Build-A-Bear Count Your Candles Program: Pay Your Age for Birthday Bear During Birthday Month
Have a little one having a birthday? 🎂
Head to your local Build-A-Bear Workshop where Bonus Club Members (free to join) can score a Birthday Treat Bear for just the cost of the age your kiddo is turning (regularly $14).
Simply bring the birthday boy or girl in to count their candles any day during their birthday month and the age they are turning is how much it costs to make their own Birthday Treat Bear!
As an example, if you have a child celebrating their 3rd birthday, you can bring them into a Build-A-Bear Workshop and they can score a Birthday Treat Bear for just $3!
This offer is valid in-store only for Bonus Club Members. There is a limit of one per guest and the child must be present for offer. Cannot be combined with any other offer, outfits and accessories sold separately and there is a minimum price of $1.
After the huge ordeal people were making over the original event, this is the exact thing I told my husband they should’ve done to begin with!
The original event promotion was created to kick off this promotion.
Interesting. They could’ve avoided backlash by only doing this one.
But millions of people have been talking about Build-A-Bear for the last week, they even made news headlines, little kids had their hopes up for a Build-A-Bear, etc. Maybe Build-A-Bear isn’t as dumb as they appear and their mission was totally accomplished…. not saying it’s an ethical way to advertise, but they certainly got lots of advertisement!
I’m not saying it didn’t work for them in terms of advertising, but from what I’ve read it looks like they got a lot of negative out of it, too. I love to see companies do promotions that allow for customers to participate when they normally can’t, but all the hype that resulted in thousands of disgruntled parents and broken hearted kids was a bit much. They could have stayed “first 100 customers” like most Black Friday deals or something similar.
Krys with the $15 coupon they gave out kids can get a free or cheap bear anyway. I think it’s fair. We waited in line too for quiet awhile and came before opening, I made sure not to raise my child’s expectations. I said we may or may not get a bear. Little had a lot of fun playing with kids in line too. I was actually pretty happy with the coupon I didn’t even expect that.
the only thing was that the one day event was pick any bear. this one is limited to the birthday bear. still, that day sounded like madness at build a bear.
Not the same. That event was any bear. This one is limited to what you can have your child choose. 🤷🏻♀️
The last promotion was a fiasco…but companies are not required to hold any. At least they’ll be able to keep this bear in stock! 🙂
Agreed! BAB doesn’t have to offer any of these promos to begin with, and for everyone to be able to get a discount on what is otherwise an expensive toy is a privilege.
Yes, though still very nice and cuddly nice and less busy. 🙂
I’m grateful for the event. Both my kids got what they wanted for just a few dollars. As a stay at home mom there was no excuse for me NOT to take them. We went to BAB, waited and loved the whole experience!
I’m happy- kids happy and will continue to say thank you BAB
I totally agree TeeMaritza! I took my kids and we waited in a very long line. But they had a blast playing with other kids and making friends! The BAB staff could not have been nicer and they did a wonderful job. My kids got the animals they wanted and I’m happy they did this event.
So dumb question, but when you sign up for the account, do you create the account for yourself or your kid? It asks for birthday, and I am assuming they dont want my birthday but my kids.
Great question! You actually have to be 18 or older to have a Bonus Club account. Be sure to sign up and your kiddos will just need to go with you to the store to grab the offer! 🙂 Hope that helps!
My son got his bear for his first birthday yesterday. He was surprisingly excited to build his bear. He even stuffed the bear with his stroller. 😂 My husband was willing to take him to the crazy event, but I told him it wasn’t worth it (–I definitely wasn’t). This was though. No lines and a happy baby.
This EXACTLY Karla!!! It am embarrassed to say how long I stood in line- and I could have paid full price IF I had too, BUT made friends with the people around us and my daughter played with their kids- we made it a fun day- I am a stay at home mom mostly as well- and she had a $5 bill she wanted to buy her BAB with – and I’ll say this- only heard one kid throw a fit in line and was pretty young- even most children did great. I know we sound crazy (and we WERE ha ha) but if we were able then great- I applaud BAB for trying to offer such a great deal and even more so for letting everyone that is in the club have the opportunity to use the $15 voucher
Wish I knew about this! My sons birthday was last month!
It’s brand new.
Thanks for the reminder
You’re welcome!
We did this yesterday with my 4 year old her birthday was July 5th… then my 16 year old got to use the $15 off coupon and got a free Spock Bear because they were marked down to $15… much better deal than we would have got waiting in line! We also had a $5 coupon they sent for her birthday so she got a free scent and candy!
Michelle, do you add your kids to the account with their birthdays so they knew to send your daughter a coupon? My account only has my birthday , and I don’t see where to add my three kids. Or does your daughter have her own account? Thank for the help!
It doesn’t work with me to add my baby how to proof my baby age her birthday is tomorrow and I love to take her
I don’t see anywhere to add kids birthday either.
I signed up many years ago so I don’t remember if it when I put in their ages… all 3 of my kids get a coupon every year in there birthday month… Now when you fill out their “birth certificates” it always ask their age and for my email address so maybe that way? As far as the new “count your candles program” it is all “honor” based… they asked my daughters age when we stuffed it and she wrote it in the bears tag… than they scanned a barcode at the register for the “4” year… nothing to complicated… hth
So I have 3 kids with birthdays in the same month….can I take them all at the same time?
Hi there! You could always call in to your location to be sure on how they would honor that for you. Hope this helps!
I was wondering also if this BAB membership in the adult’s name would cover multiple kids.
I hope they at least change the bear every year…otherwise it’ll be a one and done for us!
It will be different bear every year.
This is good for kids all year long not just the one day a year. Hopefully more affordable for everyone to enjoy .
Unfortunately the rollout of this program wasn’t a positive experience for so many kids and adults, but I can see the “pay your age” special becoming a yearly tradition in our house. It’s too good of a deal to pass up. Even if it’s a designated “birthday bear”, I would be greatful, regardless. It’s the process of making your own bear that is special. Hopefully people will put that one day aside and take advantage of a greatly discounted treat for your birthday boy or girl.
I completely agree and think that was the plan all along!
If you read the fine print on the first couple of emails from BAB about the Pay Your Age Day; it mentioned there was going to be a bear. I knew it was going to be chaos at the local malls, I tried telling people it was a new program and that they would get a cheap bear during their bday month. Yes it sucked that they couldn’t have rolled out this program January 1st; with the special bday bear. My local mall shut the line down before the store even opened, it was wrapped around the whole first floor and people waited 9 hours in line!! No thank you, glad I skipped it, thankful I got a $15 off coupon. We went last weekend and our son got a rabbit for $1.50 with an outfit and a song that were on sale. I paid $12 with tax for a new animal, outfit and song, wasn’t mad about it at all.
We did this tonight for my son since it is his actual birthday . We also used the $15 voucher and got my daughter a bear for $1.50! I bought a clearance costume for Evy from Descendants and she was thrilled. My son also got an outfit for his bear. We had a great time!
I was thrilled, had a wonderful experience today and only paid $1.62 for her bear today and she LOVES it!
That’s awesome!
I won a gift card giveaway for BAB after the Pay your age fiasco didn’t turn out for us. Excited to use our $15 vouchers and gift card so both of my kiddos can get something they wouldn’t otherwise.
I do not think they had any idea how crazy it was going to be. We were at the Lego event the night before and right outside the Lego store is a BAB Kiosk. My daughter saw a $27 Toothless and I said no too expensive. The store attendant told me to come back the next day for the pay your age. If she knew how crazy it was going to be that was just mean of her.
I have 3 children with the same birthday month, will i be able to take all three without a problem?
That should work! You just need to bring them with you to the store to grab the offer. You can always call in to your location for additional details. Hope that helps!
The fiasco was crazy but my kids knew they might not get a bear that day. In the end, we made out better. My son got a $20 bear so we laid $5 instead of $6 and my daughter got a $15 bear so hers was free instead of $13. So I paid $5 for 2 bears instead of $19!! We were in line for about 20 min before they passed out the $15 vouchers. So I’ll take that. We went Monday and they got theirs and it wasn’t that busy
Do you need to bring a child with you in order to use the $15 voucher?
So does each kid have to have a bonus club membership for this? I have 11 month old twins… do I need to sign them both up for an account?
Nope! You have to be 18 or older in order to sign up. You can sign up and then just be sure to bring your kiddos in with you to grab the offer. Hope that helps!
And every BABW is out of stock of this bear. Great promo for July-September. Guess October-December gets a plain bear. Super misleading.