7-Eleven's Slurpee turns 50, which means free Slurpees for everyone
From 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. 7-Eleven stores all over are giving away free Slurpees
Monday is 7-Eleven's nameday, and it's celebrating in fine frozen fashion: with free Slurpees.
America's largest convenience store chain has celebrated Free Slurpee Day on July 11 (you know, 7/11) since 2002. This year, though, marks the 50th anniversary of the Slurpee, and 7-Eleven has a birthday cake flavor to mark the occasion.
You can pick up a free small Slurpee between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Monday. But here's what's new for this year's anniversary: Slurpee Week starts July 12 and runs through July 18. This means customers with the 7-Eleven app who buy seven Slurpees during the week will get 11 Slurpees free.
What you do with 18 frozen sugary concoctions is your business, but here’s hoping you have a brain freeze remedy on hand, especially since Slurpees come out of the fountain at 28 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the 7-Eleven website. (Interestingly enough, 7-Eleven also trademarked the term BrainFreeze in 1994, according to Whitney Black, who works for Ketchum, a PR firm that represents 7-Eleven.)
Here’s looking at 50 years
When the Slurpee was first introduced, nearly 40 years the first 7-Eleven opened in 1927 in Dallas, it was called an Icee. It was soon after rebranded as the Slurpee. Since then, about 7.2 billion Slurpees have been sold, and they now go at a rate of about 14 million a month, according to Black.
The most popular flavor has consistently been cherry, Black said. In addition to cherry, the chain currently serves:
- Coca-Cola
- Banana
- Blue raspberry
- Hawaiian Punch
- Pina colada
- Air Heads Extremes
- Sour Patch Redberry
- Sugar-free pineapple mango
Some discontinued flavors:
- Kiwi-strawberry (regular and sugar free versions)
- Orange
- Lemonade
- Sour green apple
- Cherry Diet Coke
- Peach lemonade
- Pepsi Cherry Vanilla
- Mountain Dew Solar Flare
Black said other products 7-Eleven is rolling out for the anniversary are Slurpee-flavored candy, doughnuts and ChapStick.
USA TODAY reporter Michael Burke contributed to this article.