freebie giveaways in mags etc..has anyone had any ?

[COOLTRIKERCHICK]

hi..... i have started buying magazines for the vouchers etc... and i have noticed there is allways freebie giveaways ...like "100 bathroom goodypacks worth £20.each send your address.. "......

has anybody managed to get any of these freebie giveaways... and is it worth it ..as you got to send in your address so its a price of a stamp every time...

i was just wondering what the odds were in getting one of these freebie giveaways.....and if you have had any of these goodies.....what have you had........:rotfl:

[greenpixey]

I tried it for 9 month about 3yrs ago. I did every one I could find, in magazines, on internet, I even subscribed to a special paper that found these freebies and competitions for you and supplied you with all the contact details, answers and all the info you might need.
I didn't get a single one.... :o

But saying that it is law of average.
If you don't do it, you wont win. I guess I was just unlucky.

[greenishfingers]

I once won a rosette with Horse and Pony Magazine. It was quite a while ago ...

[COOLTRIKERCHICK]

as you say greenpixey.... its the law of average....i might do some just to satisfy my curiousity......
and greenishfingers that rosette sounds really sweet...i only ever won on rosette with the horses.... but got loads with showing the dogs.......

it would be nice to know that people do actually get something from these free giveaways...that was worth a bit.......i think if i won anything it would be prob a free supply of prunes or pilchards in tomato sauce or something ..............YUK...............:rotfl:

[bec28]

I have won things through the Tesco baby club magazine a couple of times. You e-mail them your details so it costs nothing, other than a few moments of your time!

[juno]

I won a family pass to Warwick Castle

[shanti]

I also tried for about a year - loads of competitions etc etc and didnt get anything - spent a lot on postage etc. I've got more stuff from this site and also from doing surveys.

[WELSH-DRAGON]

I have always found local newspapers much better when it comes to prizes, I have won over a couple of years, many prizes

£120 cash
Portable colour TV
A year's supply of Braces bread
A year's supply of cat food
A Thorntons Chocolate Hamper
6 x lots of circus tickets
First aid covers and stamps
Sticker albums and stickers
Toys for the children
A meal for 6 people at a Beefeater
A children's party for 10 children at local Beefeater

and lots more I cannot remember, I always enter the local paper competitions and went through a time when my name was constantly in the paper for winning; so much so I went to post a letter off and the cashier in the post office saw my return address and said oh you are the one that keeps winning the competitions that I enter !!

Magazines I don't tend to enter as there are so many other people entering them too. Welshy x

[fryster2006]

My mum used to phone local radio stations when they had cd competitions - she normally got a cd every week or so!

[Coupon-mad]

How funny Welshy, we have something else in common apart from 4 children and frantic coupon-use!

I also enter local competitions when I have the time, before kids I went thru' a phase of entering comps every week, and won loads of bits & pieces. I have also had success from entering magazine comps and freebie-offers:

From magazine freebies/comps over the years, that I can remember:

£5,000 to spend on a new bathroom
4-night break for 4 at Butlins (so I booked for 6 and just paid for 2 kids)
£100 worth of clothing
£150 baby changing unit (won when last DS was born, then sold it on for £50)
Other baby stuff, nappy wrapper, etc
Car hire for a weekend
Cleaning stuff, vouchers and products (and a cleaner for 3 hours)
Family ticket to local adventure fun/farm park
Loads of lipsticks/cosmetics which arrive in the post out of the blue...

Can't recall anything else as many were years ago.

I think the 'send off your name & address' ones are worth a go (the Butlins break was from Woman magazine so not just a local one). My tip would be send off your entry by 2nd class (to save postage) but time it so that you are not sending it too early. I always feel it should arrive on or just before the closing date, so your postcard would be on the top of the pile!? :rolleyes:

Also use cheap postcards (can be found for 5p in charity shops etc) which are colourful, rather than a plain sealed envelope. Works for me! :D

[WELSH-DRAGON]

I also found cutting unwanted birthday cards into 2 made a nice postcard too - I remember winning a cash prize and the company said they picked up my "postcard" as it had a cute picture on it !!! Cheaper than postcards and doing my bit for recycling too

Welshy x

[COOLTRIKERCHICK]

coupon -mad......i would love to win a cleaner for 3 hours.....they would need 3 hours just to make a walkway in the kids bedrooms......

and welshy.....you must have that special lucky streak or something.......

thats it i am having a go......i had a lovely post card in with my felix feebies so....that will be the first postcard to be used.....how can they not be drawn to a cute kitten.......:heartpuls

[FloFlo]

When I was 15 I won a tube of clearasil and a round orbit rubik cube from a teen mag. I also won a mens shaver from the Sun's xmas giveaway a few years ago.

[B&H]

I did Take a Break about 4yrs ago for 6 - 8mts never won......

[Nudge]

I do the competitions in magazines and started to think they were making the winners up, but then i got
£100 shopping vouchers for tesco in thats life
£50 cheque in best mag
£25 in full house so i was well pleased with my returns

[COOLTRIKERCHICK]

so.. nudge....def...worth the postage stamps then.....

[CGG]

I have won things through the Tesco baby club magazine a couple of times. You e-mail them your details so it costs nothing, other than a few moments of your time!

I won a washing machine in the Tesco Baby Club magazine. I couldn't believe my luck!

[magoogy]

when i was 16 i won a years free shaders and toners hair dyes which got me hooked on dying my hair but, still hasnt fallen out lol - i have the thickest fastest growing hair i know..........

i also won a years supply of makeup from rimmel about 2weeks after the dyes - both from jackie magazine....

i won a large cuddly panda bear at a school fete.....

i won my daughter art attack goodies from take a break....

i won lifetime passes for camelot theme park for my son and daughter....never used them yet....

i won a finding nemo dvd - still not come - months ago.......

numerous amounts at bingo

[tra]

I won a take a break magazine competition about ten years ago. It was a make over. They put myself and my partner up in a five star hotel for the weekend in London (all meals and drinks included), I had a complete makeover and was given photos to keep, we were taken by limo to see Sunset Boulevard and I also got £100 M&S vouchers.

Not a bad win eh! Mind you, I then featured in the magazine which I still have not lived down to this day! :o

[irisrose]

I have never won anything must have been born under an unlucky star or then again maybe not as I discovered this site and have had lots of freebies since joining thanks everyone

[susie41]

I used to belong to a competition magazine and entered hundreds over the 2 years I was with them. I also used to religiously buy Take a Break and fill it in...fingers crossed every time! I won a bottle of Baileys once and that was all. With all the money I spent on cards, envelopes and stamps it must have been the most expensive bottle of Baileys ever!! :(

[ladycatnap]

I have won loads of stuff over the years, make up, hair stuff, perfume, smellies i think it's worth having ago. It is just a question of luck. I even won a Kenwood food processor once with one of those " if you are one of the first 77 replies "

[nanamags]

I too have won quite a few things over the years. My best was a sewing machine worth over £500. I even won a kitchen sink I was hoping for the whole kitchen but got the runner up prize. My latest was a £50 voucher for Tesco. I use the freebie postcards on display in cinemas. All my friends and family collect the cards for me when they see them.

A friend of mine sets aside every Saturday morning to enter all these comps and she uses glitter pens, bright stickies any thing for her entries to stand out. They must work because she has had loads of prizes. She has won a least 1 holiday a year for the past 10 years including her honeymoon.

:j :j :j :j

[angelcake]

Blimey coupon mad well done!! I am never lucky with competitions... I wouldn't say I was an unlucky person though cos I have a great family!!

[jules99]

I have won loads of things over the years. Stopped doing it for years but recently started again. I have won toys, hair products, make up, moisturisers, gift vouchers, a year's supply of maltesers (arrived all at once).
Designer sunglasses recently from New Woman Mag (entered by email). I was a subscriber to the magazine and I received a reply asking me if I was a subscriber.

Other wins for completing questionnaires in magazines where you get entered into a prize draw are £1,000 beauty products to test and keep (New Woman Mag again but that was 6 year's ago). This was the best prize - contained expensive moisturisers and suncreams in 2 large boxes (was so excited). Also a blue large fridge freezer from House Beautiful for completing a questionnaire.

I always use plain postcards. I also have telephoned rather than entered by postcard and have won prizes doing that.

[moggins]

Loads of stuff, more than I can remember although I did keep a count in my first year of doing competitions and the value of the stuff I won came to just over £9,000.

I haven't done many lately apart from comps to win days out.

[kool-mumma]

I won six months of baby food from Hipp. It was a freepost address and I entered literlly hundreds of times. they had a draw a month for three months and I won the first one. Think I was costing them too much money!!
My Mum went mad as I was moving out the following week and fifteen hugh boxes arrived and we had no where to store them. Kinda took the shine out of my moment. Had so much baby food i gave lots of it away to friends. A very good win but you would think they could send out vouchers!!!

[Coupon-mad]

Blimey coupon mad well done!! I am never lucky with competitions... I wouldn't say I was an unlucky person though cos I have a great family!!


You are certainly not unlucky then, angelcake. I am also very lucky with my lovely family! :o

For anyone thinking of doing comps I would really advise not to bother with the Take-a-Break style mags, where there are loads of weekly comps. Can't think of anyone I know who has won this type of comp, whereas several friends have won things thru' other magazines.

I target mags where they do not have pages and pages of comps and a single-entry coupon at the end! Look for a good chance of winning, sometimes 'ordinary' mags like Woman's Own have 500 of an item to give away, which gives you a good chance of success.

Enter your local paper comps too and anything where the prize is specific (in location or age-group) so as not to attract every reader (e.g. the Butlins one had to be taken at Bognor within specified short-notice dates, which suited me).

Another goodie is a comp with a short time to enter (some local papers allow just a few days). Get into the habit of entering the comp there and then, whilst reading the paper (a bit like how I cut out money-off coupons, leaving a nice hole in the page for my OH to discover later!!! :D ).

[juno]

I read in one magazine that they higher the prize value, the fewer entries they have. This was a few years ago though, and it was one of the teens magazines.

[mandy_moo_1]

I've been doing the comps in Take A Break, Chat and Thats Life for more years than i can remember......never won a thing!!!! :rolleyes:

[Coupon-mad]

I've been doing the comps in Take A Break, Chat and Thats Life for more years than i can remember......never won a thing!!!! :rolleyes:


My point exactly! Now mandy moo, how about a challenge?

Force yourself not to send off the 3 entry forms you've been doing every week and look instead for 3 other competitions you'd like to enter (from your local paper, another mag, an entry coupon picked up from supermarket aisles, etc.)

For, let's say, 3 months, enter 3 of these other comps/freebies every week, using the stamps you would have wasted to TAB etc. Then come back to this thread and tell us what you have won!

:T

[mandy_moo_1]

My point exactly! Now mandy moo, how about a challenge?

Force yourself not to send off the 3 entry forms you've been doing every week and look instead for 3 other competitions you'd like to enter (from your local paper, another mag, an entry coupon picked up from supermarket aisles, etc.)

For, let's say, 3 months, enter 3 of these other comps/freebies every week, using the stamps you would have wasted to TAB etc. Then come back to this thread and tell us what you have won!

:T
you're on!! i'll give it a go and see if i can prove to myself that i wasn't just born unlucky!! Gonna get me little lucky duck to sit next to me whilst i'm doin em and see what happens!! i'll let you know how i get on!! :dance: