'll also try to take advantage of this one before it expires; it's valid for the whole birthday month.
• The Melting Pot: free chocolate fondue with purchase of any Big Night Out or the combination of two individual entrees and a cheese fondue
  - I absolutely love the Melting Pot, but I think their birthday reward is kind of stingy. My husband is rather picky, so we usually only order one cheese fondue, one entree, and one chocolate fondue... in which case we wouldn't be able to use this deal. I'd rather get smaller amount deducted from my bill (like $5) than get something "free" that I can't even take advantage of.
• Magazines.com: $5 gift certificate
  + The $5 can be applied to any of the magazines available through Magazines.com, which means I could get a year's subscription to Good Housekeeping or Redbook for about $3.00 (about $8.00 for the 12-issue subscription, minus the $5 gift certificate). I'm not sure if I'll use this one this year, because most of the titles I would want to get would still be $8 or more after the discount (and I don't "need" magazines enough to warrant spending more than about $5 on them).