Have you ever won anything?

[PrimRoseLaffington]

Just that - have you ever won anything? I don't mean things where you're guaranteed to win so you keep spending. And I don't mean achievement awards or similar at work. I mean like prize drawer type of things.

I won £100 in the school raffle when I was 11.
I got a few £10s in the little blue packets in Walkers crisps when they did them.
I win something every month on the premium bonds.

But apart from that, I don't think I've ever won anything. I dabble on competition websites but never won anything from there.

I always wonder who does actually win on these things!

How many premium bonds do you have to win every month?

I used to enter pretty much every competition and prize draw.
I've won a couple of Mumsnet prizes (which I used as gifts)
Also a day out for 4 at Alton Towers with £100 spending money (I was 18 and it was through Sky TV)
I filled in a survey for a magazine called 'In The Know' back in the early 00s. About 6 months later got a cheque in the post for £500. (Also received free makeup, perfume and shopping vouchers by doing this - I used to fill in every survey that fell out of papers and magazines as they were the easiest prizes to win)
I was waiting for my mum outside the Halifax when this woman approached me to apply for a credit card. By doing so you were entered into a draw to win a £750 credit limit. I won that. Came in handy as I'd just left home. Have won money a few times at bingo. Won the regional prize on the national twice. 20 year gap though 😁

I won a chilli-eating competition and got a bag of quite expensive spices which was nice.

A game boy game when I was 10.

I pulled out of premium bonds after being in years and never getting anything! Same with postcode lottery.

Yes! - Back in the late 70s O'Level year I won £5000 on the Premium Bonds! (holding only one bond) There had been some sort of strike that year so the notification was late and they had kindly also added on 6 months interest. It was the summer of good luck - although only predicted 3 O'levels at a Grammar school I went on to pass 10 all grade C and above so could stay on for A'levels! (I left revising till the last possible month - not the greatest idea 😜) I put the money towards buying a brand new car for college later on.

Won absolutely nothing
My parents however won a camera in a photo competition then a timeshare. Yes an actual timeshare. They thought it was a weeks holiday they won but it was a week every year

I once won the £1000 top prize in a charity lottery but that was about 20 years ago. I now do 2 entries a month ( instead of 1 when I won) and haven't won so much as a tenner since!
I have £20k in premium bonds and win small prizes around 10 months of the year. I live in hope of Agent Million knocking on the door though 😂

I won a science poetry competition in the sixth form. Think the prize was chocolate.
A huge basket of fruit at the church fête.
Our team won the pub quiz night for three years on the trot, so they stopped having it after that. Prize was fruit there too.

My lovely 60 year old Aunt was an avid "comper" in Women's magazines. It was a running family joke that we'd never be short of Tampax, because ironically, that's all she regularly won. My dear Mum, however didn't enter many but 10 years ago won a bumper trunk of expensive (my) hobby equipment and accessories which are still used today - unlike the Tampax! 😁

I won a science prize in school which I had no knowledge about so didn’t even go to the ceremony. I didn’t win but a magazine cover I had designed was shortlisted for a publishing prize but I found out quite accidentally (the editor would have received the prize, even though they had nothing to do with it, and me not even knowing showed how much love there was between us)! £10 on a lottery ticket.
Thats’s it I think.

I won a Ford Kaa in a Kellogg competition. Then six months later 10k on Deal or No Deal viewer phone in prize at the end.

I love reading about these. There are some seriously impressive wins here!

Thank you for explaining.

I bloody loved Woolworths!

I have full holdings. DH has the same.

Its giving us 4.5% rate of return which isn't great but the chance to win big money is what stops us moving it to more lucrative investments.

Me too! The amount of pick n mix that got pick and nicked probably bankrupted the company one greedy school kid at a time! And the singles. I remember buying a few questionable pop hits with my pocket money. But they also sold like household equipment, kids clothes, garden stuff, fantastic! 🤣 X

I won a full day at the Castle Combe Racing School driving a formula ford race car & a Seat saloon race car from the Bristol Free Newspaper.

I’ve won loads of stuff just a few
nights stay at the Ritz with £500
move premier in London with hotel stay
kindle
weekend tickets to v festival
etc these were all free to enter competitions

If anyone remembers Glamour magazine, I won letter of the month (I was on an anti-racism rant) and won a really expensive ruby pendant!

In 2011 I won a work raffle for a then-state of the art ipad!

Yes, I enter competitions as a hobby and my best wins so far have been a holiday to Singapore with Kuoni and a Jet2 family holiday to Madeira. I've won money, vouchers, spa breaks / weekends away etc over the years. I've never paid to enter any of these either.

A weekend in a nice Irish hotel , a £300 bottle of whisky , Regular wins of a few hundred on premium bonds but I've £50k invested

Yes, a few things via Sky VIP like tickets to events.

I won 4 tickets to Alton Towers last year by purchasing crisps and entering the code

I've always thought of premium bonds like a sort of lottery ticket. Mine are only a few quid, my parents bought them when I was born, so no wonder they don't come up. Surprised to hear people have thousands in them.

I won an essay writing competition when i was 8. It was about hygiene(!) and it was written from the perspective of a germ hiding under a child's fingernail when they didn't wash their hands after going to the loo. It was a book that was far too young for me.
Various bets from when dh was a bookie and he'd tip me and dad off.
A pair of ghds from a big chain of hairdressers.

If my brother enters a competition,9 times out of ten,he'll win the main prize-he does very well out of it

I never won anything until the kids nagged me to enter a raffle at the charity shop

The prize was a massive (and I mean massive-it was bigger than toddler dd) Easter egg

It was so big,I had to use a hammer to break it up-and it was disgusting-even the kids couldn't eat it

The best one was a friend of mine

He arsehole ex had left her for another woman,leaving her with their two ds's and was refusing to pay for them (he told the csa they where not his dc so she had to jump through a lot of hoops to get him to pay,while he jumped through hoops not to)

Shed got all their presents but had no money for Christmas dinner/treats,so it was going to be a lean Christmas,but as she said 'at least we're together boys'

She scraped the last of her money together and entered a raffle of a massive hamper of Christmas goodies-you name a Christmas treat,it was in it

A week later,she got the call to say she'd won it!

There was so much,my mother gave her a lift home and they had treats in the boot,on laps and in all the footwells (not the drivers!) and they only just got it all in

I was so chuffed for her-it made their Christmas and the (now adult) dc remember it fondly

I feel duty bound to mention that I won a FABULOUS prize...on Mumsnet! Private view of an exhibition at a major gallery, with accommodation and train travel. It was such a brilliant experience and I am very grateful to this day - thanks again!