I remember buying the Entertainment® book every year when my kids were little and sold them for all kinds of fundraising purposes. We used to keep them in the car because they had great coupons for restaurants and stores, and we’d always check the books before we went shopping or out to eat.
Once the kids went off to college, I pretty much forgot about the books until I got a press release touting their benefits. I wondered if, in this age of Groupon and Living Social, they were still relevant so I asked the publicist if she could send books to my whole family – a couple of empty nesters, a young professional and a college student – so we could test them out.
The books are only $27 and, after using them for less than a month, I can tell you we all would have already gotten back what we would have paid for them.
When Michael and I received our big, fat San Diego book, I immediately took one of my favorite editors out to lunch at our usual spot, Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza, where one meal was free.
Because we don’t cook, we frequent a lot of the restaurants included here but the Ralph’s coupons alone – there are six of them, each worth $5.00 off a $75.00 purchase – are worth the price of the book.
My son, Alex, who works in Manhattan, said his favorite thing about the Entertainment® book is that it encourages him to try new foods. Oh, if that had only worked when he was in elementary school and living on peanut butter sandwiches and chicken nuggets.
He and his girlfriend, Julie, first tried a Turkish restaurant where they enjoyed eggplant and kebabs. They had a delicious meal, and have since experimented with other cuisines.
My daughter, Sara, is a college student in Boston, and she and her housemates have been able to stretch their dollars by using the Entertainment® book to order pizza, get their dry cleaning done and shop at stores like the Gap and Best Buy.
Now that Michael is retired-ish, we’re trying to watch our budget. Because we love to travel, though, I’m hoping the Entertainment® book will help us do that economically. It seems to have lots of hotel and destination deals, which you can bet we’ll be looking into.
Once you buy the book, you also have access to digital coupons, which are updated constantly, and you can even download their mobile app.
To me, though, the best part is still the fact that over the past 50 years, the books have helped schools and community groups raise more than $2.5 billion.
Now, that’s Entertainment®!
I used to buy them, too, but haven’t in years. They do pay for themselves with all the great savings you get.
We’ve bought them a couple of times but it’s easy to forget about them. However, once they’ve paid for themselves I don’t feel to bad. 🙂
Thanks for the reminder! I haven’t bought an Entertainment book in years and don’t know why as it saved me tons of money.
Agents in my real estate office love to buy them for clients. It’s a great way to save money while visiting new businesses and getting to know SE NC.