Why TinEye is a comper’s best friend

TinEye is my new favourite website. This clever site conducts a ‘reverse image’ search, which is useful in all sorts of comping situations. The idea is that you show TinEye a photo and it will try to locate copies of it - so if you need to identify a place, person, movie scene, record sleeve (or anything!) it can often track down the original on the internet. Magic!

As an example, each week I enter the Observer’s Viewfinder competition, where you guess the location from a series of text and visual clues online. Some weeks the photo clues would infuriate me for hours! 

Now though, if I get stuck I simply search for the image at tineye.com. Here’s an example screengrab, where TinEye has found 1 result for this week's photo clue of a ballroom - the file is called 'Blackpool Tower Ballroom', so there's my answer! 

Slightly off topic here, but If you want to enter this week's competition to win £150 Hotels.com vouchers, simply email the answer 'Blackpool' to viewfinder@observer.co.uk with your name and address details before 4th August 2011! Now, back to TinEye...

Using TinEye 

There are several ways you can use TinEye to search for an image: 

• copy and paste a page or image URL into the Search box at www.tineye.com
• take a screenshot of a photo on your screen (use cmd-shift-4 on a Mac or the Snipping Tool on a PC), click the 'Upload your Image' button and choose your screenshot file
• download the TinEye plug-in for your browser, which means that you’re able to right-click on any image whilst browsing the web, and choose ‘Search with TinEye’ from the bottom of the menu

The great thing about TinEye is that it doesn’t have to be an exact match! Your photo can be a different crop, colour or even been retouched - it will search and display any close results.

TinEye has come to my rescue in several comping situations:
BizzyBee gloves recently ran a quirky comp where they added rubber gloves to various old movie star photos, and the first ten people to guess and email the identity of this celebrity won a pair of BizzyBees:

I searched for this photo and, even though the pink gloves had been Photoshopped on, TinEye found the original photo on Flickr and after clicking the link I identified our celebrity as Ginger Rogers. Everyone else was still struggling on Facebook so I posted a cheeky clue to her identity on Twitter to help out!

Voucher Hub ran a fun ‘Pin the Tail on the Hog’ competition this week, giving £15 iTunes vouchers to the first ten people to correctly guess a grid reference for the base of the piggy’s tail, which they had retouched out in Photoshop. This time, I screengrabbed the image and uploaded to TinEye - sure enough it came back with a search result from istockphoto.com. I was then able to guess the winning square - it was still difficult as the grid squares were small, and my first guess was wrong - but they gave us a second attempt, so I was spot on with O12 and won my voucher. My background is in design and Photoshop, so I do have a natural advantage in these type of competitions - I look for inconsistencies in the photograph detail - but it was nice for TinEye to give me a helping hand! 

Finally, TinEye is a useful tool if you have suspicions that an entry for a photo competition isn’t genuine. Sadly, this is becoming a more common occurrence with the flurry of photo and recipe competitions on Facebook right now, with lazy entrants quickly googling for an image they can claim as their own entry rather than making the recipe or taking the photo themselves. Using TinEye, you can upload the offending photo and check if it has been taken from Flickr, or a stock photography site such as iStockphoto or Shutterstock. Using this method I identified cheaters in the recent BirdsEye, Marmite and Apetina competitions, informed the promoters and had the images removed from the competition. In these situations, I do recommend to promoters that they should insist that the photograph or story actually features their product. This will ensure that entries are created or written specifically for the competition, and provide the promoter with lots of entries featuring their product/brand name, which is a great free marketing tool on Facebook walls or Twitpic!

So there you have it - an introduction to TinEye. I hope you manage to find it a useful tool for your comping too!

Recipe comp round up

Entering fun recipe competitions adds a bit of excitement to my weekly shop, and Ryland and I do enjoy some Heston-style experimentation in the kitchen, even though it usually ends in a right royal mess. Yesterday we received two bags of Garofalo kids pasta in the post, which I'd sent for after reading about their wonderful competition on Cheryl's Madhouse blog. To enter, upload a video or a photo of your child cooking their favourite pasta recipe with new Garofalo children's pasta to the Garofalo Facebook wall. This closes this Friday 29 July, so be quick if you want to win the prize trip to Sorrento - check out the details here. I wanted to make a really bright sauce so we used fresh beetroot combined with tomato puree and mascarpone - we called it purple swamp pasta! The Garofalo 'Pazzielle' toy shapes are super cute and taste delicious - there are several kinds in the kids range, so I'll definitely be using them again!
Here's our video entry...

To keep you busy in the kitchen, here are a whole bunch of fabulous recipe competitions, using loads of unusual ingredients. Don't forget the importance of a good photo - use a big white plate if possible, avoid any clutter and don't show a huge portion of food! Jane at Compers Grapevine offers lots of helpful tips on entering recipe competitions over at her blog, which are well worth checking out as she's been very successful in cookery comps!

If you like Heinz soup, you can submit your recipe using it as a 'secret ingredient' at the All Recipes website, and the judges will pick a winner based on creativity, originality and popularity. The prize is a week's worth of grocery shopping worth £300. Enter by 6 August 2011.

Any good at making Banoffee Pie? Carnation want to know your best recipe, and you could win the chance to cook with Kirstie Allsopp on 15 September with travel, an overnight stay in London and £100 towards dinner too! To enter, send your recipe with a photo and your details to expressonlinecompetition@munroforster.com or send by post to: Express Online Banoffee competition, Munro and Forster, 89 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP by 14 August 2011 - you can read more details at the Express website. The terms and conditions state there will be five winners from different publications - I know that The Mirror featured a version at the weekend and the Your Home magazine one has already closed, but I've not been able to track down the other two. All five have a specific email address to send your recipe to - the Mirror one was posted on Money Saving Expert so you might have a better chance of winning with this Express version as it should get fewer entries!

How about the classic combo of peanut butter and chocolate? Check out Whole Earth's Facebook competition - simply combine the two and email your recipe and a photo by 31 July 2011, and Whole Earth's favourite will win a 'Choc Chick Kit'. I made some stripey peanut buttercups, they didn't last long.

I love Jamaica Ginger Cake, so I'll be entering their recipe competition on Facebook - 20 recipes will be shortlisted to go to a public vote to win a family holiday to Tobago, Lake Garda or Bali. For a voting competition, the terms and conditions are very thorough and with the initial judging I hope this will run smoothly and without controversy. Enter your recipe before 14 August 2011.

Do you love or hate Marmite? If you love it then enter their fortnightly competition on Facebook - watch their video, make the recipe and upload a photo of your attempt. Winners - one judged, and one decided by votes - will win Joseph Joseph kitchen tools, Marmite tableware and a year's supply of Marmite, and 5 runners up will win 6 month's supply of Marmite (does that mean one tub? Marmite lasts me for ages!). I made this week's recipe, Sausage and Marmite Onions butty, at the weekend - if you like my photo then a vote would be great - thankyou! The competition closes every other Sunday at noon until 12 September.

And a few quick links:

• Submit your kiwi fruit recipe at Delia Online and you could win a blender - I can't find a closing date, so enter ASAP! 
• Upload a photo of your child making a mess in the kitchen to the Salter Facebook page to win a 'Kids in the Kitchen' set - closes 31.7.11
• Win a Wii and Cooking Mama game by uploading a photo of your child cooking with Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce at the Blue Dragon website - closes 29.7.11

Whew! With all this kitchen action I'm glad I've already won three aprons and a tea towel this year... good luck!


STOP PRESS!
Love the Garden have launched a competition for bloggers to win £200 to spend at a restaurant of their choice - just post your recipe for potatoes on your blog, and email Love the Garden with your link before 16 August 2011 - the winning recipe will be decided by voting. Read more here.

Persil Mini Miracles Competition

I've just found out about a really lovely competition that Persil are running - Mini Miracles!

The idea is simple - nominate a Mum who has an unbeatable skill and five regional winners will top up their family-friendly talent by meeting some of the nation’s experts in cooking, gardening and crafts - and all five will win a family holiday! Five runners up will also receive a year's supply of Persil.

Everyone who nominates will also be entered into a prize draw for FIFTY prizes of a year's supply of Persil tablets - now that's a prize I could do with to wash all Ry's nappies!

The closing date is 31st July and the Meet and Greet session is 'on or around week commencing 15th August'. The judges will choose winners based on creativity and originality. Did I mention that you also get to meet the lovely Kirstie Allsopp?

Now, with so many prizes on offer I reckon you must have a hidden talent that's worth sharing - or perhaps you know a friend who has? I've had a think about this - and the only appropriate skill I can think of is my ability to fold origami paper cranes really quickly. I'm not sure Kirstie will think it's worthy of a prize, but I'll give it a go...

Make sure you get your nominations in by 31st July 2011 at www.persil.co.uk/mini-miracles - you can even nominate yourself!

Blog Comp Linky: August 2011

Welcome to my blog comp linky for competitions that are closing in AUGUST. Please add your competition to the list, including the prize and the closing date - and your blog name if you can fit it in! You can access this post and the SEPTEMBER linky via the links on the right hand side bar.

Blog Comp Linky: July 2011

I know how many of us fear change, but don't panic... Time restraints (and an imminent new job) have resulted in me investigating an alternative style of blog comp round up: introducing the Linky! These are super popular in the US for contest listings - as well as me listing my favourite blog competitions, bloggers can pop along and add their own prize description and link, so the list of links will keep growing.

I will be starting a new linky monthly, for comps that close the following month - in the next week I'm setting up this linky for comps that close in July AND one for August to get us started. On 1st August I will close this July linky, and launch a new Linky for competitions that close in September.... then throughout the month I will promote the Comp Linky here on my blog with a sidebar link, and also on the Super Lucky Twitter and Facebook pages. Confused? Don't worry, it will all make sense eventually!

If you're a blogger, adding your comp to the linky is simple - you'll need to keep your description to 50 characters or less. Include the prize and the closing date for entries - you can squeeze in your blog name if it fits.

If you're a comper, the newest links will appear at the bottom, so if you visit the Linky several times you can find the latest additions at the end of the list!

Right then, here we go - and keep your fingers crossed this works...

Running a Facebook competition - without breaking the rules!

Since May's update to the Facebook Promotion Policy, there has been a lot of chatter on competition forums, PR blogs and social media channels about the guidelines and what they mean. It may surprise you to know that the majority of competitions and prize draws hosted on Facebook do not comply with the Promotions Guidelines - in an average day spent on Facebook, I would estimate that only around 10% of the comps I enter are fully compliant with the rules!

For example, a promoter CANNOT run these types of competitions or prize draws:

• 'Like' our Facebook page, and when we reach XXXX fans a random fan will win XXXX
• Comment on this status and a random comment/our favourite comment/the most liked comment will win a prize
• Share/Like this status and you will be entered into a draw
• Tag this photo and everyone who tags will go into a draw for a prize
• Change your profile picture to our photo and we'll choose a random winner
• The XXXth person to Like our fanpage will win a prize
• Upload a photo/video to our wall and a random/the most liked/our favourite will win a prize
• Post the answer to this question on our wall and everyone who answers correctly will win a prize.

I've noticed a lot of disgruntled fans posting on walls to inform promoters that voting competitions are now banned on Facebook. This isn't the case! A competition that requires a fan to 'Like' comments or photos on a Facebook wall IS against Facebook promotional policy, but promotions administered using an 'App' have NO CONNECTION at all with Facebook - so voting competitions which are accessed by clicking a 'tab' or link on the left hand menu of a fanpage are perfectly legitimate, even if they don't seem fair. 
Note: Facebook updates in September 2011 mean that a comment or photo can be 'Liked' without a member needing to Like the fan page first - this essentially means that running a 'Most Likes Wins' competition is pointless in terms of increasing fanbase, as Facebook users are no longer forced to Like the page in order to vote.

Promoters CANNOT announce a winner via Facebook wall post or message - in other words, they should get an email address from every competition entrant so the winner can be contacted by email. This rarely happens - usually, a message is sent from an individual who works for the brand/PR agency/promoter. But be warned - many Facebook users have privacy settings enabled so they can't receive messages from a stranger - so if they miss a wall post announcement then the promoter has no way of contacting them! If the winner can receive mail from 'Everyone' the winning message will go to their 'Other' inbox. If the winner doesn't know about this folder, or they don't check it regularly, the winning notfication may be missed completely. It's best to include a line that says 'Please email us at xxx with your address details within 7 days or we will choose another winner' - otherwise you could be in limbo without awarding a prize!

To stick to the guidelines, promotions need to be executed using an 'App' - the simplest of these are the ready-made ones by companies like Wildfire. These can be adapted to the promoter's needs, and range from simple prize draws to multimedia voting competitions. If a fan enters a promotion via an App, it should NOT automatically post a message on their wall to say they've entered - Facebook policy for App Developers states 'You must provide users with an easily identifiable "skip" option whenever you present users with an option to use a Facebook social channel.'

So why are so many Facebook pages continuing to run competitions that breach the promotions policy? In many cases they might not be aware of the rules, or don't have the time or money to create a bespoke App. It's actually relatively straightforward to set up a new Tab on your Facebook page featuring a competition. There are no longer any free Apps to run your competition, but using Google Documents you can easily set up a simple form to collect data. You can add Terms and Conditions and check boxes, and then link this form to your Facebook page using iFrame Apps - choose 'Embed this form in a webpage' from your Spreadsheet's Form menu to get the code.

As an example, using this simple Google form I collected entrants' details for one of my client's promotions, but the prize wasn't awarded until the page reached 500 fans - people shared the competition post so enthusiastically it took just 15 hours to get the 300 extra fans needed to do the draw! Of course, the advantage of using an App compared to a competition on a Facebook wall is that you will collect email addresses for your database - although remember to give people the opportunity to opt out. Google Forms also have a public web link, so you have the option to make them accessible to non-Facebook fans by sharing the URL. The main disadvantage with Google Forms is their lack of flexibility - the templates have large text and as Facebook iFrames have a maximum size, you might end up with scroll bars or people not being able to see the bottom of the form at all. To avoid this, keep line lengths short and text to a minimum. If you need to, you can always move your T&Cs to a Note on your page instead.

Here are some other suggestions to how Facebook can be used to promote a competition, without breaking the rules. Be warned though, the promotional policy changes frequently and there are several 'grey areas', so these techniques may soon be outlawed too...

• Host the competition on a website, and use Facebook to promote it. 
• Host it on a blog or Twitter account, and again use Facebook to promote.
• Post on Facebook 'Giveaway when we reach XXX fans' and encourage your fans to Share the post - or you could post 'We'll launch a competition if/when this post gets 100 shares/likes/comments'
• Post a comment detailing the competition, on Facebook and ask people to email their entries - slogans, answers, photos, videos, etc. This will essentially be an email entry promotion run outside of Facebook BUT an album of entries can be created on Facebook, or entries posted on the wall to encourage feedback and interaction with fans. 

If not using an App, promoters should use the 'Notes' tab on their fanpage to list terms and conditions - this part is VERY important! Even the simplest competition needs to have proper terms and conditions - email me if you're not sure what needs including,

Please be aware that Facebook want promoters to use an App to run every promotion - if promoters break the rules they have every right to shut their page down! As a small company with a few hundred fans it might be worth risking running a promotion on your Facebook wall, but for a fanpage with thousands of fans, getting a page shut down for the sake of a giveaway really isn't worth it, and it's very unprofessional.

I regularly post on promoters' Facebook pages warning against 'Most Likes Wins' competitions, including a link to the promotion policy. I don't usually complain if promoters are running the other types of competition I've listed above - simply because I think Facebook would be a much less fun place without these impromptu and exciting competitions! I believe it's just a matter of time before Facebook start enforcing the promotional policy though, and I wouldn't be surprised if busy UK fan pages like Chat Magazine or Pick Me Up will be held up as bad examples for running competitions on their Walls and announcing winners in comments.

It's a Fruitiful Day!

Whilst browsing The Facebook (I've only just seen The Social Network, sorry) at the weekend I noticed a juicy post on my Newsfeed: 'Win £500 for promoting the Top Fruit Facebook page'. So I popped over there and I liked what I saw - lots of fruit, lots of fun and this video of a fruity iPhone 5!

With only 6 days before the closing date (Friday 14 July, if you fancy having a go), I knew I had to work fast. The brief was to make a video or take a photo, or do anything at all to promote the Top Fruit Facebook page in a fun and interesting way.

Fancy dress is always a good start, so I borrowed a banana suit from my good friend Di at BuggyTug (...don't ask!) and set about my daily tasks - buying a newspaper, mowing the lawn, popping to the shop, hanging out at the bus stop....

...and you know what, it REALLY made people smile! They were honking horns, waving, shouting and generally delighted to see a banana wandering around Nottingham. 

I might not win the £500, but it certainly brightened up a damp July day, that's for sure... and it begs the question, what's the daftest thing YOU'VE ever done in the name of comping?

The Little Chef

Ah, things have been busy here in the Coke Kitchen. I recently invested in a second hand chef's outfit for Ryland from eBay and he's suddenly decided he's Gordon Ramsay. I got myself a matching hat so the pair of us can look a right pair of fruitcakes - our first public outing (somewhat worryingly, I'm sure it won't be our last...) was at Asda where we posed for this photo, which won us a hamper of Babylicious goodies last week!

Last week I decided to get busy in the kitchen - Ryland is currently a really fussy eater and always wants to snack biscuits, so I wanted to make him some savoury muffins as an alternative. Of course, I had the camera ready to capture the occasion for a couple of competitions!

Blue Dragon are running a lovely comp to win a Wii and Cookin Mama game - to enter, take a photo of your children creating their favourite meals using Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce, and upload it here before 29 July 2011. The rules have now changed so it's no longer a voting competition, but a prize draw - great news!

Making our goats cheese and chilli sauce muffins (which incidentally are pretty darn tasty - not as spicy as you might think!) was a messy task, so I decided to also take a photo for the current Salter Facebook promotion to win a 'Kids in the Kitchen' set - to enter, simply upload a photo of your kiddiwinks making a mess in the kitchen to the Salter UK Facebook wall. I'm not sure if it's drawn or judged, but it closes on 31 July 2011.

And whilst we're on the subject of kids photo comps, Good to Know want you to upload photos of your child's birthday party to their Facebook wall and the entry judged the best will bag £200 to spend at Photobox. There's more information here - enter by 31 July 2011.

Finally, I'm no photography expert, but I always find the best photos I take of Ryland are when he's concentrating on something else and not looking at the camera - take as many photos as you can to ensure you have plenty to choose from!

Creative Comp Round Up: 8 July

Call me strange, but I get seriously excited when I hear about a new competition that requires a bit of effort - I hope some of you feel the same way! Putting a bit of work into entering these 'creative' promotions will add sparkle to your comping and if you're lucky enough to win you'll feel super proud - there are so many of these around at the moment, this selection is just the tip of the iceberg but should be enough to keep you busy - good luck! 


Magnet Kitchens are giving away £50 cash every week - to enter, create a moodboard using their online Scrapbook, then post the link to their Facebook wall before Friday. I won this in the second week, probably because I was the only entrant!

Rustoleum are running a competition every month to find the best uses of their paints. Email them a photo of your handiwork before the end of the month to enter - one entrant will win £250 cash each month, and there are 10 runners up prizes of 6 Rustoleum cans of paint. I was lucky enough to win a runners up prize last month, and I'll be using my prize paint to create an entry for this month's competition too!

Win one of ten Swiss cheese fondue kits at the International Cheese Awards Facebook page - just comment here with your favourite FUNdue recipe by 10 July 2011!

Share your money-saving tips for driving abroad at the Telegraph website and their favourite will win a Eurostar break in Amsterdam - enter by 12 July 2011.

This one's not creative, but I've included it as it's unusual! You can win uniforms for every child at your local primary school with Clothing at Tesco - vote for your school in the Facebook App by 13 July 2011. A second school will be chosen at random to win uniforms.

Ribena are giving away 12 prizes of a £100 Ribena hamper and family photo shoot - upload a photo of your favourite picnic spot (in one of six categories - urban, countryside, indoor, family fun, waterside and unusual) and they will choose their 30 favourites (12 winners and 18 runners up) - enter here before 18 July 2011.

FAB Ice Lollies have launched a promotion to design a 'FAB Den'. 5 entries will be shortlisted, and each will win a Nikon camera. These will then go to a public vote and the top 3 will will win their Dream Den makeover, a family holiday to a Haven Holiday Park and a Snapfsh Photobook! To enter, visit the Facebook App and download and print the template... scan or photograph your design and upload it at myfabland.com or send it by post to Fab before 24 July 2011.

Babyliss are giving away one of my dream prizes, a VIP trip to London Fashion Week! Upload a photo of your runway hairstyle to their Facebook App by 27 July 2011 - they will choose the 6 best to go to a public vote to win the trip.

My Kitchen Table are giving away ten copies of Rick Stein's new Spain cookbook - tell them what you love about Spanish cooking here to enter. Winners will be announced 'next month', so enter by 31 July 2011.

Globe are giving away a Globe Bike worth £529 - upload a photo of the city location you would most like to ride your bike to their Facebook page by 31 July 2011. Add a description and the entry with the most votes will win the bike (I posted up a warning to the promoter that this 'most likes' competition is violating Facebook policy - their response was to delete my post!)

Isklar's 'Do Different' promotion invites you to make a 2 minute video of you doing something different, and upload it to their Facebook App explaining why you should win one of the 5 experiences of a lifetime on offer - train at NASA, work in New York as a baker, work at a Malaysian elephant sanctuary, learn to be a TV presenter and train to be an F1 driver! The winners will be judged after the closing date of 31 July 2011. In conjunction with this, Isklar are also giving away fun prizes in a weekly prize draw via the same App - this ends on 14 October 2011

Tell Pimm's why you should win one of 2 Pimm's Parties at their Facebook App - get enough votes to finish in the top 25 by 31 July 2011 and they will choose their two favourites to win. Voters can also win a year's supply of Pimm's!

For the fabulous Littlewoods 'Goodbye old, Hello new promotion' upload a photo of something you need replacing, then find the catalogue number of what you want to replace it with. Each day until 31 July 2011 an entrant will be chosen at random to win their chosen prize!

Win a £500 Cottages4You voucher in their photo competition - to enter, upload a holiday phtoo to their Facebook App with a description by 28 August 2011. Ten entries will be shortlisted according to the following criteria: photographic composition, visual appeal and how successfully they capture the great British holiday. Each will win a 'Make the Most of Your time in Britain' book. These 10 photos will then go to the dreaded public vote to determine the overall winner.

Tell Panasonic about your perfect journey or holiday in 420 characters (plus a photo) and you could win a tailor-made trip worth £20,000. 20 entries will be shortlisted by the judging criteria: how inspiring they are, how well written they are, and good use of an illustrative picture, and Lonely Planet will decide the winner and runners-up from these 20. Enter here before 31 August 2011.

Toblerone are giving away two holiday kits each week till 31 August 2011 - take your Toblerone on Tour with you and upload a photo to the Toblerone website. The most 'creative and obscure' photos will win - ah, now this sounds like my kind of comp!

ExactaPrint are giving away a Canvas print worth £52 - upload the photo you would like printed to their Facebook page by 31 August 2011 and get 30 'Likes' to be entered into the prize draw.

Design a t-shirt and upload to the Make Mine Milk Facebook page by 31 August 2011 for the chance to win a £750 shopping spree or an iPad.

Win a family holiday to the Isle of Wight by uploading a photo of your best sandcastle via the Isle of Wight Tourism Facebook page by 31 August 2011 - all entrants will go into a random draw for the prize.

Famous Grouse and the Telegraph are giving away a trip to the Scottish Highlands - nominate your famous pub, with a photo and an explanation of why it's famous. The winner will be drawn at random from all entries on 18 September 2011 - enter here.

Upload a Summer photo to the Modern Milk Taste of Summer Facebook App and the photos with the most votes you'll win an iPad, digital cameras and Topshop/Topman vouchers. This closes 19 September 2011, and I can't find the exact breakdown of prizes anywhere in the T and Cs!

Nivea want to reach a million moments of closeness, upload your photo to their Facebook App and you could win one of 125 daily prizes worth £100 - this doesn't close until 8 October 2011. 

Finally, Amadeus UK want you to print off one of their postcards, get it into one of your holiday snaps and upload it to their Facebook page by 31 October 2011. They will choose their favourite from the ten most 'Liked' photos to win an iPad.

The Big Feastival - and some foodie comps!

A couple of weeks ago I read about Jamie Oliver's Big Feastival - and knew this would be the perfect opportunity to take 18 month old Ryland to his first festival! No overnight camping trauma, nice music, lots of family fun but mainly because of the pop-up kitchens and delicious food from some of London's top restaurants. After all, our family certainly love to eat... 

As soon as I read about it, I popped over to the Big Feastival Facebook page where there were lots of links to ticket competitions - I discovered that LoSalt were sponsoring the 'Big Kitchen' at the event and were running fun comps to win tickets on their Facebook page. My first entry, a photo of how I used LoSalt (sprinkled on my soya beans!), wasn't a winner but for the next challenge you had to feature a tub of LoSalt in a photo so I convinced Rob to take his LoSalt and pretend to catch shrimp for the barbie at Rest Bay in Porthcawl...

We won a pair of VIP tickets for the Sunday but had to be back in Nottingham, so they generously arranged for us to have Saturday tickets instead.

With Mum-in-Law in tow, we arrived at Clapham Common when the doors opened at noon and had a wonderful time - Rob and I could pop in and out of the VIP area for our free drinks, and we had ten free food tokens to share between us. We tried a selection of goodies - Wahaca Tacos, Cafe Spice Lamb Koftas, Locanda Locitelli Kid Goat tagliatelle, Benares Chicken Tikka pies... My personal favourite was the Abeno Okono-miyaki, which reminded me of a fabulous meal I once had with JoJoEbi in Japan. Ryland's favourite was the Trinity Scotch Eggs, I think he scoffed three of them in total...

As for the entertainment, there were loads of fun tents - Ry was a bit too young for the Lil Dudes' Den, where there was storytelling and lots of crafts and painting, but he loved the retro funfair, where we made pathetic attempts to flip some decapitated rubber frogs into lilypads and took Ry on the carousel.

There was some splendid cake and crochet action in the WI tent, and Marawa's hula-hooping was truly fabulous.

Lots of the chefs were doing demonstrations in the Big Kitchen tent; we caught a glimpse of Atul Kocher giving advice on buying spices (only buy them in small amounts and keep them in stainless steel containers) and of course there was a huge crowd there to watch Jamie at work!

In the neighbouring tent I was delighted to see that LoSalt were actually running a comp to guess how many tubs made up this robot chap on their stand. Richard told me I wasn't allowed to win - but I was too busy laughing at his bright blue trousers to take any notice, so entered my guess of 397 anyway!

I didn't know the bands playing on the main stage but Trophy Wife and the Special Ks provided a nice enough festival soundtrack - we left early at 5.30 but I'm sure if we'd stayed the Charlatans would have been great. We'd been to see the Flaming Lips at Alexandra Palace on Friday though, and I needed an early night - ah, the rock'n'roll lifestyle of a 37 year old mum!

Overall, The Big Feastival was an excellent family-friendly festival with loads to keep even the tiniest kids happy (giant teacups were popular with the tots!) - all the proceeds go to charity, so it's a great fundraiser too (as we were lucky enough to get in for free we ensured we spent lots of money on the fairground stalls - we even won a cookery book). I hope Jamie does another one next year!

Foodie competitions
Now, I can't possibly write a blog post without bringing you some tasty competitions to get your teeth into, so here are a few I found out about this weekend...

Win a Summer hamper by submitting your best Cheshire Cheese recipe to info@thirtypr.com before 10 July 2011 - tickle the judge's tastebuds, and you might end up a winner! You can find out more at the Joseph Heler Facebook page.

Check out the Win Prizes tab on the Schwartz Cooking Club Facebook page for their weekly giveaways - this week, leave a picnic tip and you could win a hamper.

Eat Japan are running a competition to win Japanese foodie prizes - cook one of their 6 recipes and upload a photo of it to win. This closes on 31 October 2011 - the recipes sound yummy so I'll definitely be entering!

On the Japanese theme, Kikkoman have a trip to Amsterdam up for grabs - you need to do something creative with Kikkoman soy sauce (it doesn't have to be a recipe!) and (unfortunately) the winner will be the entry with the most votes. Entries close on 10 July 2011.

And finally, there are three prizes of the entire Bart Spices Thai range on offer in their easy to enter prize draw at www.bartspices.com/static/competition/ - enter before 24 July 2011.

Blog comp round up: 1 July

Hey blog lovers, here's your fortnightly round up of giveaways to keep you busy over the weekend... good luck, and don't forget to tweet me @superluckydi if you'd like yours included next time! 

No closing date - enter ASAP!
• Win lots of JML products at Simply Hayley
• Mummy Musings has details of a Duplo Party Pack giveaway

Closing today at 7pm
• Win Ultrasun products at White Lily Green

Closing 3 July
• Win family tickets to the Big Dip (London or Manchester) at Me and My Shadow
• The Breastest News is giving away a selection of breastfeeding prizes worth £150

Closing 4 July
• Win a Baby Peace Sun Cover at New Mummy's Tips
• At the Gingerbread House you can win a fab selection of London Tea

Closing 6 July
• Also at the Gingerbread House, win tickets to the Big Dip at Clapham Common

Closing 7 July
• At MilkPetal Mums can win a Breastvest
• Win a GOSH Lip Glaze at Confessions of a Compaholic
• Yummy Mummy Flabby Tummy is giving away ten sets of new Plum Baby breakfast pouches
• Win a Trunki at Two Become Four

Closing 8 July
• Win lots of potty training goodies at Mummy Mishaps

Closing 10 July
• BritMums are giving away 4 family tickets to Lollibop Festival (oh, I so want to go to this!)
• Win Chuggington toys at Madhouse Family Reviews

Closing 11 July
• Win wooden food set at Diary of a First Child

Closing 13 July
• Win Sunsense Toddler Milk at Mummy Alarm

Closing 14 July
• Me and My Kiddywinks is giving away a personalised VersArtile baby canvas
• Win a Barbapapa Carrousel light at White Lily Green

Closing 15 July
• Win a leather satchel at Joanne the Coach

Closing 16 July

• At Crystal Jigsaw you can win three copies of Kathryn Brown's book 'Discovery at Rosehill'

Closing 17 July

• Win Heat Holders socks at Mum Says Reviews

Closing 18 July

• Inside the Wendy House have 3 Tippitoes Star Wraps up for grabs

Closing 19 July

• Win a Photobox book and a year's supply of Lil-lets at Given to Distracting Others

Closing 20 July

• All Baby Advice is giving away two Totseats

Closing 21 July

• Win a Mini Baby Born Fabulous Farm at Mellow Mummy

Closing 27 July

• Win Jackson Reece wipes at Rhoda Reviews

Closing 30 July

• At All Baby Advice you can win a £150 Surcare laundry kit

Good luck!