Fortnite is turning nine, and Epic Games is marking the occasion the same way it always does: with free cosmetics for everyone willing to put in a little time. The 9th Birthday Event runs from September 21 through October 1, giving you just under two weeks to lock in five distinct rewards before the game pivots to Fortnitemares. Some require quest completions, one needs a specific code, and one demands serious dedication to Sprites. Here's the full breakdown.
What free rewards are available in the Fortnite Birthday Event?
Fortnite is offering five separate free cosmetics during the 9th Birthday Event. Three come from completing Birthday Quests, one from entering a Lobby Hack code, and one from mastering 28 Sprites across the season. The rewards scale in effort, so casual players can still walk away with something while dedicated grinders get the most out of it.
Here's every reward and what it takes to unlock each one:
How to complete Birthday Quests and claim the cosmetics
The Birthday Quests are the most straightforward path to free gear in this event. Completing 3 unlocks the Choco-9 Back Bling, hitting 6 adds the Cake Crusher Pickaxe, and finishing all 9 rewards you with the FNCS Back Bling. Each quest completion counts toward your total, so there's no reason to stop at 3 if you're already partway through.
After testing the quest flow from the start of the event, the Birthday Quests appear in their own dedicated tab in the quest menu, making them easy to track without digging through seasonal objectives.
Fortnite Guide: All Birthday Free Rewards & How to Get Them
How to get the 9th Birthday Sprite Spray
The 9th Birthday Sprite Spray has a different unlock method entirely. You need to enter a specific code in the Lobby Hack Admin Panel. This isn't tied to any quest or match completion, so it's one of the fastest rewards to grab if you know what to do.
Head to the Lobby Hack panel in the main menu, enter the Admin Panel Code associated with the 9th Birthday Event, and the spray unlocks immediately. It's a one-and-done process that takes under a minute.
How to unlock the 9th Birthday Skin
The 9th Birthday Skin is the most demanding reward in the event. You need to master 28 Sprites during the current season to claim it. This isn't limited to the Birthday Event window specifically, but the skin is tied to seasonal Sprite progression, so your current season activity counts toward it.
Sprites function as a separate progression system within Fortnite. Mastering them requires consistent play and engagement with the Sprite mechanics across matches. If you've been actively playing this season before the Birthday Event launched, you may already have a head start on that 28-count.
If you're hunting other limited-time free items in Fortnite, the approach used for the free Soccer Ball Toy is a good example of how Epic structures these short-window claims, and it's worth bookmarking so you don't miss the next one.
When does the Fortnite Birthday Event end?
The Birthday Event runs from September 21 to October 1. Once it closes, Epic Games transitions directly into Fortnitemares, the annual Halloween event that the community consistently ranks among the best recurring events in the game. A Five Nights at Freddy's collaboration has already been confirmed for Fortnitemares, so there's plenty to look forward to after the birthday celebrations wrap up.
That October 1 deadline is firm. All five rewards need to be claimed before then, including the Sprite Spray and the quest-based cosmetics.
For players who want to stay on top of every free cosmetic opportunity in the game, check out the full Fortnite guides collection for breakdowns on past and upcoming events, including how to claim free Valentine's cosmetics and other limited-time rewards that follow a similar quest-and-code structure.