Smart Spending = Smart Saving // From The ShoppingQueen.com » Dining

Dress Like a Cow Get Free Chick-fil-A

The Queen — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:10:48 +0000

This Friday, July 10th is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick fil A. Come dressed as a cow and you get free food. If you dress from head to toe you get a free meal. If you are in partial cow attire, you get a free sandwich.

This is a great activity to get kids involved with creating a cow costume. The Cow Appreciation Day website even has a costume kit.

I was on Atlanta & Company talking about this and the host, Holly Firfer was quite excited. She promised she will wear cow attire on the show on Friday. That should be fun to watch.

How to Eat Out Without Breaking the Bank

The Queen — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:34:53 +0000

The kids are tired of sandwiches or mac and cheese. You are tired of cooking and washing dishes. So the only choice left is to head out to eat and leave the cooking to someone else. Sure, it can be a nice break but you don’t want eating out to break the bank either. So how can you have your cake and eat it too?

Here’s how to have fun eating out and still keep smiling once you receive the check.

Change Your Choices

The most important thing to do to save money is to change your decision making. When deciding where to go don’t ask whether you are in the mood for Italian or Mexican food. Instead, ask where can I take advantage of coupons or special discounts?

Where to Find Coupons & Discounts

Sign up for email newsletters and coupons – This is the number one way to get great discounts. Most restaurants ranging from large chains to small mom and pop cafes now have an email newsletter where they regularly send out coupons and special promotions to their loyal fans. Even restaurants who advertise coupons in the Sunday paper tend to send out better coupons in email. You can sometimes sign up online other times you can do it in person. Many of the coupons are featured on www.ShoppingQueen.com but I can’t feature all coupons.
Ask about promotions – The most overlooked way to save at restaurants is to simply ask. With this economy most restaurants have special promotions and you just have to be in the know. Promotions range from early bird discounts, free kids meals, multi-course package deals and more. Call up your favorite restaurants and ask them what promotions they have. And don’t think this is a one-time thing. Specials and promotions change regularly so whenever you are dining make sure to ask.
Do an online search – Many restaurants now offer coupons on their website, so check out the restaurant’s website. You can go even further by doing an online search for the restaurant name and the word coupon.
Try Restaurant.com and HalfOffDepot.com (with caution) – These websites offer gift certificates to restaurants at prices less than the value of the gift certificate. This is a great way to try a new restaurant without spending more than you like. However, these gift certificates can come with a lot of fine print and exclusions so make sure you read all of the mice-type before you buy. You can frequently find extra off promo codes for Restaurant.com, so you can get an even better deal.
Take advantage of special events – Restaurant chains and even cities and counties constantly serve up special events. Restaurant weeks have become quite popular nationwide. Do a search for the name of your city or county and the words restaurant week. During Atlanta’s Restaurant Week for example, you can get three course meals at some of Atlanta’s finest restaurants for only $25. For more casual food, dress in cow attire and get a free sandwich or a free meal at Chick-fil-A this Friday, July 10th for Cow Appreciation Day.

Taste of Atlanta Ticket Giveaway

The Queen — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:03:24 +0000

Taste of Atlanta returns to the streets of Atlantic Station on October 11 & 12!

Grab a plate and enjoy tastes from over 70 of Atlanta’s favorite restaurants like Dolce, Imperial Fez, The Sundial and more. In addition to great food there are kids activities, entertainment and cooking demonstrations from national and local celebrity chefs.

You can also catch Grammy Award winner and cookbook author Trisha Yearwood, food and wine authority Ted Allen, and Top Chef Finalist Richard Blais at the event.

As a Shopping Queen reader, you can receive $5 off your ticket. Purchase tickets by visiting www.TasteOfAtlanta.com and entering Promo Code SHPQN to receive this exclusive discount.

If you want to win your tickets instead, enter my first ever giveaway. One lucky person will win a pair of tickets to Taste of Atlanta (general admission) for Sunday, October 12th.

Enter by filling out the form below. You get one entry for providing your name and email. Here’s how to earn a few extra entries:

1. Click Here to Follow me on Twitter and leave a comment below letting me know.

2. Signup for the Shopping Queen newsletter and leave a comment below letting me know.

3. Share a link. Post a link to this contest (or this blog in general) on your blog or on discussion groups or forums you belong to (please follow posting guidelines) and leave a separate comment for each link you share.

The giveaway is open for entries until Tuesday, October 7th, at 11:59PM EDT. One winner will be chosen at random, and announced October 8th. Good luck!

This contest has ended. The lucky winner was Jennifer G.

Miami Restaurant Months

The Queen — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:18:06 +0000

I was quite surprised when I saw this. As I had mentioned in a previous post, many cities are having a restaurant week to entice diners to try some of their cities’ finest restaurants. Well Miami wants to one up all the other cities by having Miami Restaurant Months. Yes, that’s right months!

This August and September nearly 100 restaurants will offer diners three course meals for $23 for lunch and $36 for dinner. So if you live in Miami or plan to visit Miami make sure to take advantage of this event. For more info and list of participating Miami restaurants check out Miami Spice.

Cheesecake Factory Celebrating 30th Anniversary with $1.50 Cheesecake

The Queen — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:40:24 +0000

Happy Birthday to the Cheesecake Factory. In celebration of 30 Delicious Years and in commemoration of National Cheesecake Day on July 30, The Cheesecake Factory will offer every slice of its more than 30 varieties of cheesecake at $1.50 per slice on that day to dine-in guests (limit one per guest)- just as they were when the first Cheesecake Factory opened in Beverly Hills in 1978.

In addition, a special, limited edition cheesecake, the 30th Anniversary Chocolate Cake Cheesecake, will be introduced on National Cheesecake Day with $0.25 from the sale of each slice of the 30th Anniversary Cheesecake sold this year being donated to the national hunger-relief organization, America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network.

Restaurant Week Info

The Queen — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:04:21 +0000

This week is Restaurant Week in Atlanta and New York City. You can enjoy a three course meal at some of the city’s best restaurants for only $25 – $35. Actually New York City will run Restaurant Week for two weeks, so you can try out many restaurants that have been on list. Boston, Dallas, Houston and Washington, DC will hold their events during the second week in August. In the second week of September Los Angeles will hold its Restaurant Week. To see when your city has their restaurant week just do a Google search for the name of your city followed by restaurant week.

After your dinner, don’t forget to share your Restaurant Week experience with us.