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Treat Yourself

How to Get Free Donuts on National Donut Day

By James Robinson

April 26, 2024

Seems there’s a “national day” for just about everything, right? You can let most pass you by, but National Donut Day is a delicious exception. It’s not just an excuse to have a nibble on the king of all baked goods – it’s also a chance to snag a few donuts for do-nothin’ by visiting select stores.

So… is it National Donut Day today?

Probably not (unless today happens to be the first Friday in June), but free donuts need not, should not, and quite certainly must not be a once-a-year affair. What kind of life would that be? With the Fetch shopping rewards app, you can snap a picture of your receipts from participating stores to earn points on every purchase, then put those points towards free donuts at Dunkin’, Krispy Kreme, or at your choice of a range of other donut-centric establishments when you opt for an Uber Eats gift card.

Text reading, "Do-nut forget to treat yourself with Fetch - get the app," surrounded by pictures of donuts

How to get free donuts with Fetch

Just as donuts are a quick and easy snack, Fetch is a quick and easy-to-use app. What a match! You simply download the receipt app, take a photo of your receipts, and earn points on your purchases. After racking up enough points, head to the Rewards tab to browse available retailers, choose a dollar amount, and redeem your free gift card.

You can earn free gift cards for a whole host of stores and services, including plenty where you can cash in those rewards for free donuts without spending a penny or waiting patiently for the next National Donut Day.

Get your free donut on Fetch by using a gift card at any of these locations:

  • Dunkin’
  • Krispy Kreme
  • Starbucks
  • Uber Eats
  • Target
  • Whole Foods (aka “Hole” Foods, when you’re buying donuts)

When is National Donut Day?

National Donut Day keeps us on our toes by falling on the first Friday in June rather than a set date – this year, National Donut day is Friday June 7, 2024.

But hold your horses because there are even more donut dates to mark in your donut diary. Maybe not as well-known, but still deserving of our love:

  • National Jelly-Filled Doughnut Day is June 8.
  • National Cream-Filled Doughnut Day is September 14.
  • National Boston Cream Pie Day is October 23.
  • Buy a Doughnut Day is October 30.

Text reading, "National Donut Day is the first Friday in June," in front of picture of assorted donuts

Then there’s a second National Donut Day, and no way we’re skipping the opportunity to tell that tale.

Wildly improbable as it may seem, the story goes that while held at Sơn Tây prison camp during Vietnam, U.S. Marine Orson Swindle tricked his captors into believing an entirely fictitious National Doughnut Day fell on November 10. That cunning ruse secured sticky buns for himself and his fellow POWs, and the second National Donut Day celebrated every November 5 is thought to have stemmed from that event.

When was the first National Donut Day?

National Donut Day may strike you as a recent innovation, but we can track its origins back over 100 years to the dark days of 1917 and the battle-torn fields of France. Salvation Army “Lassies” of World War I would mend clothes, provide writing supplies, and serve baked goods to U.S. servicemen, including the humble donut. Ensign Margaret Sheldon wrote of making “22 pies, 300 doughnuts, 700 cups of coffee” in a single day – such women were quickly dubbed “Doughnut Girls.”

Their example was followed during the Great Depression, except Salvation Army volunteers served those in need rather than those in uniform. National Donut Day got going in 1938 as a fundraiser for Chicago’s Salvation Army, and it’s been around ever since.

Where to get free donuts on National Donut Day

364 days of the year, redeeming Fetch points to earn free gift cards is a darn savvy way to amass free donuts. Come National Donut Day, visiting establishments for free donuts becomes your patriotic duty. Lucky for you, options are everywhere.

You’ll find tasty pastry offers at:

  • Dunkin’
  • Krispy Kreme
  • The Dapper Doughnut
  • Duck Donuts
  • Honey Dew Donuts
  • LaMar’s Donuts
  • Shipley Do-Nuts
  • Tim Hortons
  • Yonutz
  • Doughnut Plant

And if you feel like hearkening back to the sacred day’s charitable roots, why not pick up a dozen donuts to deliver to your local nursing station, first responders, or favorite charity? I mean, it would be… pretty a-GLAZE-ing of you. (Sorry, we’ll see ourselves out now…)

Do-nut miss your chance to get free donuts any day of the year with Fetch gift cards

Whether you’d prefer to earn free gift cards by indulging yourself with fast food or playing popular online games, Fetch can hook you up. Download the app today to start snapping pics of your receipts and begin earning free gift cards you can use to make donut day any day you want.

Topics: family fun, Food and Drink, Gift Cards, rewards


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James Robinson

James Robinson is a suave and penetratingly intelligent six-foot-four swimwear model, Nobel prize-winner, and noted liar. When not lying, James is a five-foot-seven freelance writer who enjoys reading, walking, history, and those times when you’re about to sneeze, but then you don’t, but then actually you do.