Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel - Celebrating Birthdays Without Breaking the Bank

Episode Date: May 2, 2024

💵 Sign up for EveryDollar today. Create a free budget!  Cue the confetti! What better way to celebrate Rachel's and George’s birthdays than with some birthday-themed trends and trivia, the birthday freebie list that dreams are made of, and affordable gift ideas. Plus, they’ll give their best tips for throwing a birthday bash on a budget. Next Steps ·      📘 Check out Rachel’s newest book for a sweet way to talk to your kids about the most important gifts in their lives.   ·      💵 Start budgeting today! Go to everydollar.com/smartmoney to get $15 off the premium version of EveryDollar.   ·      📱Submit a Guilty as Charged question for Rachel and George! Send a DM to @rachelcruze or @georgekamel on Instagram! Be sure to type “GUILTY?” at the top of your message so we don’t miss it. Today’s Happy Hour Special 🍸 Paper Plane Recipe: Liquor.com Ingredients: ·      3/4 ounce bourbon ·      3/4 ounce Aperol ·      3/4 ounce Amaro Nonino Quintessentia ·      3/4 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed ·      Ice Instructions: Add the bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino and lemon juice into a shaker with ice and shake until well chilled. Strain into a coupe glass.    Listen to More From Ramsey Network 🎙️ The Ramsey Show   🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 💰 George Kamel 💼 The Ken Coleman Show 📈 EntreLeadership Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Camel. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Cheers, George. Cheers. That's a celebration in your mouth. Let's think about that. We'll see.

Wow. This is the show where two friends who happen to be money experts. Talk about what you're talking about. So everything from pop culture, current events, and money. And today, instead of telling you our topic, we want to see if you can guess it based on a few musical hints. Sing it, Rachel. No. Don't you do that to me?

George. Why am I task for singing? George, because you're the musician. Skater boy, go. Whoa, what does that have to do with anything? Go, sing it. It's my party and I'll cry if I want to. Okay, there's your first hint.

All right. Hit number two. Go, shoddy. It's your birthday. We're going to party like it's your birthday. That's hint number two. Ready for hint number three? Last one.

Oh, do it. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. So this episode is actually right in between me and George's birthday. That's right. Yours just happened about a week ago. Mine's about to happen. Tomorrow.

Happy early birthday to you. And happy belated. Well, thank you. Thank you very much. This is fun. I so appreciate this. This is like a joint birthday party, which has always been my dream. Nobody ever wants to do a double birthday party with me.

Mary Kate and Ashley vibes, you know. 100%. Yes. I mean, we're going there, y'all. Case of the epic birthday party. If you're a fan of the adventures of me. Mary Kate and Ashley. That's it.

Just me? Don't act like you guys didn't buy that at Scholastic Book Fair? Oh my gosh. All right, never mind. Okay, so we're going to talk about how to have this wonderful day for you or the people you love without breaking the bank. It's gotten expensive. From internet trends to birthday discounts and freebies, we've got you covered today.

So regardless of whether it's your birthday or not, you will hopefully have one in the next 12 months. We really hope so. If all goes to plan, if the Lord permits. Lord willing in the creek don't rise You will be born again I will quote Caroline Cruz My six-year-old Well happy birthday

Whose birthday is it Caroline Well somebody has a birthday today I love that attitude She says that almost every day You know what That's the kind of childlike optimism and joy we need Yes so it's always a birthday There's a reason to celebrate every day

Because it's someone's birthday So maybe yours is today or tomorrow or soon And you can use these tips And if you're watching this on your birthday Rachel will send you Love He sends her love. Oh, so what are we sipping on while we chat about birthdays?

Today we're sipping on a paper plane is the name of the beverage, and it's a beautifully colored drink here. Do you know if this is like a classic cocktail? You know how there's like classic cocktails? It is considered a classic. It is, okay. Yes, it's a very old-school drink. Okay.

Very, uh... I like it. I feel like it's a pretty bougie drink. Yeah. You're going to find out what's in at the end of the episode, and we're going to give it our rating as well and reveal the cost per glass. So stick around until the end for that. And as always, recipes in the show notes,

if you want to make it yourself. That's right. Well, George, are you excited about your birthday tomorrow? Yeah. I guess. Well, all right. I'm not really... Not the reaction I was expecting. Yeah, I guess I am. I'll be turning... 35. Nice. I just left that year.

It's a big shocker. A big shocker to all of you. Which we'll get into a little bit later. Do you know what's crazy, though, is that some people claim that there are good birthdays and bad birthdays. September 27th, apparently the best birthday because of the alliteration. It's very easy to say it. September 27. I don't think these people know how alliteration works. And then someone else claims May 8th is the worst

because of the way you say it, May 8th. May 8th. What do you say it like Forrest Gump? My 8. I was born, mate. That's it? It's hard to say. It's hard to say.

That's fair. My birthday's in a movie. What movie? Miss Congeniality. Feels apt. They said, yeah, it's when she's having her interview. And they say, well, describe your perfect date. And she says, April 25th, not too hot, not too cold.

All you need is a light jacket. Wow. Well, calendar dates aside, birthdays on the internet have become a breeding ground for comparison culture. And that always, you know, drains our wallet at some point. Yep, that's right. And if Bachelorette trips weren't enough, now people are doing a 30-year birthday trip and a 40 and a 50. and it's like the partying and the celebrations continue on into every aspect of life. And would you agree this is largely female-based?

Like, I'm sure guys still do trips with the guys. But I feel like it's largely women that want to celebrate other women. Yeah. I'll say the only guy trend I see that I'm like, okay, I get it, is after a bunch of guys have kids and then that last friend has a kid, they're like, hey, let's go for a weekend before he has a baby. Oh, I didn't know about that. And just like enjoy because we know what he's about.

Endure. Yeah. So, George, do you have a memorable birthday in your history of birthdays? Yes. We watched Spider-Man at the movie theater with all my friends and then went to the skate park after. Wow. The original Spider-Man. How old were you?

I don't know, 10? Okay. I mean, is there a better birthday? Seeing the original Spider-Man in theaters with all of your best friends and then going skateboarding after. Okay, when you say original. The OG. The first actual... Real person or cartoon?

Yeah. What here was that, guys? Toby McGuire? No, Toby McGuire? Yeah, Tommy McGuire. Okay. Because there's a cartoon Spider-Man from like the 70s. I don't know if that's what you meant.

Okay. I was not alive then. Well, I think you're so. I was trying to very much. Me and my BFFs. We were into the old stuff, Rachel. We're like the 4x3. You know, we weren't into the whole 16 by 9 movement.

Now we watched Spider-Man with Toby Maguire. Yes. And Kristen Dunst? Yeah. She was... And that was the upside-down kiss. That was the famous kiss. Very edgy for a fifth grader to watch in theaters.

Wow. That's when I became the cool kid in school. school. So yeah, me and my like three friends, we went and it was awesome. Okay, that's fun. My parents threw me, I'm trying to think which, how old I was. I think I was eighth grade. A surprise birthday party. Wow. Yes. Were you actually surprised? Like all your friends? Oh, I was, I was completely surprised. Yep. Wow. Yep. I was at a friend's house, Jessica, and we were going to the movies and we like got dressed and then my dad called her house. and was like, hey, will you stop by?

Because I need you to drop something off before you go to the movies. And I was like, okay, so I'm going in the house and I just laid it on the stairs. And they were like, Rachel, come here. I was like, what, we're late? And he's like, come here. And I open our playroom door.

And almost like, majority of the eight, I mean, they invited probably like 100 kids, like a lot of kids from my school. We're all there. And it was the, it's the weirdest feeling. That's pretty epic. When you have like that, when you have a surprise,

it's such a weird, like, reality shit of like, oh my gosh, like, how did people know? It was weird. The whole night. Did you give him a big show with your reaction? Oh, you know me. I'm so dramatic. Like, I was like, oh, my gosh.

Yeah, like, eighth grade Rachel is not, it hasn't changed much. No. Still basically the same. I look back on stuff on me. I'm like, why am I so dramatic? I'm so facial. Yeah. That's where you put all your effort.

I have a lot of this. Let's help people avoid the overspending on the birthday. Because there's a lot of great financial things that happen on your birthday. There's, yeah, there's a lot of financial perks when it comes to, birthdays. I'll give you one that I love. All right. I'm going to skip the ice cream one. I'll let you do that because I don't care for ice cream as much. I'm going to go Kendra Scott. Oh. The jeweler. You get 50% off an item during your birthday month at Kendra Scott. Now that's a reason for a birthday month. You get 30 days

to buy an item. Yes. That's cool. Love it. That's a good one. All right. One of my favorites is Jenny's ice cream. If you have, if you're blessed to have one nearby at the scoop shop, you get up to three scoops of ice cream completely free on your birthday. On your birthday. I think they've expanded it now to where if you have the app and the rewards thing, it's not just on your birthday, but within a time span around it. It's great. So I like those.

Get any free Starbucks drink on your birthday if you're a rewards member. That's a tradition in our house. Yep. And go, you know, vinty. You got to go big. Extra sprinkles, get a shot. Don't get like a tall black coffee. You want to get the craziest most expensive drink you'd never pay for because it goes to zero.

It's all free. Yeah. So sometimes I overdo. do it. I get like a $12 drink. Like add seven extra shots of espresso. Go in, go. But then it becomes disgusting. So, here's another one. Sephora, for you

Sephoraans out there, you get a free mini-cosmetic set or 250 bonus points to put toward another item. So that's probably not going to cover the full price. But if you're a big Sephora fan, it's a little perk. Yep. And Ulta has some great, great perk. So they actually double your rewards points during during your entire month, and you get an extra gift. So, I mean, I'm telling you, I think it's, I think this is a good one.

Our writers have, she scored multiple free $60 makeup pallets before on her birthday. So you kind of played all right. Game in the system, Saab. We love to see it. It's the way to do it. The way to do it. And for the guys out there, if you're not into makeup, chick filet, something for everyone. You get some perks based on your membership tier, anything from a free cookie to a

brownie, even up to a full entree, depending on how loyal of a customer you are. So that's a fun one. But I feel like there's room for improvement. I feel like they could do better. Like, I'm not going to Chick-fil-A for a cookie. They do have a great chocolate for cookies, though. It's a great cookie. But give me a meal.

Give me some chicken. Yeah, give me like a free breakfast sandwich or something, biscuit, you know. DSW gives you $5 off if you buy a pair of shoes. I've used this one before. Yeah, this is great. And I think about my kids. I'm like, if I have to, like, replace shoes, man, do it during the birthday month. $5 bucks, $5.

I'll take it. Jersey mics and firehouse subs. I love both of these. Give you a free sub on your birthday if you sign up for their awards program. So that's a good one already. Like that's a full meal for free. So college kids, look no further.

Olive Garden, one of your favorites, Rachel. You grew up going to Olive Garden. This was a youth of Rachel. Coupons on your birthday month when you sign up to receive them. So, you know, you might have to sort through some coupons in your inbox to get a small discount here. But it could be worth it. Crumble gives members and app users a free cookie

voucher on their birthday. That's pretty good. I feel like the ones that are worth it is where it's completely free. I don't have to make a purchase. Yep. I just get a free thing. Um, Anthropology. Yeah, 20% off any purchase birthday month. Don't tell my wife. Which actually could be great because some of their stuff is so it is pricey, so you could wait for that purchase during your birthday month, get 20% off. I think it's 20% too expensive anyways. So you're just getting it at a normal rip-off price. That's how I feel anytime my wife shops at Anthro. I, you know, it's fair. That's fair. That's fair. It's I used to work at Urban Outfitters, which is owned by the same parent company. Oh.

So I would get 40% off. Wow. How much of your paycheck would you spend? All of it. Isn't that funny? When you're 18 and you get a paycheck and it's not, you're making, I was making $8 an hour at Urban Outfitters. As a grown man, I was not 15. I was like 19.

Yeah. So I just don't want to upgrade in the world. I think for my age and what the doctor said I would grow to. 25, I'm just saying I wasn't like, I didn't feel like a teenager anymore. You were. You were 19. I know, but I was in college, Rachel. Not a grown man.

College educated. You made it sound like you were working there last year, George. I was really waiting. I would. 19-year-old George, just figuring out the world. Okay, what's your number one pick for birthday freebies? It doesn't have to be on this list. I'm going to kind of do I like a combo?

Sure. I'm going to go Alta and Firehouse. Oh, wow. Mm-hmm. Little Italian, little makeup. Something for everyone there. I'm going to go, wasn't on this list. Oh.

P.F. Chang's was the showstopper for me. What was it? What's it? Free app, anything on the menu. Totally free, no purchase necessary. So I got the chicken lettuce wraps, which are fire. $15 is what it costs, and it cost me zero. Wow. And I thought that truly is.

Is that to be on your birthday or month? I forget the range. I'm so nerdy. I had a list on my phone. But here's the thing. I made a whole video on my YouTube channel ranking the top birthday freebies with a tier list. And so you can go check that out if you want more on that.

It's so great. Since Rachel, you have such a large social network that you've mentioned multiple times already. 100 friends at the birthday party. That's most people's entire graduating class. Do you have any affordable go-to gifts for when the kids get invited to a party or when you go to a birthday dinner for a friend?

What's your go-to? Let's say Amelia's BFF birthday party. What do you get that kid? So my kids, when they were little, I'd like you can get away with more. So I would Amazon like the same. There was like this unicorn garden light thing. that the girls, like, love to make when they were, like, little, little.

So I, and they were, like, $16 on Amazon. So I literally bought, like, 10 of them. So whenever the girl's hot birthday bars, we just wrapped that little thing and just hand it out. That's fun. Because it's great. My girls loved it. So I was like, that's nice.

But now that they're getting older, they want, like, squish melt. Like, they want, like, now more specific stuff. So there is a toy store here in Bruntwood that I, we, yep, I'll let them. Don't you think the gifts are getting more expensive, though? I give them a dollar amount, and I'm like, we're not going to go over X. Okay.

But this place does gift stuff. rapping for free. Oh, that's nice. So it's actually kind of nice. And it makes it... I think wrapping is half of the fanciness. Yeah. And you know what? And it's great. So, yeah, so that's kind of what we do. That's our routine. And then for friends,

man, I feel like I go more specific, but it's more like thoughtful stuff that you try to like put together. Something small. Because I don't feel like they need like or at least the people, my friends in life. I do think when people are thoughtful with stuff, like here's one. You know,

snow villages, I was, like, obsessed with. So I had a friend give me a snow village from eBay. That's sweet. I know, and I was like, oh, my gosh. So they know you've been posting about it. Yes, she knows I, like, love him. It's your new obsession. It's so thoughtful.

So it's that kind of thing. I think the thoughtfulness, it doesn't have to be, like, high in price is way better. I like that. Yeah, buying gifts for adults feels like a strange. It's a different beast. Yes. And with guys, it's easy, you know, like, even, like, we went to Jade Warsha's birthday. And I just bought, like, a good bottle of wine, you know, just something simple.

I was like, I know they, I've been to their house, I know they have some red wine. I was like, let's go with that. Yeah, so for her, ladies, you probably, her and I, during the Ramsey show one day, in the break, we were talking about skincare stuff. And we both used the same lip balm mask. Don't gate keep, sis. And I got it for you. We want to know. I don't even know what it's called.

Is it Lenege? Yeah, yeah, it's Lenege. Yeah. And we talked about it. And so I got her that. Because I was like, we had talked about it. And, you know, so it's that kind of thing. If you can, like, remember, which I'm not always great at.

Yeah. That's what makes it fun, I feel like. And life hack, I always go to Trader Joe's for my cards because they're 99 cents, regardless of the card. Are you a card person? I'm not a card person. Well, if I want to do a card, sometimes I don't. For an adult that I'm like is a friend but not like super close where I have to write them a love note,

I'm just like, if it was you, I would not. I'll be honest. I just feel like you'll like appreciate the gift. It's great. Because you're going to throw away the card. I will. Actually, I will. Now Winston, on the other hand, he would get a handwritten.

And Winston keeps cards. And he's more sentimental. Yeah, it's so true. Wow, you know it's so well, George. Thank you. Well, he texted me this morning. Are you? I want to put that out there.

Yeah, I'm not a card person. Yeah, not a card person. Like, even on my kids' friends' gifts, on the back of the paper, we were just talking about, I write two so-and-so from Amelia. That's all you need. That's great. Okay. These are very hopeful.

On the flip side, George, if you are invited to a birthday situation, a trip or even a nice dinner, right? And you're like, it's not in the budget. what do you do? How do you navigate those kind of conversations? Well, this is, it's kind of the boundary communication issue, and a lot of people have a hard time just even sending this text. Like, it's one of those texts that you write for a whole day and you keep deleting it and rewriting it. So I would just say, if I couldn't make it or it was out of the budget,

just respond honestly and say, like, hey, I wish I could be there. I can't make that work. Hope you have the most special day. I'll be celebrating you, you know, from here. And sometimes what I'll do is I'll just text them a $5 or $10, you know, Starbucks gift card or something. And I can do that with the text. There's a little Apple thing.

You can do a gift card through a text message. Oh, yeah. So I'll do that sometimes. And that's kind of a fun. Like, it's not about the amount. It's the fact that someone thought of them and then put a dollar amount with it. Someone even said, you're the only person to even like send me anything today. Yes.

And I was like, wow, that was $5. I get, like, I can get that in the budget. You know what I mean? It's not about the amount. Yes. Yes. Yep. Yeah, I was out of a friend's birthday and another friend couldn't come.

And so she was like, hey, I'm going to Venmo, you. like, you know, $15 and you buy her a cocktail, like for her birthday on me. And I was like, yeah, same idea, though, where you're like, golly, that's like a great idea. If you know where they're going. Yeah. And you can just send them a Venmo or send a friend the Venmo or call the restaurant ahead of time and say, hey, bring them out this drink on me. Yeah, that's right. I think that's a really fun, thoughtful thing to do.

The other thing that's fun that costs zero dollars that is so thoughtful if they're the sentimental type is you text to friends and say, hey, can you send a quick 30 second video? We did this for our friend recently. you and I did. And they're like, hey, just sent a 30-second video celebrating. It was a 40th birthday. Just do a quick message for him. And that cost us $0. That's right.

It costs us 30 seconds of our time. And it meant the world to them to have this, like, video of all of their friends wishing them a happy birthday from around the world. So that takes effort. Around the world. This are popular. Oh my gosh. He is.

Every continent. So I think that's a very kind thing to do. Again, that takes effort to go like, I'm going to collect all these videos, maybe edit them together in I movie or something. but that's a really thoughtful thing to do. So good. What about when you're throwing the birthday celebration, how do you do that when you're trying to be financially responsible?

Because even just throwing a party can get out of hand. When you think about decorations and catering or venue. I don't know what's like appropriate. But if I'm throwing a part, like if I'm going to like have a party, I'm going to, I will expect to like spend some money. Spend it. Yeah. And not expect people to pay for it. Right.

Now if we all go out to dinner or something and it's like, you know, and you text five of your girlfriends, like, hey, let's go out to dinner, brunch or whatever. I don't think I'd pick up everyone's tab in that way. But if I was like, oh, everyone come over for a party, I'm throwing something. I would expect to pay for all of that. Does that make sense? Yeah. So that's how I think it works.

Well, and another thing to do, and I've done this fairly recent, last few years, we were like, hey, we're going to get a big table at this restaurant, Mexican place, not super expensive. Everyone pays for their own meal. And I said no gifts in the invite. Like, hey, no gifts necessary, just your presence. Yeah. And that kind of just, people still brought stuff because they wanted to,

but it kind of alleviates to like, okay, I'm just going to show up, I'll pay for my meal, and that's it. Yeah, and we get to go. And so I'm a big fan of that as an adult. For sure. As a way to kind of slim down on the price point versus buying catering for everyone to celebrate me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. But budget for it.

You know what my dream is. Tell me. Manifest. I don't know if this is like a 40, I don't know what this is. I, one of my favorite things, when we do this at the Ramssie Christmas party, and I love it. Is the silent disco? Yes.

And I... Can you explain that to the people who don't know? Okay. Oh, yeah. So the silent disco is you have these headphones and they have three different colors usually, or at least the ones I've experienced. It's like green, blue, red, and you change it.

And every station has a theme. So it would be like pop or like old school rock and roll or like punk or country or whatever. Like they have very, they have genres, very specific genre. So if you see people with the green, you know they're listening to like Miley Cyrus and they're all, and everyone with green is, singing and dancing to the same song.

But then everyone in blue is listening to... Rock and that to a different song. Yeah, like... I don't know. I don't know. I'm blanking a little. All the small things. Me and Winston.

Maybe it happened. I don't know. You decide. And it's so... It is so fun. So I do have a dream. That's your birthday party. Oh, I would.

And I'd have some paper airplanes. Yeah. And like a massive room with like... And I would invite every... I would like make it big. I would invite people. from all scopes, like my kids, friends' parents that I know just, like I'm from there to work people. What about like mortal enemies, exes even? I mean, would that be fun? No, probably

not. Okay. You were like everybody. I was like, do you know what I mean, but make a bit, have it big. So I don't know, I want to do that one year. Why not? It's my dream. Maybe we should make a sinking fund and start saving towards it. Winston, if you're watching, which I know you don't, take a hint. That sounds like a dream birthday. What would be your dream birthday as we close out? My dream birthday. One where everyone's just happy and everything on the menu was to everyone's taste.

That's always my fear. I think food needs to be involved. Like great food and drinks. Okay. So like a great taste, like a fun, high class. Like if money wasn't an option and you could just like go big. Oh, man.

What would you do? Oh my gosh. Probably I think I'd go back to my childhood. I would love for all of us to like see a movie, maybe then go to a comedy show and then like go to a cool cocktail bar after. Okay. I think that would be really fun.

I think that's realistic with money these days. I was thinking like a European trip, George. No, I feel like traveling with friends is too stressful. We've been there, done that. Not for me. Wow, that's another episode. You know, different schedules. Yeah, they have to be the right people.

Exactly. But you find that right person. And I also don't have a lot of, I don't have a ton of friends. Kind of keep it slim. Don't feel bad for him, y'all. He does. She's lying. She's like, fight Amelia's teacher's cousin.

I met her once, and she was. It's so nice. All right. Okay, so whatever some of our takeaways, George. Number one, Rachel has a lot of friends. I know. I think number one is don't ruin your financial progress because of birthdays, okay? That's true.

This is like gifts or throwing them or having to go somewhere. Like, just be smart. Depending on your financial season, it looks different. When you're in debt, you may not have the big blowout birthday with the White Bounce house, but maybe one day you do. Yeah. And that's okay. And you know, small gestures, they don't have to break the bank.

and I think they're more meaningful. And as our friend Jade Warshall said during the Christmas season, adults don't need to buy adults gifts. So she was big on like, don't feel the need to like buy a blender for Aunt Rita. Yeah. She needs a blender, she'll get a blender, right? So birth doesn't know are different, but they are adults. We have jobs now.

But they are adults. We're not children who need people to buy things for us. That's right. Yep. So just be thoughtful now. Another thing I do take away is I create a sinking fund just for gifts. So every month we put away, you know, the $100 that by the end of the year, we have $1,200 bucks that we just know is there for gifts. Christmas and birthdays and birthdays and everything.

So we just know we have money sitting there for gifts. That way doesn't become a stressful like, oh gosh, it's Joey's birthday this month. What are we going to do in the budget? You just have the sinking fund and you're saving for that over time. I love it. So good. So good. And again, yeah, there's, I think overall people just, they do love to feel loved and celebrated, right?

So it doesn't matter the environments. It's more about your presence and quality time with people. It sounds cheesy, but it's true. It really is. Yeah. The memories I have are not from. I'm like, remember that time they did this big? It was just like the stories, the laughter.

You're with the people. Yeah, you love. And I, you know, I'm going to throw a link in here, George. You okay about that? Yeah. Because my newest kids' book is all about gratitude. And content. And, yeah, but I'm glad for what I have.

No, I'm glad for where I am. Oh, the new one. The new kids book, George, that's out. Oh, my gosh. And my whole thing with writing it was like being grateful for the things that money can't buy. I love that. So that's kind of like the adventure they go on. So the first one was all about contentment.

It's like, I don't need all this stuff. Yeah, and this one's gratitude. And this one's more like, I'm grateful for all the stuff that's priceless. Yes, that's right. Yeah, but they have to figure it out through an adventure. It's really cute. It's really fun. And George, I'm grateful for you.

So I have a little surprise for you, George. You do? I do. A little happy birthday treats for you. Oh, thank you. You are so welcome. I don't know if this is gluten-free. Probably not.

Nobody thought about me. handle? I promise it's gluten-free. Well, I have a little treat for you, Rachel. What? Wait. Oh! Not so fast! Snaky! Yeah, boy!

Y'all are so sneaky. Did you know I was doing this for you? May I do the honors? Please. We drive electric cars, we use electric lighters. That's the kind of people we are. Oh, my. And it worked. Thank you. Do you have a ukule? Stop it, George.

And I thought we'd have a little sing-along. since you love singing. I'll move my mic out of the way. And you're going to lead us. This is for you, right? This is Rachel's? Yes. Tradesie.

Oh my gosh. Look at us. Look at us. And we're going to sing a little song together. We're going to have the team sing along. Yeah, everyone else can sing too. All right. Here we go.

You ready for this? Yeah. George, look it. Is it happy birthday? Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Rachel and George.

Happy birthday to you. Wait to bring the mood down. Happy birthday. That's pretty good. Can I teach you one chord? This is probably all the chords Taylor Swift knows. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

She knows four. George. Okay, just put a finger right there. Okay. Nope, one. There we go. Now, that's a C. That's a C.

How did you mess that? Oh. You're holding it upside down. Oh, I'm left-handed. Well, that's a problem for Rachel. There we go. Okay, yep, right there. Yep.

That's a C. Oh, I'm so musical. As in see you at Rachel's birthday party. We'll see you next time on. I'm just kidding. We're not done yet. Wait, did you do a birthday party at you? Chuckie cheese for the kids? Yeah, they love

Chuckie cheese. That's great. Or a kid can be a kid. Yeah, you guys should blow out the candles. Didn't you get to make my wish. I wish for a more generous co-host that doesn't blow out my candle. I'm so sorry. No, that's fun. Cheers, Rachel. Cheers, George. Happy birthday. Two birthdays. May you have many more.

Oh, you as well. And may you have your dream silent disco party. I do. You'll be invited. I hope so. You're inviting literally strangers off the street. Wow. It'll be great. It'll be great. The team really pulled a fast one. They were like, Rachel doesn't know.

And they said, George, we just put it in your notes. You sneaky snakes. You knew good and well. We should have known. That's some tomfoolery. Oh my gosh, George. Well, it's almost the end of the episode, and we close out every episode with

Guilty as Charged. And this is where our producer, Skyler, gives us a new guilty-as-charge question every week. and if we are guilty, we take a sip. Skyler. Have you ever been gifted something that you hated and he had to pretend that you liked it? Oh, gosh.

That I hated. Hated. Wedding gifts would, like, that's where most of that is. Okay. Yeah, you can say a wedding gift. Mm-hmm. Yeah, do you have a specific wedding gift in mind that you hated? Yeah, I'm always just nervous that people like watch that, you know what I mean?

And I'm like, I don't want to like. I know that's what I can think of a specific. It was a specific. It was a specific. I know. I mean, I doubt it's 15 years ago. They probably don't remember. It'll make them more self-aware.

I'm so nervous. I'm going to go like... Like some of it was from fans, some of it was from family, all of which could be listening. I'm going to go like a vase flower pot genre. Oh. And it was just something. You know? It was something.

That's fair. Yeah. Yeah. I think like one of their family members was like into glass blowing or something. and it was, yeah, not like aesthetically pleasing. We'll just say that much. It was great. It was great.

Wow. I've gotten some, a few, not a lot, but a few handmade gifts from people. Yes. Some even fans, not of this show, but in general. Of course not. No. And they just, they were very thoughtful, nice, sweet gifts. There's a lot of camel, just paraphernalia around our house.

I do people, I do that people do that a lot. A lot of camels. A lot of camels. Things that say camel, things that are camels. And I'm into that. We got a Picasso, you know, line art that I chose. Yeah.

That's my, which you know when he died. 1973. And you'll never forget it. You'll never forget it. Never forget. I don't know how you could at this point. All right, George, you finish your drink first. Me?

No, I think I did before you cheated. I almost spilled that one. Well, I thought it was great. You didn't even finish your sentence. This was really, really nice. So this was a paper plane, not our paper airplane, which you said earlier. Forgive me. Mm-hmm. Sorry.

I don't know the difference, truthfully. Yeah. But a paper. Plain? There's a difference. All right. Here's what that is. Bourbon, apparel, amaro, and fresh lemon juice.

$2.89 per glass is what it costs. Okay. And it's one of mixologist Michael Reddish's favorite drinks. Oh, is it really? It is. And he nailed it. It's a little sweeter than what I would predict he would love. Yeah, I'm wondering what adds to sweet needs to, I guess.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. I loved it. I'm going to go 10 out of 10. I couldn't improve on it. Now, you said you wouldn't necessarily order it.

Okay. All right. I feel like that's a win. It was good, though. It was good. For both of us. All right. Get the recipe in the show notes and give it a try this weekend and thank us later. It's closing time.

So if you enjoyed this episode, make sure to leave a review. It is always helpful to hear from you guys. We love it. So thank you. Subscribe to the podcast. Thanks for listening. And we'll see you next Thursday on an all-new episode of. Smart Money Happy Hour.