The holiday season brings joy and reunions with family members, but it can also be stressful. Trying to find time to cook dinner after a long day of gift shopping or eating well while picking up a Christmas tree or decorating the house becomes a big challenge for most people. Enjoy some limited time dishes by visiting one of the many national restaurant chains offering a special menu, beverage or treat to celebrate the holidays. Some restaurants are offering take-out options that are perfect for making your big party or dinner plans easier to carry out.
Chili’s is getting in the spirit by offering their special HoliDaily promotion. The campaign includes discounts on many menu items and a daily free item including children’s meals, appetizers or desserts. To redeem these free offers, guests will need to visit the Chili’s website to download and print a coupon or become a fan of the company’s Facebook page. The convenient Email Club will deliver each week’s best deals directly to your email account if you sign up for it.
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The French-inspired Mimi’s Bistro is celebrating with Mimi’s For the Holidays, a program with carry-out options, giveaways and gift card deals. Each purchase of a $25 gift card at the chain will award the buyer with a $5 gift card of their own. A complete Holiday Feast To Go is also available and comes with a whole turkey, cornbread stuffing, whipped sweet potatoes and other classic side dishes. The meal feeds six to eight people and costs only $79.99. Guests who prefer to cook their own bird can pick up individual side dishes to save time. Diners can also enter in the contest to win a trip to Paris or one of many valuable gift cards by entering in store or on the chain’s website.
Denny’s is serving up a whole new menu of holiday themed items for diners in a hurry. The classic Holiday Turkey Dinner plate comes with roasted turkey breast covered in giblet gravy, and surrounded with green beans, cornbread stuffing and mashed potatoes. The Holiday Turkey Melt combines these flavors in a grilled sandwich with toasted bread and a side of french fries. For diners with a sweet tooth, choose from the Christmas Cookie pancakes, Red Velvet pancake puppies and Milk and Cookies milkshake.
Boston Market has been making the holidays easier on busy families for over two decades, and this year will be no exception. With rising food costs, it is expected that a full holiday dinner made from scratch will cost over $12 per person. The complete meals offered by Boston Market come pre-cooked and ready to eat and cost under $6 per person. Items included in these meals include spiral cut ham, roasted turkey, pumpkin and apple pies, cornbread stuffing and beef brisket.
For shoppers who just need a warm drink to keep them going through a gift buying spree, there are a number of chains offering special holiday themed beverage options. The Tim Hortons coffee shop company is introducing a new Candy Cane White Hot Chocolate that combines the mint flavors of a candy cane with the sweet and creamy taste of white chocolate. Each cup is topped with whipped cream and special crushed candy cane sprinkles. McDonald’s is also expanding their hot drink selection as part of the McCafe brand. The Peppermint Mocha and Peppermint Hot Chocolate drinks will be available through the beginning of the new year. The Mocha includes a light peppermint flavor with dark chocolate syrup and whipped cream. Consumers in cities like Atlanta, Denver and San Francisco had a chance to sample the beverages for free throughout November.
Starbucks is making their red holiday cups interactive with a new mobile app that displays animations based on the characters found on the cup. They’re also bringing back all of their classic holiday drinks, including the Eggnog Latte, the Gingerbread Latte and the Peppermint Mocha. Some of the beverages that Dunkin’ Donuts is adding to the menu this year will become permanent additions. The Mint Hot Chocolate will be available year round now that it has debuted for the season, but the rest of the line up is available for a limited time only. These drinks include the Cinnamon Swirl Latte and Gingerbread iced coffee.
There are over a dozen other chains that won’t be releasing a whole menu of seasonally themed dishes, but will feature at least one special treat. The peppermint Pinkberry frozen yogurt comes topped with crushed peppermint bark, while TCBY is offering eggnog flavored frozen yogurt treats and Red Mango has the Cinnamon Apple Orchard flavor. Yogurt Mountain has four new frozen yogurt flavors that include Gingerbread Cookie and Candy Cane. Friendly’s has both Gingerbread ice cream and the classic Jubilee Roll. Joining the rest of the cheesecake flavors at the Cheesecake Factory is the Peppermint Bark Cheesecake, and Chick-fil-A brought out the pink Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshake as well.
The Krispy Kreme holiday donuts are topped with festive sprinkles over rich red velvet or chocolate cake. Hotcakes at IHOP have all the familiar peppermint and eggnog flavors of this time of the year, and Tim Hortons has brought out new donut flavors to match their drinks. Steak and Shake has White Chocolate and Eggnog hand-blended milkshakes on their limited time menu, or visit the California Pizza Kitchen for Pumpkin Cheescake and try the Candy Cane Chill Blizzard Cake from Dairy Queen.
