Leaplings! Here are two places [UPDATE: Three!] you can eat free on your Leap Day birthday this year

We can’t decide whether being born on Feb. 29 is kick-ass or the absolute worst. Does it mean you only have a birthday every four years? Do you age more slowly than other people? WHAT ABOUT PRESENTS AND CAKE? So many questions. This year a few restaurants want to take special care of America’s 200,000 Leap Day babies, so they’re offering to treat them to free birthday meals. First up, we have Buca di Beppo’s signature meatballs and spaghetti – go in anytime between Friday, Feb. 26, and Monday, Feb. 29 (your birthday!), show your ID, and they’ll hand over a platter of the macaroni and red gravy topped with their signature meatball. And maybe a sparkler.

And Hard Rock Cafe has created a whole “Leaplings Eat Free” menu. Whether you’re 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 or so old you’ve stopped keeping track, show valid ID that proves your birthday is Feb. 29 and you’ll get a free meal next Monday. The Leapling menu includes HRC’s Legendary Burger (shown at right) – an Angus beef patty topped with smoked bacon, cheddar, a fried onion ring, lettuce and tomato, served on a toasted brioche bun – which looks and sounds like the kind of indulgence you’re entitled to when you only get a quarter of the birthday celebrations that other humans enjoy. YOLO!
  
If any other Leapling deals come to our attention, we’ll add ’em here.

UPDATE: Pizza Hut has thrown their pepperoni-covered hat into the ring with a Leapling deal of their own: “On Feb. 29, anyone who visits a Pizza Hut restaurant and shows a government-issued photo ID to prove they were born on Leap Day (February 29) will receive a free, one-topping Personal Pan Pizza® for carryout (participation and store hours vary).” 

This article appears in Feb 17-23, 2016.