How would you like a half price deal on just about anything family friendly to fall into your lap?
That can happen now that Jamie Ratner’s Certifikid website has expanded from the Washington, D.C., area to Baltimore. Check out www.certifikid.com, click on Baltimore, and you might find a membership to Irvine Nature Center at half price, an organizer to come and straighten out your home for half the cost, a birthday party at Jump Zone at 50 percent the original price or amazing deals for area family friendly restaurants and museums. There are new deals daily on the website and if you sign up, you can get e-mails sent right to you.
Ratner, who lives in Bethesda, launched Certifikid in the Washington, D.C., area in May 2010. She had been working in security for a law firm in D.C. and writing a blog — “Little Miss Fun Finds” — on family deals in her free time. She was also following Groupon at the time but noticed there were not many deals that she could take advantage of as a mom. That’s what gave her the idea for Certifikid — a website with deals just for families.
She has a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old and was looking for a way to stay at home, Ratner explained. Luckily, the business took off and now she manages Certifikid full time from home.
The business is right up her alley, she said, because her family was very cost conscious growing up.
“I was raised in a household where the Entertainment Book was our bible,” Ratner said. “I have a knack for deals.”
Ratner finds businesses willing to offer deals, puts it on her website and keeps a cut of the income brought in. Some deals need a minimum number of buyers so buyers are urged to share the information with friends. Some deals have a minimum number available. All deals expire after a certain amount of time. If you share the link with a friend and the friend makes a purchase, Certifikid pays you $5.
Ratner said she takes advantage of many of the deals she offers on her site.
“It’s crazy … we are activitied out,” she said of her family. “I sign up for everything.”