Great Deals in Your City

So I am absolutely LOVING all the websites that have sprung up giving deals in your city! In case you haven't heard of these, here's the deal...

First, and probably the most popular right now, is Groupon. Groupon is a website where you sign up for deals in your city to be e-mailed to you a few times a week. They are normally for locally owned businesses which is awesome. So basically you get an e-mail saying something like, "Luna Park -$40 worth of food for $20." And then you buy your groupon for the $20 and anytime within about 3-5 months you can use your groupon at the restaurant! So the catch is you have to buy the groupon THAT DAY. That deal will not be available again. Just last week I used my groupon to Luna Park and it was great. Other recent Groupons have included pilates class, chocolates, grocery delivery, and manicures. I will say that I'm often shocked by how many groupons are to ultra-trendy, of-the-moment places. For example, last week there was a Groupon to Kiss My Bundt, and in case you haven't heard, bundt cakes are the new cupcake. Get ready! My friend bought a groupon for The Foundry on Melrose ($70 worth of food for $35) and we will be trying it out soon!

Next up is Blackboard Eats. Very similar to Groupon except it is only for food. The cool thing with Blackboard is that you don't have to pay up front. You have the day to order the coupon and if you order it you just get a passcode. Then all you do is simply give your passcode to the host when you arrive at the restaurant. The one thing with Blackboard is you have only 1 month to use your passcode. And just to give you an example of the deals, today's passcode is for Fraiche restaurant in Santa Monica-40% off lunch. I recently got their passcode for Grace restaurant and will be eating a prix fixe dinner for $38. The cool thing with Blackboard is that they keep track of what deals you've signed up for, so if you lose your passcode somehow, you can always log in and find it on their side under "My Blackboard".

Last, but not least, is Big City Deals brought to you by Pat Sajak! This too is one you sign-up for and buy like Groupon, but there is one cool feature with this one-they separate out Orange County and the Valley so the coupons are for your specific area! Nice feature, huh? I haven't actually tried Big City Deals yet, but they do some interesting things like helicopter tours of the city.

So, there it is folks. Go sign-up with each of these sites so you can make the most of our city at an affordable price!