Holiday Bingo at Whitlow's

Join DC Fray at Whitlow's for a free bar bingo weekly in Clarendon. Starting at 6pm every Sunday from Dec 8, Dec 15, Jan 12 and Jan 19. Drink specials include $4 Miller High Life Drafts and $6 Truly Hard Seltzer 16 oz. Visit dcfray.com/bingo for more nights, locations, and info.

Free week at Iota

This upcoming week of January 27 Iota will feature four days straight of no-cover shows! Here are four great reasons to brave the cold and stave off cabin fever this freezing week:

• Monday starts out strong at 8pm with five live performances for free by Jackson (of the Weathervanes), Todd Daniel (The Walkaways), Lauren Calve, Grant Skalak (James Francis) and Kenny Paul (from The Highballers)
• Tuesday Jan 28 White Russians galore ate Iota as it is showing the movie The Big Lebowski twice for free at 7pm and 9pm.
• Wednesday is always free open mic night at Iota with anyone getting to play two songs from 8pm to midnight. The night includes fives songs by guest performer Andrew Gaddy of These Future Saints, who is also playing at Galaxy Hut on Feb 17
• Thursday Jan 30 doesn't feature any live music, but instead features DJ Sam Snow spinning for no cover charge starting 8pm.

Project DC "free beer" party at Mad Rose

Project DC Events is celebrating their one year anniversary this Sunday, September 22 at Mad Rose Tavern in Clarendon. Their theme is a "free beer" party, with participants getting one free beer with this ticket and redeem it between 11am to 4pm. Your free beer entry also gives you access to these exclusive drink specials, photo booth, party favors, a chance to win 2 Redskin tickets and other giveaways. The specials include:

• $2.50 Beers
• $3.99 Fireball shots
• $20 Champagne Magnums
• $23.99 Signature glow in the dark beer towers
• All day bucket beer pong games

Willams-Sonoma free technique classes

Every Sunday Williams-Sonoma in Clarendon offers free cooking technique classes. The workshop starts at 2pm and seats about 14 people, and walk ins are welcome. Participants enjoy 10% savings on select same-day store purchases.

This Sunday's class will be cancelled, but the next class on Sun Jan 20 is vegetation cooking described as:

If you want to add more vegetables to your daily meals, this is the class for you. We'll show you how to make some tasty vegetarian dishes that the whole family will love. You'll also learn to season foods and enhance the flavor without using salt.

Melodime free show tonight at Iota

Photo via Melodime.com

Come by Iota tonight to catch roots/rock band Melodime play a free show. Starting at 8:30pm, the local band kicks off their new album campaign party. In the past, the three piece band has played at Clarendon Day and opened for one of my favorite local groups Juniper Lane. It's not often you get a free show on Saturday night at Iota!

Free "Fed Up with Politics" wine tasting tonight

Politics have invaded everything in DC area life during election season, including happy hours and wine tastings. In this spirit Grateful Red is hosting a free "Fed Up with Politics" wine tasting tonight. The event lasts from 5 to 7:30pm and features three politically related wines. It's a perfect time to try out the "Ass Kisser" Shiraz!

Free South Block Smoothie St Jude fundraiser today

Stop by the always delicious South Block in Clarndon today from noon to 3pm to support St. Jude Children Hospital. For their "Drink Green for St. Jude" event they are giving away free junior size Super Green Smoothies!

Free Cupcakes in Clarendon Saturday

The Sprinkles bakery located in DC has a delivery van that will be stopping by different locations every day and handing out free cupcakes. Follow sprinklesmobile on Twitter the for the exact time and location of Clarendon free cupcake giveaway this Saturday, March 12.

Thanks to Lis from the DCist for the heads up!

Wine & Chocolate Tasting at Best Cellars

There is only one thing better than a free wine tasting: a free wine and chocolate tasting! Best Cellars on Clarendon Blvd held this delicious and educational event on Tuesday Feb 8. Five wines of various flavors were paired with exotic locally made chocolates. Kingsbury chocolates in Alexandria provided a satisfying array of sweets from bacon infused dark bars to Belgian white chocolate with strawberries.

Best Cellars was also generous enough to give out free mini chocolate cupcakes from neighbor Crumbs, as a prelude to their joint cupcake and wine tasting this Saturday from 1 to 4pm.

Digital Bookmobile at Arlington Central Library

If any other night owls like to read before bed, you should get the low down on free Library downloads when the Digital Bookmobile stops by Central Library on Wednesday, Sept. 29, from 1 to 7 p.m. The 75-foot, 18-wheel Digital Bookmobile will have a host of experts on board ready to take you through the entire download process.

Arlington Public Library offers a large and growing collection of text-based eBooks and digital audiobooks - all available for free with your library card, and downloadable 24/7 through the Library's website.

The Digital Bookmobile will be parked in Central's east side parking lot, close to 10th Street, on 1015 N. Quincy St.

Free Opera in the Outfield

The Nationals ballpark isn't just home to baseball games, as on Sunday September 19 there will be a free outdoor showing ot the opera A Masked Ball. The Opera in the Outfield event is hosted by the Washington National Opera and last year attracted 19,000 people to the stadium.

The night will also feature their Generation O program. By signing up for this free program, young professionals between the ages of 18 and 35 will receive an exclusive invite to the Red Porch lounge at Nationals Stadium on the night of the simulcast. Enjoy a beer and an opera in the same night!

Thanks Amanda for the tip!

Free Shakespeare plays in DC

Last week I was lucky enough to be in the city for Shakespeare Theatre Company's rendition of the comedy Twelfth Night. This is a free show hosted by Lansburgh Theatre the running August 19 to September 5, 2010.

Since the DC tax payers paid a cool $20 million to build the theatre, several free shows have been put on to give back to the community. The best way to get tickets for these shows is to sign up for the online lottery they day of the event. If not, you will have to wait outside in line for the Will Call tickets remaining. It looked like everyone waiting in line was able to get a seat though. The theatre is very modern and refreshing, and I honestly don't think there is a bad seat in the house.

This incarnation of Twelfth Night was very entertaining and fun, with plenty of adult PG-13ish humor to make the Bard proud. I highly recommend this as a different, upscale and free date venue for the city. Try to take the metro to Gallery Place because parking is limited. Or if you don't feel like straying from the Orange line exit at Metro Center, it is only a five block walk east to the theatre.

Rosslyn Outdoor Film Festival

Tonight was the free outdoor showing of the 90s classic drama "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" at Gateway park in Rosslyn. A small park at the foot of the 14th street Key bridge and one block north of the Metro, its a nice location for the fun and casual Friday Film Festival series.

Tonight was hot and humid and not too crowded. If you arrive after 8:30 you will have a hard time claiming a plot of grass. The event starts around 6pm with games like bean bag toss and t-shirts as prizes. One of the pre-movie videos featured local comedian Remy promoting the Arlington arts community.

Make sure to bring a blanket for your group, or better yet a very low chair. Regular sized chairs will block the view of people behind you, unless you sit on the pavement on the edges of the park. Also recommended is to bring a cooler with chilled water and snacks to fend off the summer heat, or just grab an ice cream cone from the McDonald's next door.

Next week "Empire Records" is playing.

Daily Free Performances @ Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center is known for hosting a variety of shows and concerts and for possessing a spectacular panoramic view of the DC monuments. Another lesser known feature of the Center is its Millennium Stage which features free performances every day of the year.

This week Roger Guenveur Smith played a fierce modern rendition of Frederick Douglass in his one man show and succeeded in scaring the white out of me.

The Millennium Stage performances is a great alternative for something to do in the evenings, and makes for a cheap, easy date alternative. Unlike most of the other formal shows at the Kennedy Center, this stage is more casual dress.