To ask what's the best thing you've ever won in a competition?

[AliTheMinx]

That's it really! I'm not one of these people who scours the internet all day for competitions to enter, but I do enter quite a few and have only ever won a voucher for sports clothes, free tickets to a local attraction and a Legally Blonde wig!! Is it all just a big con/data harvesting exercise or do people really win amazing prizes?

I won a foodie weekend away in the Lake District! This included 2 nights in a boutique B&B, a tour around the Lakes Distillery and lunch/dinner in 3 Michelin star restaurants. It's was bloody awesome!
I've also won a Canon DSLR camera and a makeover worth £1000.

I won a week at a YHA summer camp as a teenager which was pretty good!

Not sure I’ve actually won anything beyond that.

£254 bingo win
£126 lottery win
An Alexa
2 trays of homemade fudge
A dog photo frame
Wax melts
Crochet keyring
An art print
A handbag

Tickets to The Brits in 2014! Had an awesome time and saw Prince!

A day-trip to the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona on a chartered aircraft. Not a bad freebie!

A year's supply of Ben & Jerry ice cream.

This came in the form of vouchers, but unfortunately none of the supermarkets within a reasonable distance, stocked B&J at the time, many years ago, so a rather sad prize really.

A trip to the National Theatre to see Guys and Dolls for two people. This turned out to be fantastic, with a champagne buffet beforehand, interval drinks & nibbles on the terrace and a lovely show. We had a fabulous day!

DH won a years worth of beer and it just all arrived at once! It was about 400 bottles of cobra in crates and we lived in a small one bed flat at the time. It was all stacked up in the bedroom! We have a lot away.

I can’t think I’ve won anything really.

A couple of prizes on Mumsnet including an iron and an xbox. DS2 won a competition in a magazine and won lots and lots of lego. We didn't realise quite how much until the courier turned up with a HUGE box!

I won a demijohn full of sweets in a charity shop competition. Had to guess how many sweets were in it. I was the closest guess with 476 I think.

Well I don't now agree with competitions generally, as they just feed into a consumerist mindset, but when I was at uni I entered one which involved playing Tetris on the McVities website, and I don't think it had been very well publicised, as I came 1st, 2nd, and 4th in the rankings (plus some lower non prize winning ones).

I won a PS2 (which was the newest one at the time), a skateboard, and a magazine subscription. I refused the third one and sold the first two.

@rosiejaune off topic but can you explain ‘consumerist mindset’? Am genuinely interested as my sister in law wants to move away from a consumerist driven lifestyle and I don’t really understand what that means.

I won a free holiday from Haven.
I won a one cup (best thing ever) and I’m forever winning raffles (so far this year I’ve won: a catering tub of flakes, flumps, haribo yellow bellies and icy cups) I’ve won amazon gift vouchers and all sorts!

Orient Express to Paris, 2 nights in The George IV, money for clothes and shoes.

I've won a family photo shoot and a helicopter trip in the same raffle (butte gifted the helicopter trip as I felt bad), £250 in a singing competition when I was younger. That's about it I think!

A £250 M&S voucher

Tickets to centre court for the opening match of wimbledon. Would never have gone otherwise.

It would probably be the holiday to Australia, though we haven't taken it yet, so it's been postponed by a year. We confirmed original dates about a fortnight before lockdown...

Tickets to the British swimming championships at the Olympic pool a few months before the London Olympics was pretty cool. I took my best friend I met from swimming club back in our school years.

[quote GrannyBags]@rosiejaune off topic but can you explain ‘consumerist mindset’? Am genuinely interested as my sister in law wants to move away from a consumerist driven lifestyle and I don’t really understand what that means.[/quote]
It means buying things you don't need that are usually unethically/unsustainably produced, because that's become normal in our society. To consume (the term doesn't just refer to food, but any goods or services) unnecessary things (which is partly driven by advertising etc).

I assume she means she wants to live more simply and sustainably and probably also not be so exposed to mainstream media etc.

E.g. we spend our money on food and books mostly. And we don't have a television, or drive. Our carbon footprint is sustainable (which is very rare for a western family).

People's lives are often set up based around driving these days, but then you need a well-paid job to afford the car to get to the job, so it's a vicious circle. Most people could change their lives and work less if they had different priorities.

And people who earn more money tend to spend it, so even if they are buying sustainably produced items (not that common), they are also buying too many of them , i.e. they are still using more than their fair share of the earth's resources to produce them.

Tickets and VIP weekend to World Cup final in Paris - it was amazing!

A week's 4* holiday for two in Tenerife. Should have been in April but obviously it was cancelled. (Though they will honour it at a later date)

Large bunny toy
Skateboard
Light up yoyo
£250 waterstones voucher
Meal for 2 in a lovely Chinese restaurant
Round of golf for two
Several chances to play again on the lottery but never won any money on it 😅

My dog won a hamper of gourmet food and treats

@rosiejaune thanks, that’s a really helpful explanation.

Two tickets to a wine-tasting evening where we spent more buying the wine than the tickets would have cost! A box of teabags... And, best of all - a trip up our local TV tower. Amazing views, despite it being a bit hazy.

years ago i won a fully inclusive holiday at Butlins something i would never have afforded myself and the kids loved it
a holiday in America shame i had to take my now ex with me
a professional garage charger worth over £600
a full disco lights set up
loads of hampers
VIP day at Silverstone
year of cinema tickets
leather chair and stool
to name but a few