Peoples experience of winning competitions?

[DownUnderBound]

Just curious if people actually win these things! I have been.entering competitions online & from magazines for years, just for fun, when dc are in bed at night. They always show 'last weeks competition winners' ...has anyone here ever won, cash prize or holidays in particular?

It is very well regulated.

I've won a few things on here - three times I've won a chunk of vouchers for sponsored threads (I've named changed a few times now since the hacking incident) and I often win little raffle prizes now too.

Sounds fabulous Ken.
I won a night at the ritz and a trip to the theatre. Then I won a two day break in Belgium. As we live so far away we combined the two. We went to see phantom which I just loved . We saw the matinee performance and then drove to the ferry. Booked a hotel and the next day caught the sea cat to Ostend . Went to Bruges. Beautiful but poured down the whole day.

I once won a computer and a year AOL Internet, this was way back when Internet wasn't common

since then......nada

I could weep at those £8000 tickets. That would have bought a couple of holidays.

Years ago (1987!) I won a ski holiday. I only entered it because my friend was working at the resort where the prize was. It was a Christian ski holiday company and I won with the slogan, "I'd like to go on a [name of company] holiday because... I could do down the slippery slope while staying on the straight and narrow." Then I had to explain to my Ethics lecturer why I wanted to skive off for a week during term. The irony was lost on neither of us.

I also won a goody bag from Lilt (do they still make that?) with the slogan - "Totally tropicool."

Otherwise, I've won occasional crossword comps - with prizes such as book vouchers and the like. I'm not a serious comper, though.

My cousin has won two cars (not at the same time), and numerous holidays. Lots of smaller prizes, too, but I only hear about the big ones. But she enters dozens of competitions.

Iv won loads of bits over the years, the best recent thing i won was a little tikes smart trike, my daughter loves it.

"go down", not "do down".

Yeah I've won a few. Some £100 gift cards, family tickets to see theatre performances, afternoon tea at posh hotel, an iPad. Family days out. I always think the competition wins force you to do new things. I try to enter voucher or experience competitions. I would never have taken my kids out to the theatre n a school night, but it was so exciting for us. Wouldn't have paid such a lot for afternoon tea but took my granny and it was such a treat. I use mse mostly.

I went through a faze of entering for a month or so a while back...I won an ear thermometer on Mumsnet.

Lots of places ask for your mobile phone number though and I stopped because I got loads of spam calls. What does everyone else do about that?

I won a meal for 4 cooked and served in your own home by a top chef... (Tho so high up I can't even remember his name!)

Was given details, made contact, chose a date, (3 months notice was given) planned the menu with him and invited my guests...

Then he wrote to say he was moving house and would be in touch soon..

Never heard from him again.

Thanks Chat magazine 😊👍🏼

My friend won the Gadget Show bundle and it was, as expected, fabulous! I however have never won a thing despite entering oh so many

Pearlsaminger how long ago?

I won a brilliant weekend away at the Ickworth Hotel on MN a few years ago and we had an amazing time.

I have also won a MN Naice Tea mug for writing a poem, a rental of a sports car for the weekend, 240 Dunhill cigarettes (I don't smoke), a bottle of aftershave, a pencil case, and a sports bag with the logo of a Tampon company. My life is surely now complete.

Sadly for MN I did not win a prize draw for a professional wine tasting evening for hoteliers and their staff (long story) in my capacity as a pretend hotelier, but I was secretly relieved despite all the offers from MNetters who work in the hospitality industry to come along as my pretend employees

I won £5,000 worth of a holiday anywhere with ELC once. Tool the family and 2 sets of grandparents to Majorca for 2 weeks. Was lovely

I won a complete dinner service. Huge. It had meat serving plates, tureens the works. With three kids ihad nowhere to put it and a friends daughter got married so I gave it to her.

That would be the 80s

We had hampers. An Ikea food hamper was great fun. One of the tv's I won was runby the milk board. The milkman never came for the milk money so that must have been part of the prize as well.

Random electric stuff would just turn up, flowers, chocolates. Some weeks it was like Christmas...Then you could go months with nothing.

I just read that post back and would like to say that the random items such as fags were won in non-MN competitions over a period of 25 years I realise it may have looked a bit confusing.

Won a holiday to Australia in 2001 through a magazine. They asked readers to send in a picture of how they would enjoy their holiday 'down under' so I made up- a ridiculous story and got my dad to take a picture of me hanging upside down from a tree. Couldn't believe it when I won! I had to send the entry by post, I think it is much harder now people enter online.

My friend also won a trip to Ibiza - she posted her entry on an actual flip flop!

I suppose in theory you could buy a cheapo phone and have that as your 'competition' number which you usually have switched off. I have an email address which I use if I'm at all concerned about the organisation involved.

My next big win was a Trip to Tanzania ...

Won it on AOL Travel and wasn't sure it was real. However, called the company and yes... A 16 day holiday in Africa - 13 days on safari in the Serengeti, trip to Mount Killimanjaro... Then three days on the Paradise Island of Zanzibar.... Sounds amazing...

But.... We didn't have passports, my daughter was freaking out about spiders and creepie crawlies and living in a tent for 2 weeks. Plus... I'd just passed my driving test and we'd booked a holiday to Dorset..

So we gave the holiday to a friend who was getting married but couldn't afford a honeymoon.. He accepted it gladly...

And I never heard from him again! 😂😂😂

But Dorset was great and we've been back again and again.

And I did recently win some flowers on Mumsnet as a new poster 😊 Can't wait for them to arrive - Thank you MN 👍🏼😁

I won a tv once in a 'spend a tenner and get a coupon' thingy

my post made it to facebook haha

Oh and not quite a competition, but a member of my favourite band gave me tickets to a gig on Twitter once cos I tweeted him from a plane outs self big time

I used to enter loads, this thread has inspired me to start again.

I've always wondered though, these days with all the different methods of entering - email, text and post - how do they chose a winner? Surely, it was easier when they just drew an envelope out of a sack?

Floppy you've reminded me of a win my daughter had, two nights in the ath spa hotel and she spent the day with johnny Vaughan while they recorded movie watch I think.

It was ahalifax comp and her slogan was something along the lines of more extras than Ben hur.

They flew us to Bristol, then a taxi to bath. Fabulous hotel. While she was out on the Saturday I explored bath. On the Sunday it was the train home.

Very nice.