When you’re a leap-year baby, it’s easy for people to forget your birthday—technically, it only comes around once every four years. But there’s one big advantage: free pizza and other food at restaurants that will celebrate Leap Day on Feb. 29 this year.
There are nearly 200,000 “leaplings” in the U.S. Every one of them will qualify (with proper ID) for a free one-topping personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut (carryout only) next Monday. “Pizza Hut has been the site of many, many birthday parties through the years, and since leaplings only get to celebrate their true birthdays every four years, we wanted to make their day special and help them honor their birthdays in a big way,” Dough Terfehr, a Pizza Hut spokesman, said in a prepared statement.
The pizza chain will also celebrate the day with a pizza party in Anthony, Texas, which bills itself as the Leap Year Capital of the World. The town hosts a Leap Year festival and parade for people born on Feb. 29. This year, Pizza Hut will bring a mobile kitchen to the event and offer free cheese or pepperoni personal pan pies from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for attendees.
Meanwhile, Hungry Howie’s, a smaller chain based in Madison Heights, Michigan, will honor Leap Day by offering large one-topping pizzas for 29 cents with the purchase of a large pizza (one or more toppings).
Other Leap Day promotions include:
Mellow Mushroom in Coralville, Iowa, will host a pizza-eating contest on Leap Day. The first contestant to gobble down two large cheese pies wins free pizza for a year.
According to Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN), Villa Italian Kitchens, with 278 stores, will give away free pizza slices to leap-year babies with proper ID, and Hard Rock Café will offer a free entrée from its Leaplings Eat Free menu, including a burger, mac and cheese, a pulled pork sandwich or a chicken Caesar salad.
NRN also reports that Greene Turtle, based in Hanover, Maryland, will peddle 29-cent wings to all customers at its 42 participating locations. And customers who post a picture of themselves and their wings on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram—along with the hashtag #TGTLeapDay—can win prizes such as t-shirts, hoodies and gift cards.
CNBC reports that restaurant chain Dog Haus will offer a free upgrade from a single to a double burger, while the Margarita’s Mexican Restaurant chain created a $2.29 special for fried ice cream and a Margarita.
