We're reader-supported and only partner with brands we trust. When you buy through links on our site we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Learn More. Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date and time indicated and are subject to change.
At the end of every year, Starbucks brings back their much-anticipated Starbucks for Life game, which gives their customers freebies, discounts, and yes — a shot at Starbucks for Life.
We’ll tell you how to play, what the prizes are, and how to get more opportunities to win. Starbucks for Life is one of the most popular Starbucks promotions of the year, and we break it down for you. But before you get your Starbucks for Life, you’re going to need to sign up for the Starbucks Rewards program. It’s the fastest way to get free Starbucks throughout the year.
Starbucks hasn’t announced their Starbucks for Life promotion for 2023, but here’s what you can expect to see based on last year’s deal.
Here’s how to get Starbucks for Life, Delta SkyMiles, and bonus “Stars” added to your Starbucks Rewards account.
You could play Starbucks for Life game from Nov. 29, 2022 to Jan. 1, 2023.
With over 4 million prizes up for grabs, this annual event is one your won’t want to miss! Every day from Nov. 29, 2022 to Jan. 1, 2023, you could have entered the Starbucks for Life Sweepstakes by heading to www.starbucksforlife.com, submitting your Starbucks Rewards account information, and clicking the snow globe on the screen to shake it.
Once you’ve shaken your snow globe, you could either get a holiday light, a random game piece, an instant win piece, or nothing. Those results add up to freebies.
You could have shaken the globe once a day, unless you earned additional free plays (more on that in a sec).
Actually getting Starbucks for Life is next to impossible, though. (There’ll only be two winners.)
in order to claim your Starbucks of Life, you needed to collect three “Starbucks for Life” tokens from the snow globe. Each person could be randomly given a token, but with only two “Starbucks for Life” tokens given per day, it was difficult to get the grand prize without a lot of luck.
Plus, Starbucks is only gave two Starbucks for Life rewards in 2022, so if two winners were already named, you were out of luck.
There were 10 different game pieces; get three of the same one and you could have won a prize.
If you got three of the same game pieces, you could get one of 10 prizes. You couldn’t exchange pieces for another, so it could have taken you a while before you could get three of a kind. Here’s everything you could have gotten from the Starbucks for Life sweepstakes and how many of each prize they gave in 2022:
- Free Starbucks for Life (reg. $64,605) — 2 Prizes Given in 2022
- Free Starbucks for 6 Months (reg. $1,076.75) — 25 Prizes Given in 2022
- Free Starbucks for a Month (reg. $177) — 100 Prizes Given in 2022
- Delta Air Lines Flight Certificates (reg. $1,360) — 20 Prizes Given in 2022
- 1,000 Bonus Stars (reg. $38.10) — 8,000 Prizes Given in 2022
- 500 Bonus Stars (reg. $19.05) — 1,000 Prizes Given in 2022
- 150 Bonus Stars (reg. $5.72) — 35,000 Prizes Given in 2022
- Mocca Master Coffee Brewer (reg. $369.95) — 20 Prizes Given in 2022
- $50 Starbucks Gift Card — 1,000 Prizes Given in 2022
- Cold Brew Kit (reg. $24.95) — 100 Prizes Given in 2022
TIP: We know everything you should know about the Starbucks Delta Air Lines collaboration that’ll have you saving on coffee and plane tickets.
Six holiday lights got you a free drink or merch.
Once you lit up six individual holiday lights — one of the several possibilities each time you shake the snow globe — you could win one of three prizes:
- $1 off a Handcrafted Beverage Coupon — 50,000 Prizes Given in 2022
- Starbucks Reserve Tote (reg. $24.95) — 2,000 Prizes Given in 2022
- Starbucks Ornament (reg. $19.95) — 2,000 Prizes Given in 2022
NOTE: When you won your reward, you’ll receive a notification via your Starbucks app with instructions for redemption.
Instant Prize tokens gave you a freebie right away.
If you got an Instant Prize token, you could collect your reward right away. Here’s what you could have gotten in the Instant Reward tier:
- Starbucks Reserve Coffee (reg. $14.95) — 3,000 Prizes Given in 2022
- Siren Retail Keychain (reg. $12.95) — 2,000 Prizes Given in 2022
- $10.00 Starbucks Gift Card — 7,000 Prizes Given in 2022
- Free Handcrafted Holiday Drink (reg. $5.50) — 16,000 Prizes Given in 2022
- $5.00 Starbucks Gift Card — 12,000 Prizes Given in 2022
- Free Bakery Item (reg. $3.01) — 150,000 Prizes Given in 2022
- 50 Stars (reg. $1.91) — 26,000 Prizes Given in 2022
- $0.50 No Kid Hungry Donation and 25 Stars (reg. $1.00) — 200,000 Prizes Given in 2022
- 25 Stars (reg. $0.95) — 800,000 Prizes Given in 2022
- 10 Stars (reg. $0.38) — 601,000 Prizes Given in 2022
- 5 Stars (reg. $0.19) — 2,100,000 Prizes Given in 2022
Playing the Holiday Run game could win you another click on the snow globe.
Every day, you could have earned another chance to shake the snow globe by earning 4,000 points in the Holiday Run game. It could be found on the Starbucks for Life page and is played by guiding a mouse away from obstacles and into Starbucks holiday cups.
If you filled out the survey, you could get another click on the snow globe.
If you didn’t want to pay for 10 purchases through your Starbucks Rewards account, you could have headed to the bottom of the Starbucks for Life page and find the text that says “To enter without making a purchase, click here.”
Once you clicked on the link, you would be sent to a three minute survey. Once you completed it, you could get another click on the snow globe without having to purchase anything.
You could enter the Starbucks for Life Sweepstakes up to five times a day.
You could earn more shakes of the snow globe by completing tasks. Here’s what you could have done to enter the sweepstakes more than once a day:
- Load up your Starbucks Rewards account with $20
- Make 10 purchases through your Starbucks Rewards account
- Shake the snow globe 7 days in a row
These plays would carry over day to day, so you didn’t have to load $20 or play the Holiday Run game every day to get multiple plays per day.
You could have won more than one prize from the Starbucks for Life promotion.
If you won a prize from the Starbucks for Life promotion, you could still be able to redeem more rewards. According to the rules, you were still eligible for each prize no matter how many you earned.
