Starbucks Is Giving Away Incredible Prizes This Month, Including Free Starbucks For Life

Are you sitting down? Okay, well, I warned you. Here's how to win free Starbucks for life, because, yes that's the world we're living in. A world where we can drink Starbucks, for free, for an entire lifetime. Seriously.

In a Dec. 4 press release that was published on their website, Starbucks announced that it was launching Project Give Good, its largest giveaway campaign, uh, ever. Beginning Dec. 11 and continuing through Dec. 23, Starbucks' "Give Good" squads (comprised of good hearted baristas), outfitted in festive red aprons, will be handing out 50,000 $20 Starbucks gift cards to lucky passersby at all kinds of community events: tree lightings, caroling sessions, etc. Yes, if you're a math person who has already done the calculations, that's $1 million in free Starbucks. But that's not all, not by a long shot.

In addition, for the entire month of December, anyone who makes a Starbucks purchase using either the mobile app or a registered Starbucks card will automatically earn Gold status in the Starbucks Rewards Program for an entire year. Normally, you need to earn at least 300 stars (two stars are earned for each dollar you spend) in twelve months to carry that distinction, which comes with a free birthday reward, free refills on a number of bevvies, a free reward every 125 stars, special member rewards offers and a monthly opportunity to earn double points. Basically, a lot of free treats. And who doesn't love that?

Joining Starbucks Rewards is fairly straightforward: download the Starbucks app for free on your smart phone, create an account with a username, password and email address and ta-da! You're now a Starbucks Rewards member. You can use the digital rewards card via your phone or re-appropriate a Starbucks Gift Card as a physical rewards card if you, like me, are consistently losing your phone or letting its battery die.

But nope, Starbucks did not stop at thousands of $20 Starbucks gift cards and automatic elevation to Gold Status. That's still not all. Beginning tomorrow, Dec. 5, all Starbucks customers will be eligible to win Starbucks for Life. For LIFE.

For the past four years, the holiday season meant Starbucks Rewards members were eligible to win Starbucks for A Year, Starbucks for a Month and Starbucks for A Week, along with millions of Bonus Stars. One lucky Rewards member would receive a daily credit for a free beverage and drink on their registered Starbucks card for *drum roll, please* 30 years. Yes. 30 years. Three decades. That's nearly 11,000 beverages and we haven't even begun to talk about all the cake pops you could be eating.

This year, though, Starbucks has opened up the Starbucks for Life prize to all Starbucks customers willing to simply enter their email address online. Interested? Duh. Check out StarbucksForLife.com, which launches tomorrow, for more details.

There are, of course, stipulations. The credit is non-transferable, doesn't roll over and expires after 24 hours. Your prize is only eligible at participating stores (which, to be fair, is most of them) in the United States.

To full take advantage of this prize, you need to be on top of your Starbucks game and make it a part of your schedule. You know, like, 6:30am: Scream at your alarm clock. 6:35am: Get out of bed. 7:30am: Retrieve your daily, very free dose of caffeine. 7:31am: Start speaking in full sentences once the coffee begins to kick in. Repeat.

“The inspiration behind Project Give Good is simple, we want to brighten the holidays and delight our customers,” said Kris Engskov, executive vice president of U.S. Retail for Starbucks, in the company's press release. “We hope the gift of a Starbucks Card will give customers the opportunity to take a break or catch up with a loved one over coffee.”