Tomorrow is my grandmother’s birthday. She’ll be 35… plus 35… plus something. Honestly, I have no clue how old she’ll be. Her age happens to be her well guarded secret. Anyway I decided that I would take her out to dinner. She mentioned to me awhile ago that she had never been to Outback… so I figured what better time to take her than now.

As ya’ll probably know already, I want to make sure I get the best deal. So I began an exhaustive search for Outback Steakhouse coupons. And after a lot of digging, I came up nothing! Zero! Zip! Zilch! NADA!!!

I soon came to realize that Outback rarely issues coupons. Occasionally they may send one through the mail as a marketing ploy, but for the most part… there ain’t none to be found.

Well, I take that back. I went to their website and added my email address to the “Keep In Touch” list so they sent me a coupon for a free Bloomin’ Onion… which BTW is a gi-normous fried onion sliced to resemble a blooming flower. Even though the Bloomin’ Onion is an Outback favorite… I knew there had to be another way to get a deal at Outback besides offering my grandmother free onion breath on her 35 + 35 + something - ieth birthday.

So… I had to find coupon alternatives. And guess what, I found a few…

Since I decided to celebrate a birthday in their establishment, my grandmother can get a dessert on the house. And if she’s lucky, the wait staff will all gather around and embarrass her by singing one of those modified restaurant versions of the Happy Birthday song.

If I’d been a little bit more proactive in my gift giving planning, I woulda had time to snag a deal on Outback gift cards at EBay. It’s too late for that now. But before I eat my next Outback meal, I’ll be sure to do a little more deal finding planning.

There are even places where I can get FREE Outback gift cards. There are reward programs such as MyPoints where if I rack up enough points, I can redeem them for $10 or $50 Outback Steakhouse gift cards. Here are a list of some of the reward programs that allow folks to earn Outback gift cards:

• Becu
• RewardSuite
• Discover Bank
• Memolink

If I lived in NJ, owned a Mazda or Hyundai, and needed over $500 worth of car service, I could get a $25 gift certificate. But since I don’t live in NJ… or drive a Mazda or Hyundai… or need $500 worth of car servicing… I guess I won’t be getting this freebie. But in case you may qualify, please have at it.

If me and one of my friends needed bath room or kitchen makeovers or maybe wanted to get in on a time share, I could get a free $50 Outback gift card for referring.

Or if I needed a thousand bucks worth of aluminum, I’d be sure to head down to Tampa so I could get a $25 Outback freebie.

And just for kicks, I might see if this or this really works.

Someone told me that I could send a letter to Outback’s corporate office complaining about a horrible experience I had their restaurant. They said if I do that, Outback would send me a coupon for a free meal. But I do not want to do that.

If all else fails, I’ll move on to plan B… and do what I always do to get a meal on the house… mystery shop!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, on Father’s Day… if I get there before they run out, Outback is giving fathers $10 gift cards and a chance to enter into a sweeps for $100 gift card.

See ya’ll at Outback!