Crowns at Michael C Fina and Allure Breakfast

So many freebies - Summer is really kicking off!

First, the Michael C. Fina "Crowns" event was well-executed, as they always do events at MCF. There were replicas of historic bejeweled crowns sprinkled around the store, as well as prosecco, yummy fancy snacks, and this table of mini Crumbs cupcakes with crowns on them:

The crown exhibit will be in MCF's NYC store for some time, so if you're in the 45th and 5th Street area, check it out. Very cool.

Also, it's National Doughnut Day today! This means free doughnuts at Krispy Kreme stores nationwide, and a free doughnut at Dunkin Donuts when you buy any beverage.

Finally, this Allure Breakfast event is happening in NYC and Scarsdale at Lord and Taylor stores on Saturday, April 11th.

You have to RSVP, but if you can get up early, it looks worth it!

Lousiana Freebies

Today is a good day for freebies, especially food freebies featuring the cuisine of the bayou! 1. Cousin A emails me saying that a Treme truck (for the HBO series) is parked beside Bryant Park, giving away "free New Orleans food and downloads of the first two episodes." And she took pics:

A close up of her "delicious king cake" which looks appropriately covered in green and purple sugar. Yum! But I was down in Union Square, sampling alligator, swamp rabbit, and mallard duck at the History Channel's "Swamp People" food freebie!

Tasted like chicken....

Waffle Freebie

Sorry I just found out about this a tad late for most of you, but the Wafels and Dinges truck is giving out free Belgian waffles to anyone at 52nd Street between 6th and 7th Avenues if you are wearing red, black, and yellow.

Go out there and get your free waffles!

In-Store Event 101

Lifestyle event guru pal, C, informed me about the Cole Haan event mentioned earlier on this blog, and last night we attended at Rockefeller Center.

It was simple, yet perfectly executed in-store event fun.

1) Great staff/customer ratio. When you showed up, people greeted you and offered champagne or pellegrino. The store never felt overcrowded, nor was there the awful crush to get any form of drink/food you sometimes have at such events.

2) Simple treats done well. They were featuring their new spring color palette, which is kelly green, bright yellow, and black. In keeping with that combo, they had yummy mini-cupcakes, decked out with white chocolate disks that had the colors brushed on top. Here is a pic of two, side by side:

3) An enticing in-store deal: 25% off all purchases. C needed a new wallet and bought a very chic one.

Thanks C and Cole Haan, for showing us how it's done!

2 for $5 Valentine Smoothies

Though not a freebie, this is a great deal and available all over the nation!
Jamba Juice is offering a 2 for $5 deal on their Sweetheart Smoothie, from 2/7-2/20. Just click here, print out the coupon, and grab a buddy for some smoothie fun!

Holiday Shopping Freebies

Westcoaster C arrived in NYC for Christmas, and we hit the shops for some last minute shopping. Did you know the stores go into overdrive handing out sweet freebies the weekend before Christmas?


Free mini candy bars dished up at Bed Bath and Beyond:

Free candy cane sticks at J. Crew:
Free peppermint bark at Williams-Sonoma:

We enjoyed our shopping feeding frenzy! Ho ho ho!

"I just stuck my pizza in my purse." - L

Congratulations to L, winner of the Brooks Brothers Holiday Party Quote Vote!

Buttoned-Up Freebie

Last night, lovely L and I attended the Brooks Brothers Holiday Party extravaganza in midtown NYC. As expected, it was a mob scene.

The entire men's store was decked from top to bottom. This is a shot of the first floor, where they had open bars, hors d'ouvres, giant urns full of candy canes and Brooks Brothers Hanukah gelt, employees dressed in four-plaid pants (yes, four plaids on one pair of pants!) and a stage for performers:

If you rode the escalators up to the children's floor, every surface was covered with gingerbread (check out these Brooks Brothers gingerbread people!):

Also upstairs, Marlo Thomas was reading from her new book, and they offered the kids an ornament decorating station.

After our initial egg nog (delicious - see beverage station pic below),

We headed around the corner to the Women's store, where we took a photo with Santa (a very classic, classy Santa too), witnessed four Edwardian carolers singing their hearts out, and encountered a cookie decorating station.

Then we dashed back to the Men's store in time for the cast of Billy Elliot to perform some holiday carol medleys:

All in all, this event was just huge. There was so much going on, but it was very crowded. Here's my breakdown:

Food: A-minus. The high-point were the mini latkes, but they also served sliders, pigs in blankets, mini pizzas, doughnuts, sugar cookies, blondies, brownies. There was simply just a mad rush to any person with food that made getting the food tremendously unpleasant.

Drink: A-plus. A host of options: warm cider, egg nog, apple martinis, white wine (no red, because, as one server pointed out to a man "This is a clothing store." (???)), and pellegrino.

Entertainment: A-plus. We couldn't even stick around for Winton Marsalis and the Harlem boys/girls choirs because we had dinner to eat. The Billy Elliot kids were adorable, there was an awesome jazz band at the women's store playing in front of Santa, and the Edwardian Christmas Carolers were a neat diversion too. For the kids, the cookie and ornament decorating stations looked really fun. And though we didn't get close enough to SEE Marlo Thomas, we could hear her and that's pretty cool she was there!

Swag: A. No gift bag or anything, but we were able to walk out with some specialty Brooks Brothers gelt, as well as a really cute/odd pic of L and me sitting on Santa's lap.

Don't forget to vote for our Quote Vote at the top right of the blog!

Wholesome Little Freebie

Occasionally, one must wander to the Whole Foods at Union Square on one's lunch hour...

Today I did just that, and wowie zowie were they doing a good freebie giveaway! Usually it's small samples of prepared food or worst - organic beauty products -but today it was...

Free Lara Bars!

I actually really like these health fruit/nut bars. I got two! One Carrot Cake, seen here, and one Chocolate Chip Brownie. :) Thanks Whole Foods!

Brooks Brothers Holiday Extravaganza

OK, this Madison Ave Brooks Brothers event just looks insanely awesome. RSVP NOW.

Bryant Park Freebie

One of the best NYC winter freebie experiences is ice skating at the free Citibank rink at Bryant Park. It costs $ to rent skates, but if you b.y.o.s. you can skate for free!

Additional freebie if you're in the Bryant Park area: There is now a Kate Spade holiday pop-up shop at Bryant Park and they are giving away free hot chocolate every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until after the holidays!

So get thee to Bryant Park and get some free hot cocoa!

Starbucks Two-for-One This Weekend

While not technically a freebie, this qualifies as a great promotion in my books.

Visit any Starbucks between 2-5pm, Nov 18th-21st and buy one, get one free of any seasonal beverage

(Caramel Brulee latte, Peppermint Mocha, Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha, Peppermint Hot Chocolate, Gingerbread latte (my fave!), Eggnog Latte, Caramel Brulee frappaccino, Peppermint Mocha frappaccino)

So, grab a friend and get thee to a Starbucks!

Holly Jolly Freebie: Radio City Christmas Spectacular

What do you say when someone asks if you'd like to drink a huge swig straight from the fount of holiday cheer, you say "Of course!!!" and you gulp, gulp, gulp.

Well, that is precisely what incomparable pal, S, did when he gave me a free ticket to last night's dress rehearsal of the one...the only...

RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR!

Yes folks, I went every year with my grandma as a child. But Grandma never sprung for THIRD ROW TICKETS!!!! Our view before the curtain rose:

Needless to say, there is a sacred, cheesy place in my heart for this time-honored cornball NYC tradition.

And yes, I know it's only early November, but it felt like December 23rd once the fake snow started falling, the REAL fireworks started blasting onstage, the ice rink was rolled out for actual ice skating routines, live camels, sheep and donkeys traipsed the Living Nativity, and the Rockettes did their infamous tin soldier routine:

S invited lady friends T, J and moi. I arrived with bagged treats from Momofuku Milk Bar, which recently opened on 56th St. You must have sweets at the sweetest show in NYC!

There's ample fodder for comedy in a show that bastardizes "The Nutcracker" by having mascot-like bears dance the steps:

For more mockery, check out the QUOTE VOTE on the upper right hand corner of the blog. :)

But you'd have to have a heart of stone to not be at least partially charmed when the Rockettes do their NY at Christmas routine on a double decker tourbus!!

The seats and scale of this freebie were off the charts: A+ Did I mention we were in the THIRD ROW?!?! Let's just say I could tell which Santas were actually roly-poly and which were Rockettes dressed in padded Santa suits!

Thank you, S, for an amazing kick-off to the 2010 Holiday Season!

Halloween Weekend Events

There are two NYC events this weekend that I hope you'll consider.

The first is a Zombie Book Reading event!

FRIDAY, Oct 29th at the Princeton Club from 6-8pm: Williams College alum and NYT bestseller Carrie Ryan '00. Apparently she writes novels set "after the zombie apocalypse." ooooooh! Halloween goodies and cider provided - yum!

Call (212) 596-1261 to rsvp

The second event (which I sadly cannot attend!) is the launch of

The Wedding Shop at Lord & Taylor

See evite here:



Bridal events are some of the very best lifestyle freebie events out there, so I hope some of you will attend this Saturday, from 1-3pm this weekend!

RSVP via email to: rsvp@lordandtaylor.com with "Weddings" in the subject heading.

This is a good time for me to emphasize the importance of RSVPing at freebie events.

a) It's good form. If these businesses and hosts are going to be nice enough to welcome you to a freebie event, RSVP! It gives them an idea of what numbers to expect.

b) Even though some freebie events just appear on the floor of a department store and anyone can walk in, there is often a velvet rope and lady with a checklist. If you're not on the list, you're not allowed in. And all this embarrassment could have been avoided with an RSVP.

c) It gets you on lists for future freebie events! Once you prove yourself to be a valued freebie shopper/attendee/supporter/etc, you will be invited to more lifestyle events. I'll never forget how a quick cocktail event at the Judith Lieber store transitioned my name onto a list for an insanely glitzy tourism event for the principality of Monaco at the Conde Nast building. Ditto a Michael C. Fina/Whitney Port party that yielded a personal invitation to Ivanka Trump's jewelry launch. I'm not pulling your leg, people!

Free for All: Financier Patisserie

Here's a freebie tip from me to you:

Financier Patisserie is a lovely chain of cafe pastry shops around NYC. You may recognize them from this amazingly Laduree-esque logo:

Only recently did I discover that, when you order a latte or cup of coffee, your beverage comes accompanied by a FREE mini-madeleine (see photo above).

The tiny tea cake is buttery, delicious, and about the size of a domino. Perfect for a mid-afternoon pick me up!

Harry and David Pop-Up Shop

One benefit of working in the Flatiron/Gramercy/Union Sq area is that the neighborhood is a veritable pu-pu platter of freebie giveaways. Since this summer, I've gotten Haagen-Daz ice cream, Quaker granola bars, numerous energy drinks (yuck), and more...

In fact, yesterday I discovered everyone's favorite in-mail gift basket purveyor, Harry & David, just opened a pop-up shop in Manhattan for the holiday season.

Location: 115 5th Ave, between 21st and 22nd St.

As I made my merry way along 5 Avenue, a jolly lady in a sweater offered me a chocolate truffle from a basket:




I took one and it turns out to be a milk chocolate Harry & David truffle. Mmm!

The shop is not yet open, but will be soon.

If you're in the neighborhood, I suggest popping by for a free truffle. I imagine they'll be handing them out for the next four months!

Moon Cake, Schmoon Cake

A colleague just came back from China, and brought two boxes of moon cakes for the office.

I'd never had a moon cake before, so I ate one. I believe I got a chestnut-filled one, though there is no key a la Whitman's Sampler for these puppies.

All I know is it was dense, oily, and now I feel like I ate a brick. Not enjoyable. The outer dough is smushy and greasy, and the interior paste is dense, flavorless, and also (horrifyingly) oily.

There must be moon cakes out there that are subtle and sweet - the perfect holiday treat. These are not those moon cakes.

Does anyone like these things? Blech.

Well, first (and possibly last) moon cake consumed.