The Cheap Bastard knows it’s late, but he didn’t want you to forget about two of his favorite freebies today:
Old School Frozen Custard will be giving away free scoops of frozen custard to Vets today in honor of Memorial Day. So, if you were in the military, here’s a cool way of getting thanks.
Also, Li’l Woody’s on Capitol Hill will be giving away a free burger from 2 to 5 pm today. Limit one burger per person.
And don’t forget today is the last day of $1 frappes and smoothies at Burger King and $2 Fraps after 2 at Starbucks locations inside participating Safeway stores.
Field Report: Starbucks vs. Burger King Frappe Deals
Much as I hate to admit it, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf set the standard when it comes to frozen coffee drinks with Peet’s Coffee & Tea coming in second. For good or ill, neither of those companies are having frappe sales this weekend, so I had to confine my comments to $1 Burger King Frappes and $2 Safeway Starbucks Frappuccinos (or however they’re spelled).
I hit both places Saturday afternoon and here’s what I found.
Burger King. No question about it, when it comes to Fraps and Frappes, $1 is a really good price. In fact, the closest you can get to it is the $1.59 mocha freeze at Costco. So, it’s hard not to like BK’s entry into the market. When it goes up to a regular price of $2.39, though, it’s a bit more questionable. I know the drink special may have made BK workers a bit more harried than usual, but my mocha frappe seemed kind of sad. Although I’m not a whipped cream fan, I noticed that it barely reached the top of the cup (negative style points). Nor did the drink itself, which made me wonder why BK put a dome lid over the beverage. About the only time you should really do that is when there’s a threat of spillage from overflowing. Having it on this drink merely made it look like BK forgot to add something…like enough drink to fill the cup.
As far as the taste goes, it wasn’t bad if you like sweet, which I do. It was even sweeter than Costco’s mocha freeze, but not in a good way. Although McDonald’s doesn’t know how to pull off a frozen strawberry lemonade, somehow the golden arches seems to have fraps down while Burger King…not so much. I know this isn’t necessarily BK’s specialty, but it would be really nice to get a frozen coffee without huge chunks of ice floating throughout and a large ice cube at the bottom. About all I can say is, $1 is a great price.
Starbucks. BK may have been around longer than the Seattle-based coffee behemoth, but Starbucks really knows how to do a frap fast and still make it look nice. My mocha was topped with a perfectly-shaped mountain of whipped cream–which I’m still not wild about–and perfect streamers of chocolate sauce running down the sides of the mountain (positive style points).
The drink may not have been as sweet as I like (I usually go for something like a cinnamon dolce frap), but it was smooth and there weren’t any large chunks of ice still floating in it.
Of course, the Fraps on sale for $2 after 2 pm Memorial Day Weekend at participating Starbucks locations in area Safeway stores is twice the price of the BK Frappe and it shows it. Nice cup with logo, clouds of whipped cream and beautifully placed drizzles of chocolate syrup. Although I don’t typically pay full price, it’s definitely worth its $3.50ish price tag.
The Verdict: You get what you pay for. One dollar isn’t a bad price, but $2 is a better deal.
Bumbershoot Tickets on Sale
We may just be heading into the first official weekend of summer and it may seem a bit early to ask this question, but have you given any thought to what you’re going to be doing the last weekend of summer.
If going to Bumbershoot is your answer, then the Cheap Bastard has a deal for you. In case you haven’t heard, the Festival is going to be more expensive than ever this year with passes at the door costing a mind-numbing $55 (a huge jump from last year’s $35). Fortunately, Bumbershoot already has a few advance ticket deals.
If you buy an Any Day Admission ticket now, for example, you’ll pay $45 (plus service charge). If you already know what day you plan to attend (even though the schedule hasn’t been posted yet), you could save even more by getting a Saturday, Sunday or Monday ticket for $40. Or you could save even more by getting a three-day pass for $110 (which is like buying two tickets at the door and getting the third one free).
So, if you’re a planner, now’s your chance to save some real money.
It’s week two of Starbucks annual thank you to the people of Seattle and this time the coffee colossus is handing out free passes to the Seattle Art Museum.
Seattle area Starbucks will start giving out the passes at 3 today. There’s no purchase necessary, but supplies are limited, so you will want to get there early. Heck, if you’re planning to get one at a location in Seattle’s University Village, you probably should have arrived yesterday because those locations run out in the blink of an eye. Better to opt for a neighborhood location where you’ll have a better chance.
A quick note to folks who got last week’s pass for a free film at the Seattle International Film Festival: When the Cheap Bastard couldn’t find the list of films that were eligible for this deal, he finally called the Film Festival Box Office. The person who answered told me the best way to find the list is to go to the film festival home page , find the search box on the right hand side of the screen (click on the magnifying glass icon) and type in the word Starbucks, then select Films for Starbucks Vouchers or try this link.
Good luck, and please let me know how successful your efforts were, what movie you saw and whether or not you liked it
VS. 
As if the return of $2 Starbucks Fraps weren’t enough to celebrate this holiday weekend, the Cheap Bastard just found out you can get Frappes even cheaper at that well known coffee place….Burger King?
As I mentioned earlier this week, starting today, May 25, participating Starbucks kiosks in Safeways are selling grande Fraps for $2 after 2 pm. The deal ends on the 28th.
Usually, it’s hard to beat a deal like that, but Western Washington Burger Kings are going to try with a deal for $1 Frappes and Smoothies. The deal covers 12 ounce Mocha and Caramel Frappes as well as Strawberry Banana and Tropical Mango Real Fruit Smoothies. The deal starts Saturday and goes through Monday. The Cheap Bastard isn’t quite sure how good BK Frappes are, but at $1 each, you can bet he’s going to go and find out.
Thanks Thrifty Northwest Mom
Jamba Juice: Fruit Refreshers $2
The Cheap Bastard is constantly learning new things while working on his blog. For example, he had no idea that fruit needed to be refreshed. He thought fruit was refreshing by its ownself.
If you are eating fruit and aren’t finding it refreshing enough or you just want to dry something different, Jamba Juice now has a coupon for its new 16 ounce Fruit Refreshers with coconut water (what’s wrong with regular water?) for just $2. The deal is good through June 3rd and features such flavors as Strawberry Lemonade, Tropical Mango and Watermelon Splash.
Quiznos Deal: Small Sub, Drink, Chips $2.99
The Cheap Bastard has just started reading a book on hypnosis and wanted to try it out. Just follow this locket with your eyes as it goes back and forth like this…
You’re getting hungry, very hungry. You’re getting hungry…
And Quiznos has a great coupon deal for you. For just $2.99, you’ll get a small sub, a regular drink and chips. But you have to print out the coupon.
You are pressing the print button and printing, printing, printing.
When I snap my fingers you will wake up feeling refreshed, very hungry and notice a coupon in your printer. You will not know where it came from, but you will feel a powerful need to use it…..
Thanks to the Krazy Coupon Lady.
Field Report: 7-Eleven’s Free Slurpees
It’s hard to say anything new about a slurpee. A slurpee is a slurpee is a slurpee. Even the new slurpee light tastes like the typical Slurpee other than it is mango flavored.
To be perfectly honest, the Cheap Bastard can’t even give you a full review of the mango Slurpee because he was with his kids and they wanted him to make a Slurpee mixing all of the flavors, so he had to do the same with his because they never would have let him rest had he gotten something different….yeesh. He did detect the tang of mango and he liked it, but he also noticed not so subtle undercurrents of grape, pina colada and wild cherry…because those were the other flavors in the mix.
The only other thing the CB has to report is that he screwed up on the hours of the promotion.
Apparently, it runs from 11 am to 7 pm. He’s sorry if this causes any inconvenience, but on the plus side, you still have about three hours to take advantage of the deal.
The CB at 4:10 pm PST.
Storm’s Cool Deal: See Game, Get Court Time for $20
Man, talk about a cool deal.
Not only can you get a ticket to see the Seattle Storm play the Tulsa Shock at Key Arena on Friday, June 1 for just $20, but the price of this Groupon deal also includes the opportunity to go on the court after the game is over and shoot a free throw.
There are lots of great ticket deals out there, but few actually let you go on the field of play…even after the game is over. Not only that, but the ticket is a G-Pass, which allows you to bypass the will call line and go directly to the gate to enter.
Of course, you have to print it out and bring it with you because you won’t be able to get in without it. Your ID must also match the name on Groupon. the deal expires Saturday night at midnight.
Bellevue Square Hallmark Store Having Closing Sale
Long time readers of this blog know how the Cheap Bastard feels about closing sales. Sometimes stores close because the owner couldn’t stay afloat, other times it’s because the owner has had a good run and just wants to retire.
Hell, the Cheap Bastard even had to run a going out of business sale when his mother died and he had to close down her airport gift shop…and it wasn’t fun.
The Cheap Bastard does not know why Paula’s Hallmark Shop will be closing next month, but it has already started its liquidation sale with many of the prices marked down 20 to 75 percent original retail price on gifts, toys and other merchandise. (No discounts on greeting cards, Fathers Day or graduation gifts).
While this is a chance to stock up on gifts and other stuff, the Cheap Bastard asks sale shoppers to be considerate. As he discovered when he held his own going out of business sale, some people tried to take advantage of the situation by trying to negotiate even lower prices on things that were already marked down. Please don’t do this. If you don’t like the price, just don’t buy it.
Paula’s is on the second floor near Macy’s.
Thanks to Seattle Mom’s Deal Finder.
