The Entertainment Book is a coupon book for eating out in your area. Most of the coupons are for buy one meal get one free, or 50% one entree. Usually restaurants in the book are trying to drum up business. People usually purchase the book from kids selling them for fundraisers, online, or even Border's.
Yep I bought my book at Border's. Best part about it was that the book was $30 but I had a coupon for 30% off the list price. So I paid $21 for the book. I wonder how much I'll save? I think eating out 2x should cover the price of the book. Although I am considering using my first coupon tomorrow for a hockey game (which will save me $23.50 according to the coupon).
I do realize that by eating out and using coupons I'm spending money to save money. However I look at it this way, DH and I like to eat out. So if we're going to eat out we might as well do it using a coupon. Also it encourages us to try new places. So buying an entertainment book just makes sense.
I write monthly we spend $200-300/month eating out. And I do try to use coupons, for example the McCormick's deal. But for others out there who enjoy eating out, try buying an entertainment book.
But to be really frugal don't eat out at all :)
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I tried the entertainment book once about seven years ago. It didn't work for me. I think I stopped trying to use it altogether after getting just enough in discounts to cover the cost of the book. I found that the vast majority of the Manhattan restaurants were fast food. Most of the restaurants that weren't fast food were in Staten Island, Queens, and New Jersey. There was all of one restaurant in my neighborhood that participated in the program, and I never go there because it's not very good.
I hope your experience is better than mine was!
I bought it every year in SD and now out East I haven't found it as useful. Maybe because going out in winter isn't fun.
But seriously in SD it was awesome. We used to always be excited to try new places.
The quality and quantity of establishments, other than fast food, has been on the downside for quite some time in my market. I scanned through the book at Walgreens the other day and decided not to buy one.
It's really great in Seattle, too. People I know who use it there make out like bandits.
They have a website (entertainmentbook.com) that is much better than it used to be. I took a look at it after reading your post and saw that it's searchable. Some of the restaurants looked pretty good; maybe I'll try it again.
It really depends on your market. There are tons of places in CA (I used to buy LA and SD), and now where I live there are pretty good places as well.
It does, indeed, depend on your market. I'm in the Pacific Northwest, and there are even some upscale restaurants included in our Entertainment book. It's also good for event venues--movies, the zoo, sports games, etc. I tend to use the grocery coupons and the bakery coupons the most--well, not including the fast food coupons, which also go fast (never ask a teenager where SHE wants to eat, but if you do, the coupons help!).
If you buy through My Points, you get 750 points plus $5 off the list price plus free shipping. That makes it $20 for me, and all I had to do was wait till November to buy it.
Grace if the book was $25 it would have been cheaper to use the 30% off coupon. My book was originally $30 and I bought it for $21.
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