A Little Obsession

I love giveaways. I love having the chance to win something.  I have always entered raffles and contests and would sometimes be lucky enough to win some fabulous prizes - hockey tickets, household decor items, cakes, discounts on my power bill, and even a shopping spree at the Disney Store when I was a kid. If there was a chance to win something, my name was going in the hat! 

My biggest win was a trip to Disney World from a local radio station. It was my dream vacation. I took my first plane trip (at the age of 30); stayed at an amazing Disney resort, The Animal Kingdom Lodge; met my favourite Disney characters; took a special Disney tour, called the Wild Africa Trek; and had so many new experiences. I still can't believe I was lucky enough to win that prize!

Recently, I've starting participating in some Twitter contests. People hold Twitter parties, which are often chats on a product, service, or topic, with prizes. I only participate in parties that I find interesting, so I actually get something out of it, and also only if I would be interested in the prize. I always think that I would hate winning something that I wasn't interested in, and have someone else miss out on something they really wanted. This was a particularly lucky week! I won a $200 gift card from Walmart and a $25 gift card from the Superstore. If you like the chance to win things and learn more about a product, service, or topic, there always seem to be Twitter parties happening focused on one of these things. Sometimes people can get a little cheesey, but if you overlook that, they can be kind of fun. 

My favourite twitter parties are hosted by Yummy Mummy Club. They are well organized and on great topics. You can watch for their contests on their YMC Buzz Twitter account. I rarely win anything, but always learn something new.

There are also a lot of Facebook and Blogger contests that pop up. Many are "like and share" contests with local companies on Facebook. On blogs, they are often associated with products, which are a great way to try new products, without having to buy them. My Organized Chaos has a pretty great contest running right now, focused on summer camp outs. It's a great prize, and also a great post, if you're looking for some summer family fun.

Contests are fun to enter, especially if you have a little luck and actually win something. Have you ever had a big win? I'd love to hear about it! Feel free to share in the comments below and share links to your favourite contests running right now!