Belmont Park kicks off Family Fun Fridays, with free food and BOGO rides

Have fun. Spend time with your friends and family. And don’t break the bank.

This is the idea behind Belmont Park’s new fall promotion, Family Fun Fridays. The park turns 100 this year, and it has been celebrating with special events and promotions, including this one.

Now through Nov. 21, the Mission Beach amusement center has a three-pronged deal that will make it easier — and cheaper — for families to spend time together on Friday evenings.

One promo is BOGO Wristbands, which are valid for dozens of attractions, including the Giant Dipper coaster, zip line, ropes course, climbing wall, 7D theater, bumper cars, laser maze, mini golf and thrill rides. The arcade, escape room, mining and carnival style games are excluded, and some rides and attractions have height and weight restrictions.

These buy-one-get-one wristbands are available at the park and at belmontpark.com.

The second promo is a “Play & Stay Arcade Deal,” which sells arcade access by the hour. Instead of paying as you go, one game at a time, or buying points for games, this pass lets players use the arcade games for $15 an hour.

Third, to provide energy for all that Skee-Ball, bumper car, zipline action, Belmont Park has launched a third promotion: kids eat free at Draft, a restaurant in the park, with the purchase of an adult entree. For kids, Draft sells chicken tenders, a grilled cheese sandwich and a mini cheeseburger, each served with fries. The main menu has burgers and sandwiches starting at $16, salads starting at $14 and several entrees.

Friendly suggestion: eat dinner after, not before, the Tilt-A-Whirl.

Chipotle dipping sauce on the go

How does a dollop of creamy chipotle sauce on your egg sandwich or sausage slider sound?

If your answer is “I got hungry just reading that sentence,” then you can head to Peet’s Coffee to feed that need.

The espresso chain has started selling a new product made by Carlsbad-based sauce maker Bitchin’ Sauce: a smaller version of its popular vegan chipotle sauce. This one is Chipotle Saucy Singles.

“We are so excited to see our Saucy Singles on the menu at Peet’s!” Starr Edwards, Bitchin’ Sauce’s CEO, said in a news release. “It’s a perfect match — our saucy little cups and their delicious sandwiches and coffee were made for each other!”

Most of Bitchin’ Sauce products come in 8- and 15-ounce containers, designed for sharing or consuming over time. The new 1.75-ounce size is designed for solo snacking.

“Whether you’re packing school lunches, refueling after soccer practice, or spicing up your after-school snack, these single-serve cups make it easy to dip, spread, and smother anything, anywhere,” it said in a news release about the new size.

These chipotle sauce singles were first released in California Peet’s cafes, before a broader national roll out.

Books, blooms, bonbons and a birthday

Vignettes, a vintage shop in Ocean Beach, is turning 30. To celebrate this milestone, it is hosting a birthday party for the shop’s customers and fans, which is open to the public.

When: Saturday from noon to 5 p.m.

Where: 4828 Newport Ave.

The owner, Lori Chandler, shared a preview in an email, saying, “the shop will be transformed into a magical rococo setting with floral displays, lavish décor (and) bonbons.” Author Courtney Allison will be there from 1 to 3 p.m. with copies of her new book “French Country Cottage In Bloom.”

Chandler added that her shop has become “a hub of the best of the best, the crème de la crème of designers, artist, craftsmen, inventors and creatives — a group of the most talented people in the business today, who all share a deep passion for vintage, for breathing new life into each and every one of their projects, for seeing things no one else sees, for giving second chances to the discarded and finding beauty in the imperfect — for restoring wonder to the forgotten and doing it all with the utmost creativity and flair.”