Restaurant chains roll out graduation gift card deals and party discounts

The smartest graduation spending right now is not the biggest spend, but the one that stretches. For party food, Red Robin is the cleanest value play: 20% off catering orders through July 12 with code 26GRADS. Noodles & Company follows with 15% off catering orders of $150 or more through June 9 using GRAD2026, while Potbelly is offering 10% off catering orders of $200 or more through June 14 with SAVE10. Penn Station East Coast Subs is the most modest of the group, taking $10 off catering orders through May 31 with PARTYBOX10, which makes it better for a smaller spread than a full graduation weekend.

The offers that feel most like actual gifts for the graduate are the ones that carry something beyond dinner. TGI Fridays is giving graduating students a free dessert with the purchase of an entrée at participating locations through June 15, but the valid student ID requirement makes it more of a celebratory outing than a present to mail or hand over. Paris Baguette’s Graduation Cake, available through June 30, lands closer to the gift end of the spectrum, with the cap and diploma topper doing the visual work that makes a dessert feel personal enough for a celebration table.

Gift cards can be the more elegant answer when the graduate is leaving town, and The Greene Turtle has one of the better straight-ahead bonuses: $10 back for every $50 spent on gift cards throughout May. That is the kind of offer that quietly improves a present without making it feel promotional. Chipotle took the idea further, but only briefly, giving the first 10,000 guests who spent at least $40 on graduation-themed digital gift cards from May 14 through May 18 a buy-one, get-one free entrée code. It was strong value, but the window was so tight that it worked best for people already planning ahead.

Auntie Anne’s also leaned into the season with an Honor Roll Sweepstakes through May 28, offering graduates a chance at pretzels for their party and exclusive merch. The fine print mattered: people within 20 miles of an Auntie Anne’s could redeem the pretzel prize locally, while others had to mail a graduation invite to Atlanta just to enter for merchandise. That makes it a charming idea, but not the easiest one to share. Taken together, the promotions show exactly how graduation gifts have split into two lanes: one for feeding a roomful of family and friends, and another for giving the graduate something small, useful and just thoughtful enough to remember.