Are you Butlins' biggest fan?

Butlins are running a lovely promotion at the moment where you have to prove you're a HUGE Butlins fan in order to win one of four weekly prizes of £100 vouchers or a Flip camcorder - to enter you need to encourage people to follow @wearebutlins on Twitter, sign up to the fabulous Butlins Facebook page and blog about the magic of Butlins! You can find out more details at the Butlins website - the first of the weekly competitions ends tomorrow, and there are £100 Marks and Spencer vouchers to be won.

I'll admit I haven't been to Butlins since I was a little girl, but I had some wonderful holidays at Minehead in the late seventies with my family - Mum always reminisces about being there in 1977 at the whist drive when we heard Elvis had died...

My Mum had fun working as a waitress in the Kent Dining Room at Butlins in Pwllheli in the sixties, and fondly remembers the Queen's visit in 1963. She also worked in the Coronation Bar, but only lasted for one night because she spilt all the drinks...

 

In the years before I had Ryland, my holidays were all glamorous city breaks and long haul adventures. Now I'm an eco-friendly Mum it's all about train journeys and staycations, so Butlins is firmly back on my agenda and I'll be keeping an eye out for competitions to win a break there in the Summer - I'm going to start by entering the monthly prize draw at the Nutella website and the draw that ends TONIGHT in the Asda Magazine!

Blogaversary Comp: the winners!

Thankyou to everyone who entertained me with their fabulous reading choices. It was really interesting to be on the 'other side' of comping for once - I can appreciate what a tricky job it must be to judge slogan and caption competitions now!

After narrowing my favourite entries down to six I read them all to my independent judge (my husband!) and he helped me decide on my two winners, which were:

Let Me Tell You About Alex: Anyone who's met me will tell you I'm a huge snooker fan. Though I haven't been able to get to any tournaments since my daughter was born, I treated myself to a ticket to see the Snooker Legends tour last year, mainly in order to watch Alex Higgins, as I'd never had the opportunity to see him play live. Unfortunately, he had to withdraw due to illness, and passed away shortly after. This book (which actually isn't out 'til 1st Feb) looks to be an honest reminder of a hugely troubled talent.

and:

Jamie's Ministry of Food: Too many experimental disaster dinners have resulted in unromantic windy nights. Thank god I've just discovered Jamie to save my marriage!

Congratulations to Squeakymom (Lorraine Cooper) and Kathryn MacKinnon - I'll be contacting you both very soon to arrange delivery of your prizes.

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to enter, I loved reading about your hobbies, children, travel plans and unfulfilled ambitions, and your book choices gave me some great ideas for my birthday list. I'll have to put on my thinking cap and start planning the next SuperLucky competition now!

Blog Comp Round Up

Ah, this time last week I was about to board my Eurostar to Paris - I hope you enjoyed my report earlier in the week! My solitary win this week was a mascara from the Boots No.7 Facebook page - this will come in useful to enter their new 'Best Wink' competition to win a pampering weekend, or one of 9 weekly goodie bag prizes (and there's no voting this time, hurrah!).

Don't forget that today is the second Mullerlight Fashion Treasure Hunt - check their Facebook page at 11am to see where you can pick up a free Gucci Tote Bag!

Here are this week's top blog giveaways... and if you sign up to receive the Present Dreams blog by email, when they reach 150 followers there will be a prize for one of you!

Closing today! 
• There are two prizes of a book of your choice right here at Superlucky! 
• Win a cute cosmetic dolly bag at Piddley Pix
• Win £75 to spend at Officers Club at Penny Golightly 

No closing date
• Super Amazing Mum has tickets to The Baby Show at Excel up for grabs

Closing 30 January
• Win an Annabel Karmel pasta book at Cherished by Me

Closing 31 January
• Win Nuby baby goodies at Bloggomy 
• Lizzie at Me and My Shadow is giving away cute From the Wilde goodies 
• Always Thinkin has an original artwork by Sophie Blackhouse up for grabs

Closing 2 February
• Tor at Fab Frocks wants you to guess the RRP of her bargain buys to win £50 Brand Alley vouchers

Closing 3 February
• Win B Sensible fitted cot sheets at Two Become Four

Closing 4 February
• Win a £50 voucher to spend at JML Direct at Rhoda Reviews

Closing 9 February
• Given to Distracting Others have Bottlegreen Cordials on offer

Closing 11 February
• Win Ideal Home Show tickets at Given to Distracting Others
• And Then All I Thought About was You have Simple skincare goodies to be won

Closing 14 Feburary
• Win a CARES (Child Aviation Restraint System) at Mummy Alarm

Closing 16 February
• Win £200 Hilton Worldwide vouchers at The Londoneer

Closing 21 February
• QWERTY Mum has more Nuby baby goodies to give away

Closing 31 March
Win MeMeMe makeup at The Beauty Scoop

That's your lot for this week! Hope you have a lovely weekend... and if you do enjoy my comp round-ups then you could always show your appreciation by voting for me in the Cadbury Double Challenge competition! I'm currently in 8th spot and need to make the top 5 for my Karate Chopping video to be judged... thankyou!

Spots v Stripes: Double Challenge

My good friend Laura stumbled across the fabulous Double Challenge competition on the Cadbury Spots v Stripes website last week, and with the deadline for entries on Monday at noon we needed to work fast! Props were gathered, stripy clothes pegged onto washing lines and Flip camcorders charged up in readiness for our Sunday shoot.

Along with Mr Superlucky and our friend Lisa, we attempted various Double Challenges to try and win ourselves £5000, a chocolate bust (of the lucky winner) and lots of points for our team - in my case, the Spots! No children were allowed to appear in the films, so sadly Ryland didn't get to add to his CV this time round...

The brief from Cadbury was to film yourself multitasking, ensuring one of your chosen tasks was sporty. So, introducing... KARATE CHOPPING!

...or how about a WASH CYCLE - drying your clothes whilst cycling round the local park?

...or the TOUCHDOWN TROLLEYDASH at Sainsbury's perhaps?

Now, we won't win a sausage unless you like our challenges enough to vote for them at the Spots v Stripes website, so please head over there, register to join Team Spots (because I'm a Spot!) and give us your support. You can vote for all three and it would be great if you could, as the top ten videos will all be judged with a chance of bagging the top prize. Here are the links:

Di's Karate Chopping
Lisa's Wash Cycle

Laura's Touchdown Trolleydash

Still not sure what this Spots v Stripes lark is all about? Cadbury want us to play more games in preparation for the Olympics next year! So pick a team and start scoring points and winning prizes - it's also worth checking out their Twitterfeeds (@CadburySpots or @CadburyStripes) and Facebook fanpages (Spots or Stripes) for details of Dodgeball, the tweetoffs and other fun competitions!

Thanks for your support in this one, it's really appreciated!

Say cheese! The latest photo comps

Fancy a trip to LA? Orange Wednesdays Film Club is running an amazing photo competition on Facebook, it starts today and only runs for 4 days so you need to be super fast sorting your entry by 11pm on 30 January (note: this has been extended since I first blogged!). The prize is a luxury trip for 2 to Fox Studios in Hollywood and to enter you need to 'upload a photo of you and a mate using perspective to make one of you appear like a giant Gulliver and the other look like a thumb-sized Liliputian'. Ohhhhh, the fun you can have - what a shame it's such a tight deadline! My tip would be to try and relate your entry to films - perhaps do it in your local multiplex car park, or wear movie star fancy dress - I think they'll favour a photo that has been taken especially for the comp rather than an old holiday snap! Enter here.

Joules have a new competition running at their Facebook page, where you can win a holiday in a Lake District log cabin. To enter, upload a holiday photograph here by 16 February - Joules are choosing 9 finalists to go to a public vote, but the losing 8 finalists will get a £25 Joules voucher too. Joules is all about the countryside so I would recommend uploading a British holiday photo, rather than luxurious foreign beaches!

Hand Picked Hotels are running a monthly photo competition to submit your photos to their Facebook page, with a prize of an overnight stay for two with dinner and breakfast. They'll be shortlisting their favourite entries, which will go to a public vote. This month's theme is 'Nature at Hand Picked Hotels' and you need to get your entries in by 13 February. Next month the theme is 'Weddings at Hand Picked Hotels', I have some good shots to send for that one as I got hitched at the Hand Picked hotel in Castle Donington! You can find more details at their website. I'm sure this will be a low entry comp, so it might be worth you taking a detour to find your nearest hotel - check the list of hotels and map here.

Another daft photo competition is running on the Wicked Pig website at www.stytv.co.uk - this time you need to do a 'snout pout', so be prepared to embarrass yourself! It's another amalgamation of a voting and judged competition - the three monthly photos with the most votes will each win either a BBQ Party kit, a night at a theme park or a console and games. The winner of the grand prize will be chosen by an independent judge from all photos, and will win a choice of a £5000 family holiday, party in a toy store, family celebration or kids room makeover. You can upload your photo until 31 March, but the monthly draws end on 31 January and 28 February too. If you're only interested in the main prize, perhaps hold back on uploading your photo until the end of March then you can ensure you do something that stands out from the other entries!

I mentioned the Londoneer's competition in my Blog Comp Round Up a couple of weeks ago, but as it doesn't close until 31 January I wanted to give it another plug - there are only nine entries so far, and with a top prize of £150 shopping vouchers and two runner-up prizes of £50 vouchers the odds of winning are great! The theme is 'Communication' and you need to upload a photo to the Londoneer's Flickr group to enter.

Happy snapping!

My Parisian Extravaganza

Ooh la la! Last Friday I was lucky enough to spend the day in Paris with the lovely Emily from My Fashion Life, after winning the Ford Ka 'Discover a Style You'll Love' Facebook promotion. I'd never been to Paris before, so although I knew it would be a flying visit I was so thrilled to get the opportunity to travel there on a shopping trip.

Leaving Nottingham on the 7.50am train, I was at St Pancras to meet Emily and our photographer Chris by 10am and soon we were on the Eurostar to Paris - this was the first time I've left the UK since 2009, so I was in a frenzy of excitement. It was great chatting to Emily about fashion, music, football, and of course, competitions! On arrival in Paris we jumped on the Metro to Filles du Calvaire - Chris tried to get us lost but we didn't fall for it, so soon we were in a little bar enjoying our tasty lunch of cheese, meats, baguette and a glass of wine. We chatted so much that time flew by, and it was already 4'o'clock, so we only had two hours to go shopping before we needed to catch the Metro back again!

Emily and I each had a £500 prepaid Mastercard, which we had to return at the end of the day whether we'd spent it or not, so the pressure was really on. Luckily we had an informative map and a cute guidebook provided by Ford, and the area we were in was choc-a-bloc with chic boutiques, vintage shops and trendy French designer stores so we didn't stray far from Rue de Poitou. Chris headed off to the pub, he said he'd find us later when we 'had more shopping bags'!

My first buy was from a great shop called Swildens - a khaki trench coat reduced in the sale from €240 to €72. Next door, Emily bought a cute handbag from a lady in a crazy wig who talked nonstop and couldn't grasp the fact that we had 90 minutes to spend £1000, and so we really didn't have time to chat about zips with her! Here's Emily with her new purchase...

Then we crossed the street to Violette and Léonie, an amazing vintage store. I tried on three dresses and two of them fitted me perfectly - this chic Dries van Noten dress was €138.

I also bought a slouchy casual dress by local designer Imaobong for €67. On the same street I spotted a blue felt hat in the window - reduced from €80 to €50, and then we headed over to trendy French brand APC to check out their sale. I found this oh-so-French stripey silk dress (half price at €80) and belt (reduced to €50), and Emily bought some dainty gold and black pumps and a woolly jumper.

Checking the time, we quickly popped into cool shop The Kooples - this French chain has just arrived in the UK too - where I found these fabulous leather shoes covered with dinky skull studs (reduced from €220 to €114). 

By this time Chris had rejoined us to do a quick bit of filming, and on our way back to the Metro I had chance to pop into American Apparel to grab a couple of bodysuits for baby Ryland!

I reckoned by this time I'd probably just about spent my allowance - but luckily I had enough left on the card to pay for our Metro tickets back to Gare du Nord! Before boarding our train home we stocked up on champagne, beer, cheese and French sticks (sorry, baguettes) for the journey - by the time we sat down on the train we were pooped!

I loved my day in Paris - although I didn't see much of the city, it gave me such a taste for it I can't wait to go back there again. And of course, the shops and the company was brilliant - THANKYOU so much Ford Ka for running such an amazing promotion. And the prize isn't over yet - because tomorrow I get a brand new Ka to drive for two months!

Oh, and if you want to read about how the other 3 lucky winners get on in London, check out the Fab Frocks, Clothes Whisperer and The Style PA blogs - and of course the Ford Ka Facebook page!

Le Blog Comp Round Up

It's just a petit round up this week as I'm off to Paris today on my Ford Ka prize shopping trip with Emily from My Fashion Life ...yippee! I have £500 to spend there in 5 hours, this is certainly going to be a fun challenge... pop back here over the weekend to find out how I get on!

Closing 22 January
• Win a signed Jess Haines book at Susan K Mann's blog

Closing 23 January
• Win Babywear Brands vouchers at Mummy_Of_3_Diaries

Closing 24 January
• Win Origins Ginger Souffle at Love Lust and Fairy Dust
• A Mother's Ramblings has four family tickets to VUE cinemas to be won
• At Me and My Shadow you can win a pair of serving spoons

Closing 26 January
• Win a Chic Unique necklace at Writings, Ramblings and Reviews

Closing 27 January
• Win Jackson Reece Herbal Baby Wipes at Two Become Four
• There's a pink princess teaset up for grabs at Diary of a Frugal Family

Closing 31 January
• Win a Toy Story Junior Readybed at Mellow Mummy

Closing 1 February
• Win a pair of London Eye tickets at the Mummy Life
• Dezeen are giving away five copies of 'Ridiculous Typography Rules'. My husband would *love* this book!

Closing 2 February
• Win a Nemo Bath Island at Baby Budgeting
• Rhoda Reviews is giving away £50 of Avene skincare products

Closing 6 February
• Win this cute Valentines Card at Ruby Wren

That's your lot for this week! Hope you have a lovely weekend....

7 things about me

What's this then? I hear you ask... Well, I was tagged in a meme (look it up on Wikipedia like I had to!) by the lovely @missielizzieb at Me and My Shadow, and as a result I need to educate you all with seven fascinating snippets of information about myself. Those of you who follow my blog or are my Twitter and Facebook friends will already know way too much about my comping hobby and motherhood trials, so I've tried extra hard to come up with these not-at-all-comping-related thrilling facts and accompanying photos...

1. I have a degree in Electronic Imaging and Media Communications from Bradford University. I still don't know what to do with it.

2. The first dance at my wedding was the Hokey Cokey. Because of my new surname, you see.

3. I'm an indie kid at heart; I saw the Stone Roses in Walsall in '89, Nirvana in Wolverhampton in '91, and dyed my hair pink to follow Green Day on tour in '95. I just wish the memories weren't drowned in a haze of K cider.

4. I did a bungy jump at the world's first bungy jump site in New Zealand. I will never do one again.

5. My Dad insists that Adam Woodyatt (Ian Beale in Eastenders) is my second cousin. Hours of research on www.ancestry.co.uk have still not proved this claim to be true (thankfully).

6. I speak - and read - a little Japanese. 面白い ですね.

7. Last year I dined at the 'world's best restaurant', Noma in Copenhagen. The truffle course was awe-inspiring.

Now, here's the hard bit. I'm supposed to tag 15 other bloggers here but lots of my super friends have already posted up their 7 things, so I've tagged just six of my favourite bloggers...go for it girls!

@jojoebi
@compergrapevine
@rosiescribble
@laralain
@melaina25
@no1headhuntress

Comps for those who like a challenge!

Thanks to the new SuperLucky Facebook fanpage, my blog has acquired lots of lovely new readers, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to remind you all of my top comping tip - choose competitions that are HARD to enter and EASY to win! I've been having a browse on Facebook and the internet this morning to find you some good ones to get you started...

How about a £50 voucher to spend at Yo!Sushi? You'll need to download the MyVoucherCodes App for your iPhone, and get someone to take a photo of you using the App (see, I told you it was hard!). Then email your photo to contact-us@markcomedia.com by 31 January - you can read the full details here

Or would you like £250 to spend at Sweaty Betty? Just post your top tip on how to 'get fit 4 free' on the Sweaty Betty Facebook Page before 12 February. There are two ways to win - either get the most 'Likes' on your tip, or be judged to be the best tip by the Sweaty Betty team. I've already posted up my tip, so please 'Like' it if you think it's a worthy winner! Further details are at www.sweatybetty.com.

Havana Club Rum are running a great promotion on Facebook where they want you to show your Habanero spirit to win a trip to Cuba. There are five monthly closing dates until 31 May, and the best entry (as judged by the promoter) for each month will win arty, musical and photographic prizes. These winning 5 entries will then go head-to-head in an online vote to win the Cuba trip. An important part of the rules is that you may not feature anyone who looks under the age of 25 in your entry - I'm sure this competition will get very few entries, in fact it only has one so far (in addition to the 4 example videos) so if it's your thing then do give it a go!

Another tricky one is the Bombay Sapphire 'Project your Imagination' competition to win £5000, which offers you a "once in a lifetime opportunity to project your imagination to the world!" on an iconic building - you can submit your entry as a video, illustration, photograph or musical piece. Entry is by visiting www.facebook.com/bombaysapphire before 29 January. Judges will pick their top 5 entries and then - no surprises here! - the public will vote for their favourite, who will win £5000 and work with the creative team to see their projection realised.

Finally, do you fancy winning a trip to Japan? ANA are currently running a Facebook competition to win return flights to Japan from any ANA gateway airport worldwide. To enter, upload a photo of your dream Japanese experience (this requirement doesn't really make sense to be honest, how can you do this if you've not been to Japan?) at the ANA Facebook page and then get your friends to vote for you - as you know I'm not a huge fan of these types of contests (no judging involved at all, worldwide entry, no runners-up prizes or incentives for voters) but some of you might fancy giving it a go - the winner will be the photo with the most votes.

Ganbatte! (as they say in Japan...)

Blogaversary competition *now closed*

It's two years ago today that I started the SuperLucky blog, initially just as a record of my wins which nobody read except my Mum and my best mate JoJo! These days it's a little bit busier and I hope I keep you all entertained with my posts and competitions! 

To celebrate my Blogaversary I'm running a special competition which will be open to all my readers - yes, even the ones in Latvia and South Africa. There will be two prizes of books from www.bookdepository.co.uk, who ship worldwide for free. Hurrah!

To enter, I'd like you to comment on this post and tell me which book you would like from the Book Depository website (leave an ISBN number too if possible) and why you would like that particular book - please ensure the cost of the book is below £15! To validate your entry I will need you to either be a Follower of my blog (you will need a Google account for this) or a Fan of the new SuperLucky Facebook page (just click 'Like' to join). Please mention which of these you have done in your comment, and if you've done the second option please leave your Facebook name so I can contact you if you win.

The deadline for entries is Friday 28 January at midnight, and I will choose two winners who will receive their chosen books. Depending on my mood, I may pick touching, amusing, ridiculous or inspiring entries, so have a good think about why you want that particular book!

If you'd like to Tweet or Share on Facebook too, that would be lovely (but it's not a requirement) - good luck everyone, and thanks for your support!

Blog Comp Round Up

Well hello there everyone! This week I'm delighted to announce the arrival of my new SuperLucky Facebook fan page - so do pop over there and click 'Like' if you want to get my blog posts in your Newsfeed (I know some of you haven't got to grips with Google Reader and RSS yet). I'll be sharing lots of new Facebook and web comps there too, so it's worth becoming a fan! Like me, were you lucky enough to win a £25 High Street voucher in the Primula competition on Facebook this week? There were 25 prizes and only 27 entries, so great odds of winning!

Closing 16 January
• Win goodies from The Character Place at Rhoda Reviews
• At London Underground's Blog there are 3 Mind the Gap t-shirts up for grabs

Closing 17 January
• Win a magic colour change Cuddledry bathmat at Slummy Single Mummy
• The Gentry Grooming Co have lots of goodies to give away - and free samples for every entrant (I'm not sure of the right answer for this comp - either number 2 or 4!)  

Closing 18 January
• Rhoda Reviews is giving away 5 cans of Kiwi Aquastop spray for your boots
• Win a Family Friendly Business book at Joanne Dewberry's blog
• There are Ministry of Sound workout DVDs up for grabs at Mummy's Little Monkey

Closing 19 January
• Mummy's Little Monkey also has Winnie the Pooh and Little Me Organics goodies on offer 

Closing 20 January
• Win iPod and iPad skins from Gadget Glamour at Rhoda Reviews

Closing 21 January
• Win Disney's Tangled goodies at Cherished by Me
• At Scribbling Mum you can win a personalised Blockart print

Closing 23 January
• Mums Like You want to see your White Winter photos; you could win a pair of Ugg boots!

Closing 25 January
• Get your hands on a Chic Unique necklace at Life in a Breakdown

Closing 26 January
• Madhouse Family Reviews have 2 copies of Hayne's Healthy Eating Guide on offer

Closing 27 January
• Latest in Beauty blog have five Eyeko creams up for grabs

Closing 28 January
• Win an overnight stay at Pendley Manor Hotel in Tring with the Charity Learning Consortium

Closing 29 January
• Win Baby Show tickets at Mummy's Little Monkey

Closing 30 January
• Win a copy of Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf at Madhouse Family Reviews
• Super Amazing Mum is giving away a quirky Mad Hatter's Tea Party bracelet 
• Win a manicure, pedicure or nail kit at Reigning Beauties

Closing 31 January 
• Win a Snack Trap for your little one at Mummy Loves
• Win £150 of vouchers in The Londoneer's 'communication' photo competition

And finally, JoJo has a charity giveaway at the Montessori Goldmine to raise funds for the Queensland Flood Appeal - this closes on 21 March. Please give generously!

Good luck....

A French Connection

Well, it's just eleven days into a new year and I can honestly say I don't think my hobby has ever been quite as exciting as it is right now! A magical thing that can happen in the world of comping is after years of trying to win a certain prize, you go and win it twice - and that's just what's happened to me today...

A few days ago I spotted the Lending Stream What Dave Did competition on a friend's Facebook wall (thanks Lynn!) - as the prize was a weekend in Paris I immediately entered my 'creative cash-making story' and started to round up votes. Since I started comping back in 1998 I've been trying to win a Paris trip with no luck - we even paid (gasp!) to go there overnight on Eurostar last year but had to cancel as Ryland was poorly. Surely I was destined never to get there!

There weren't many stories in the competition - most had no votes at all - so I didn't have to do too much badgering until the last couple of hours, when the chap in second place overtook me with a surge of votes. Luckily my trusty Facebook and Twitter friends rallied in support and at midnight I finished 12 votes ahead. It was a nail-biting wait until Lending Stream finally confirmed my win at 4'o'clock today - hurrah!

Whilst I was waiting to hear from Lending Stream, the results of the Ford Ka Discover a style you'll love competition were revealed too, and I've been chosen as one of the four lucky winners of a day shopping with a fashion blogger. And guess where I'm off to with the lovely Emily from My Fashion Life....? Yes, PARIS of course! A day trip on Eurostar with lunch and £350 to spend on clothes - plus a Ford Ka for 2 months. What an amazing prize!

So after 13 years of trying I've finally got my trip to Paris....twice over! I'll be dusting off my school textbook and watching 'Amelie' and 'Nikita' to get in the mood... my shopping trip is next Friday, so do pop back to check out how I got on.

Finally, can I just say a giant 'merci beaucoup' to all of you who took the time to watch my video for the Ka Style competition, and 'heart' my story for the Lending Stream one - your support was so important in helping me win these fantastic trips. Bonne chance mes amis!

Müllerlight Fashion Treasure Hunt

I love a good treasure hunt, and these days they're few and far between so I was really excited to see one pop up over the weekend on my Facebook Newsfeed. Details were on the Müllerlight Fashion Treasure Hunt Facebook Page, on the Info Tab - they are having four Treasure Hunt Days, to win 32 fabulous prizes - 8 each of an Alexander McQueen scarf (worth £220), a Gucci Tote bag (worth £565), Chloe sunglasses (worth £245) and a Versace bracelet (worth £280). Seriously nice prizes if you like your designer fashion but can't afford to do your shopping in Selfridges or Harvey Nicks!

The first Treasure Hunt Day was today, and earlier this morning Müller updated their Info tab with the details of today's eight locations and the prize - Alexander McQueen skull scarves. Nottingham was one of them, so I excitedly strolled into the city centre so I could be there ready to check out their clues when they were posted on Facebook at 11am. Bang on time, Müller updated their page - with possibly the easiest Treasure Hunt clues I've ever seen - the EXACT location of the scarf in each city! I was just round the corner from the Lions at Nottingham Town Hall and immediately spotted a chap in a bright red Müller jacket... I told him the magic phrase - "Eat Happily Ever After". And was told to come back in 5 minutes because the other rep was fetching a coffee! He said they thought they'd be there all day long.... "not with me on the case", I laughed! I've always fancied owning one of these scarves, so I'm super chuffed.

Of today's eight prize scarves, just six went to happy new owners - the ones in Bristol and Liverpool weren't claimed by 4pm, what a shame! The remaining Treasure Hunts are taking place on Friday 28 January, Saturday 12 February and Wednesday 23 February, and each day they will be at 8 of the following 15 locations: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, London, Southampton, Brighton, Plymouth, Nottingham and Leicester. If it works as it did today, the prize details and locations will be posted up in the morning and then at 11am the exact location will be revealed - bookmark the Info tab page on your mobile phone's browser to be prepared!
 
The good news is that it's only one prize per person, so you won't be competing against my lightning fast buggy-pushing technique for any of the other prizes.... good luck, and let me know if you win!
For further details see the Terms and Conditions here.

Blog Comp Round Up

Welcome to the first round up of the New Year... I hope you're all eagerly comping away with enthusiasm and have already set up a Google Documents spreadsheet to record all those 2011 wins! With the help of my Facebook friends (thanks everyone!), I won a £100 voucher to use on the CeWe Photoworld website this week, and I'm also expecting a bogey clearing device from All Baby Advice - nice!

I just had news this morning that my friend Pinksy has won a trip to Milan from the Gem106 promotion I blogged about yesterday - so if you're in the East Midlands, it's not too late to register for this. And well done Pinksy on your first radio win!

Ongoing
• Win iRiver MP3 players by tweeting - more details at the Competition Hunter blog

Closing today
• Win a selection of Luscombe soft drinks at Kavey Eats
• At the Fabulous Places blog you can win a £99 Cookery voucher for Seasoned, who run courses in Derbyshire 

Closing 9 January
• Feeling chilly? Win one of 2 Snuggies at Rhoda Reviews!
• At Liz Fielding's blog you can win romantic novel 'With this Fling'
• Win Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective for the Nintendo DS by subscribing to the Outset Village blog 

Closing 10 January
• At Super Amazing Mum you can win bespoke jewellery
• At Transatlantic Blonde enter to win a Sophie Leash so baby doesn't lose his toy!
• Win a Lego Buzz Lightyear at Rosie Scribble

Closing 11 January
• The Beauty Glo has Solgar Vitamin E tablets worth £14 to give away 
• Win a Snowman Buggy Book at Me and My Shadow 
• There's a cute Moomin plate & mug set on offer at Playing by the Book

Closing 13 January
• Life in a Breakdown is running her first giveaway to win a £15 CSN stores voucher (open to UK and US)

Closing 14 January
• At Rhoda Reviews you can win Lilys Perfumery goodies
• Win Asics running shoes by submitting a review at the Equipio blog
• I can't resist quirky Japanese inspired things, so I have to include these wonderful Tofu earrings up for grabs at Embracing Style - if only my ears were pierced! (open internationally)

Closing 16 January
• At Katy's Little Meows you can win a Guardian Writing book or one of two necklaces
• Win an Umberto Giannini goody bag at Mummy_of_3_Diaries

Closing 21 January
• Win a True Blood novel at Carole Finds Her Wings

Closing 24 January
• Win two young adult fiction books at Once Upon a Quote (open internationally)
• At Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books win a copy of Werewold: Rise of the Wolf

Closing 30 January
• Win a Swarovski Gold Skull Ring at A Girl called Tallulah
• Second Time Mummy has lots of prizes on offer to celebrate her Blogaversary

Closing 31 January
• Win Dexter the Digger at Beckicklesie
• There are lots of Argos baby goodies up for grabs at All Baby Advice 
• At the Photobox blog find out how your favourite photos of 2010 could win you £500! 
• Fellow bloggers - win a Camcorder by linking to the Competition Hunter blog

Closing 4 February
• Win one of 5 Planet Earth DVDs and books at the Book Depository

Closing 25 February
• Bookmunch has loads of great books up for grabs

 That's your lot folks... happy comping!

January Jetset: holiday comps

It's the first week of January, and you know what's on my mind? That's right, holidays! Weekends away, holiday cottages, maybe even.. whisper it... my first trip abroad since September 2009! Lots of holiday comps have popped up in my inbox and Twitterfeed today so I thought I should let you know about a few:

Firstly, make sure you LIKE the Thomas Cook Facebook page - that's all you need to do to be in with a chance of winning a trip to Tenerife!

Air France are offering a 4 night trip to their French Film Festival in New York in March - you need to select 3 of ten films on their Facebook page - if one of your choices is the Audience choice film, then you're in the draw (at least, I think that's what the complex rules mean...) - this closes on 29 January.

Next up, how about a James Villa holiday? Just upload a photo of your Happy Feet on their Facebook 'Competition' tab and tag five Facebook friends in it (you don't have to take those friends on holiday with you!). This closes on 28 February and the winner will be picked at random.

Seeing as you've just taken a photo of your feet why not upload it at the K-Swiss marathon website too? You could win a trip to LA for the marathon (don't worry, you don't have to run in it!) or daily and monthly running prizes. This closes on 31 March.

Or how about something a little more adventurous? Have a think about your OMG! moment and tell Explore all about it (in less than 200 words) and you could win two places on any Explore Small Group Adventure Holiday (up to the value of £1500 per person) and 25 runners up will receive an Explore goody bag. The winner is drawn at random and the promotion closes on 6 March.

Here are a couple of easy to enter ones (so of course hard to win!) - Sacla are giving away a trip to Rome and at Debenhams Beauty Club you can win a trip to Greece, Egypt, Rome, Reykjavik or Tenerife to see the sun rise - both these close on 30 January.

I bought a foodie mag today called 'Great British Food' which has an entry form in it to win a week's break in Cornwall at the Headland Hotel (including flights to Newquay from Gatwick, Manchester, Leeds Bradford, Bristol, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cork or Dublin) plus a year's supply of Kelly's Ice Cream. You can enter using the form, or by emailing competitions@greatbritishfoodmagazine.com with your name address and phone number and 'Kelly's' as the subject. This closes on 27 January.

As I left WHSmith I spotted a competition in the window of Co-operative Travel to win a luxury holiday to Dubai - pop in and complete an entry form before 31 January to enter this one, or enter online.

Complete your details by 31 January at the Magic Radio January Jetaway page and win one of 38 pairs of European flights from London with Monarch airlines - you can also win four Monarch holidays weekly on air from next Monday.

Also on the Magic website, complete your details by 16 January to win £1000 of Thomson Holiday vouchers - and every day next week on the radio you could win £2000 vouchers!

And last - but not least - if you're in the East Midlands then get yourself over to the Gem 106 website, and register your details for a chance to win one of 27 European one night breaks. And keep your phone handy, because they might call you back to answer a question on-air! This promotion ends on 14 January.

Happy Holidays!

My 2011 wishlist

What with having a tiny baby in the house this time last year, it was ages till I got back into the swing of comping, and by then too late to compile a 2010 list of prizes I wanted to win!

This year though, I'm on the case and have had a really good think about the prizes that would bring joy to the lives of the Coke family...

Firstly, for Ryland I would love to win:
• A Smart Trike
• A Play kitchen (so he can grow up to be like Heston Blumenthal or René Redzepi!)
• Clothes vouchers

For my hardworking husband:
• Trip to the Champions League Final
• Weekend in Paris or New York for our wedding anniversary
• Vast amounts of wine or champagne
• Coffee machine
• A posh meal out somewhere wonderful (ideally the Fat Duck!)

And for me:
• A baby seat and accessories for my bike
• A shopping trip to London
• iPad 
• Breadmaker 
• Supermarket vouchers
• Shoes and handbags (expensive ones, please!)
• Holiday cottage vouchers

For my mum and mum-in-law, I'd love to win them some plants or prizes for the garden. And as for my Dad, he'd love a VIP trip to see either Birmingham City or Arsenal!

I know from my last competition that lots of you would like to win a laptop this year - I hope you're all lucky! Why not get yourself over to the Pick Me Up Facebook page for 'Winsday' - post a photo of you enjoying the sunshine and the one that makes them "feel the most summery and warm" will win a Sony Vaio netbook today!

Finally, make sure you think positive... if there's something that you really, really want to win, then concentrate your efforts on that prize - and don't be afraid of giving the video and photo competitions a go!

Hairy New Year!

Have you seen the competition running in conjunction with Scandalous Hair Products? You could win £1000 to spend on a night out simply by uploading a photo of your 'stunning hairdo' at the Scandalous Facebook page. Their favourite hairdos will then go to a public vote - these voting competitions don't offend me quite as much when they've been pre-judged as it ensures a decent winning entry. The most popular hairstyle will win the £1000 night out and ten runners up will win the full Scandalous product range. Be warned though - the rules state that you MUST go to a club as part of your night out (watch out Nottingham Rock City!) Closing date for entries is 17th January.

Did you do something special/outrageous/thrilling with your hair for New Year's Eve? Post a photo of your party hair up on the Regis Salons Facebook page for the chance to win a £50 voucher to spend at one of their UK salons. There's no closing date mentioned, but the odds are good as there's only one entry so far (and I bet you can't possibly guess whose that is... well, it was big hair night at my place on NYE!)

The Kérastase Facebook page has a whopping 500 full size bottles of Elixir Ultime to give away - the page states the closing date was 31st December but I've just submitted an entry successfully, and as the page only has 300 fans they can't possibly have given away all the products yet. Terms and conditions state they can extend the promotion, I've asked them to confirm if they have but it must be worth an entry. 

Sign up to the Style Union newsletter before 31 March and you could win a year's supply of haircare products.

Win a hair makeover at Headmasters Mayfair salon plus a L'Oreal goody bag and £500 High Street vouchers - enter by text or phone, and you will also donate to Great Ormond Street Hospital's HAIRraising Appeal. Details are at www.hmhair.co.uk - enter by 30 January 2011.

Paul Mitchell has teamed up with Paramount and the new movie 'No Strings Attached' to give away a trip to Los Angeles and a prize a day in February - keep an eye on their website for more details!

Finally, magazines are a great source of comps to win hair products - all the comps from Your Hair, Blonde Hair and Hair Ideas magazines can be found online at Love Your Hair. Don't forget to pick up a free magazine if you pass a Toni & Guy salon, and if you're at the hairdressers yourself then make sure to pick up all your local free listings mags which are full of local comps!

Looking back on 2010!

As each year comes to a close I like to spend time reflecting on the year's prizes and pondering how I'd like my hobby to develop over the next 12 months, to keep it fresh and interesting! Looking back, on 31st December 2009 my final blog post of the year said:

Sadly, tiebreaker and skill competitions seem to have died a death over the last few years so I'm having to adjust my comping style to suit - my resolution for 2010 is to enter more twitter and facebook competitions! 

Well, I can safely say that's one resolution I kept. I'm a geeky fan of statistics (how I love Google Analytics!) so having found a spare hour last week I decided to rummage through my old comping notebooks to compare my figures from the last ten years. In the past I would handwrite my prize list in my Moleskine notebook, but in 2010 I've set up a new spreadsheet using Google Docs. With this I can access my list via the internet and record my prizes, along with how and where I won them, the dates and value. If you don't do this yet I can recommend it - looking back over your wins at the end of the year, you'll realise how many you've forgotten about and it's great motivation to look back on your previous wins when the prizes are few and far between!

In 2000 I had only just discovered the joys of comping, and every one of my 15 prizes was from a newspaper or magazine prize draw - including a £2,500 laptop and £1,000 Comet vouchers.

By 2003 I'd discovered online forums were the best place to find out about new comps, and won 71 prizes with a value of £33,000 - a third of these (including my beautiful VW Beetle) were from slogan competitions and another third from prize draws in newspapers and magazines.

In 2007 I only managed 24 prizes, but I had ventured into the big money world of TV and radio competitions. That year I won £7,700 on TV gameshows and £3,000 on the radio - great timing for my wedding and honeymoon!

In 2010 I won 114 prizes with a total value of around £10,000; almost half of these were prizes from Facebook, Twitter and blog prize draws. I devoted lots of time to finding unusual promotions and this paid off - 23 of my prizes (about £7,000 worth) were won in photo, video and other skill competitions.

I'm not sure what 2011 will hold, although I'm concerned at the growing popularity of (grossly unfair) online voting competitions and I hope that our favourite brands won't all start to go down this route. This year there have been loads of original and exciting promotions online involving games, video, photos, treasure hunts, recipes and other challenges, and I hope that this is a sign of things to come as it makes for a thrilling hobby! I'd love to get back onto TV gameshows and be more organised with my radio competitions (my Christmas gift from hubby was an analogue radio with preset buttons - I've wanted one of these for ages and didn't think you could still get them!) and I hope that by the end of the year Ryland will be artistic enough to enter colouring competitions too!

When I started my blog in 2009 it was just to keep a record of my wins - since having Ryland a year ago, I find blogging a necessary escape from mumsville and am much more enthusiastic about it. I've been really flattered and inspired by some of the feedback and comments I've received, and I like to think SuperLucky offers something a bit different in the world of mummy bloggers! So I'd like to begin 2011 by saying a big "Thankyou" to everyone who's read my blog, voted for me, retweeted me and entered my competitions - I hope that some of my luck rubs off on you all in 2011!