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In 2023 National Pancake Day took place on Feb. 28, and although we’re waiting for this to be as widespread as some of the other food holidays we love, we can always count on IHOP to celebrate with free pancakes.
Now that this year’s celebration is over, we look forward to what IHOP has in store for their National Pancake Day promotion in 2024. Here we’ll look back on the deal from 2023, plus we’ll also tell you what else IHOP has going on, and how to earn even more points with the IHOP Rewards program.
We’ve got even more ways to hack your way into getting free IHOP pancakes and even more ways to get free food. And if you’re into breakfast-related holidays, mark your calendars for National Waffle Day and National Bacon Day.
Here’s every IHOP National Pancake Day deal and tip you should know:
The date for National Pancake Day varies
National Pancake Day changes every year, but we can always expect it to either land on the last week of February or the first week of March. Here’s when we saw IHOP celebrate National Pancake Day in the past:
- 2023: February 28
- 2022: March 1
- 2021: February 16
- 2020: February 25
- 2019: March 12
- 2018: February 17
IHOP offers free pancakes on Feb. 28, National Pancake Day.
For 12 glorious hours on Tuesday, February 28, 2023 — 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. — all IHOP locations offered a short stack (3-count) of pancakes for free (regularly $7.99). The deal was available for everyone, but dine-in only.
Even though they gave these pancakes away for free, the whole event was designed to be a fundraiser for several different charities. Instead of paying for your pancakes, you could choose to donate to Children’s Miracle Network, Shriner’s, or the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. IHOP accepted donations all day on Feb. 28. No matter what day National Pancake Day falls on in 2024, we expect this promotion to return.
Receive double ‘PanCoins’ on IHOP National Pancake Day.
In 2022 IHOP released the IHOP Rewards program, the “International Bank of Pancakes.” With every $5 you spend at IHOP, you’ll receive one PanCoin. Once you’ve earned three PanCoins, you can redeem them for another free short stack of pancakes.
On IHOP National Pancake Day, February 28, 2023, you could have earned double the amount of PanCoins. That means you’ll earn two PanCoins for every $5 spent. By spending $10 on National Pancake Day, you received four PanCoins which were redeemable for another free short stack of IHOP pancakes during your next visit. We look forward scoring some double PanCoins during next year’s National Pancake Day.
Look out for all-you-can-eat pancakes at IHOP in March or August.
One of the best deals at IHOP is all-you-can-eat pancakes. With this promotion, you get an unlimited supply of short stack pancakes when you either purchase a specific menu item or pay a set price for the promotion.
This promotion generally runs in the first three months of the year. However, IHOP surprised everyone with their latest all-you-can-eat pancakes promotion in August 2023 for their 65th birthday. Even with this surprise promotion in 2023, we still expect next year’s promotion to take place again some time during the winter months. Here’s when they ran the promotion in the past:
- August 2 – 27, 2023: AYCE Pancakes for $5
- January 13, 2022: AYCE Pancakes for $5.99
- March 16, 2021: AYCE Pancakes with the purchase of a combo
- January 2, 2020: AYCE Pancakes with the purchase of a combo
- March 1, 2019: AYCE Pancakes with the purchase of an omelet
- January 3, 2019: AYCE Pancakes with the purchase of a combo
- January 2, 2018: AYCE Pancakes for $3.99
