MN comps, justine & carrie i want a word ( or two)!

[Tortington]

can i say that a lot of the prizes are for mums n babies and are not appealing. and i think this is ageist ( against my kids). even if i wanted to enter the buggy competition to give to a friend i would have found it difficult to do a carseat review ( because carseat were made of straw and mud when my kids were little) i have recommended all my friends and i cant comment on a buggy as i havent driven one for 9 years, i cant recommend a parenting book as i have never read one in my life.

so maybe if i could just do something else to enter competitions? like review a car for 3 older kids, or sportsgear, or holidays or best book i read recently - am a mumsnet regular and i do feel penalised as the MN book is predominantly 0-5 isnt it? and media requests/site stuff usually 0-5 when to do with MN.

i want to write a review on how to afford 3 lots of adult size shoes for kids for school and where i got an adult size 7 shoe for my 11 year old daughter which didnt have a 6 inch heel for school.

or something similar

thank you for reading my comments

well done custardo, although my two ds are in the age group, I can see where you are coming from. We don't stop being mums when they turn 5, or do we ;o

Me too. I never enter, either because I can't (don't have anything relevant to review) or because the prizes are not suitable for parents of older children, or often both I have a feeling this has been raised and they are looking into it, though, so let's hope.

Yes I have to agree too.. I also have stopped even looking at the competitions.

We could recommend books and vids and even toys for older children, couldn't we? And prizes could be tickets for football matches or pop concerts? It shouldn't be so hard to arrange.

Yes, absolutely, Janh. It works both ways- I never bother reading reviews as they're never of anything of interest to my children. I would use MN much more (as opposed to talk, which clearly I do not need to use more ) if the reviews and things were less baby and toddler- orientated.

but cant u enter by post if u dont have anything to review? i know its a cost of a stamp, but its an entry isnt it.

btw i think i reviewed an car seat for older kids this time. i've run out of stuff to review lol.

post? stamp? You mean get off the computer and - gasp - do something, misdee????

True - but still most of the prizes are for littlies. We want some prizes for biggies!

You're right, misdee, but it's still only worth it if the prizes are relevant. I can imagine my kids' reactions if I told them I'd won tickets to Barney, or a baby carrier, or whatever. There are occasionally ones that would be OK, but not often.

how about a pampering weekend at a health spa for us mums. lol

Snap

Yes, brilliant idea, more prizes for mums (cos we deserve them cos we're great! )

choccies?

oh gawd, just remember i have a ten pound gift voucher for thortons. i want the vienesse truffles now!!

well said as always custy - I won a changing bag last year - my youngest was 5 at the time!

Brilliant point custardo. Agree absolutely. Love the idea of more pressies for mums as opposed to the little uns.

I only enter the non-baby/toddler comps, but have won three prizes on here in the last year or so. (Thank you mumsnet).

But I too like the idea of pampering mums prizes as well. (Actually it's me who's most looking forward to going to Alton Towers, so maybe that counts )

I have won several prizes over the years, all suitable for at least one of my sons. But I have noticed there's been a glut of pushchair prizes recently. I haven't seen a prize suitable for my sons or dh and I for several weeks. That's the first time that's happened on mumsnet. Usually there's something I'd like to win every other week or so. I did win tickets to Alton Towers though, so mustn't grumble ....

I have a young son, so that helps, but if I just had older children like janh and custardo, I would feel left out.

Point taken everyone. This is something we have discussed at HQ recently. In the next few weeks we are starting an ongoing competition to win a prize that is more relevant to all age-groups and that you don't have to send a review in to enter - more about that after half term.

In general we do try and have an older-age prize every few weeks or so but I agree it does tend to focus a bit on baby stuff because that's what we tend to get offered most. It all comes down to time and resources again really - ideally we'd like to run two or three competitions every week and actively source the best prizes - but it takes quite a bit of organisation and administration - especially when the PR company doesn't do their job right and we have to spend time sorting it out (don't mention the disney dvds!) We are a bit stretched as it is at the moment but we recognise this is a priority - even more so after this thread - so we'll definitely do something about it - maybe we should recruit a competition manager? - anyone interested should [email protected] . Thanks, as always, for the feedback,
Justine, Carrie and Rachel

thanks justine et al. and thanks for the support everyone i really didn't expect it.

yes i had said something along those limnes recently too custardo..my equipment is all so old anyway - and \i nwver win!