ANN-tics by Carol

Sweepstakes Supplies

Carol's Wins

 I Do Win Consistently

I have been entering contests and sweepstakes since a teen back in 1968!!! I still remember mom winning that newfangled thing called a portable hand mixer on a radio contest!!  Imagine that!!  The earliest I can remember entering for myself is with a radio station mail-in with my sister at the age of 16 (my sister won tickets to the movie "Kissin' Cousins" with Elvis Presley and the album from the movie.) I have since won many nice prizes on a consistent and almost weekly basis.

To keep the list short I will only list my favorite top five or so bigger prizes:

1. A trip to Disney World for four (all inclusive including tips) for 3 nights and 4 days which we extended one extra day from Target;

2. a $4,500 diamond from Betty Crocker (which we turned from a necklace into a nice solitare ring;

3. A trip to the Wild Dunes in South Carolina;

4. $2,500 from NBC10/Strawbridge-Hecht's Home For The Holidays Sweepstakes, I was offered the cash since my son was in the service so I could go visit him;

5. a trip to New Orleans for the 2006 Heritage Jazz Festival (we got to see first-hand the devistation still going on one year after the flood) and were entertained by Jimmy Buffet and many other famous singers at the first big get-together in New Orleans since the flooding. Many were seeing fellow friends and neighbors for the very first time and they migrated back to the area.

6. a $1,000 shopping spree at The Finley Shirt Company in a Quick & Simple magazine* essay contest;

7. a nice package from Miller Icehouse (a huge Weber Platinum 6 burner stainless steel grill with a side burner, one year of Sirrus satelite radio service, the tuner, a boom box and two $125 Visa gift cards for the food for a tailgate party); (we had a huge backyard picnic instead)

8. a 26" and a 19" flat screen television

9.  a trip to Pottsville, PA in August 2008, where I walked away with third prize of $1,000 and a nice gift bag of items.  The grand prize that we were hoping to win was a Harley Davidson Fatboy 2009 Limited Edition.  I can say that the guy who won it was very, very deserving of it and I was just as happy with my cash win.  It was a huge, huge car show there that weekend called The Cruise.  It's held yearly and worth the trip if you love old cars. They actually cruise the streets all weekend!!  And they have a fantastic antique car and memorabilia museum there.

10.  August 2009 - won a trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic to the Dreams Punta Cana (an all inclusive trip) in the Honey Bunches of Oats Party In Paradise.  This win is one of 100 trips that are being awarded through October 2009 and will take place in April 2010.  I am excited that some of my other sweeping buddies have also won the trip.

11.  August 2009 - won a Weber Summit gas grill package from Land O' Lakes butter. (haven't received it yet, but will value it when it gets here)  Looked up the grill and it alone is valued at $2,999 from weber!!

My many, many other prizes including:

Top favorites under $1,000:

* a dinner for four at the Palm Restaurant;

* lots of gift cards for various stores and Visa gift cards;

* movie tickets and many, many other prizes, too many to list. I'm actually on my 4th binder of winning notifications and that is not all of them as I didn't keep good records throughout the years.

I found that I could win things for the family that I normally wouldn't have been able to afford as a single parent. Now that my sons are grown, I still continue to surprise them, but also enjoy winning things for my 5 year old granddaughter as well.

* I mentioned the Quick & Simple win on my list of wins. They also featured my picture and an article in the January 31, 2006 issue of the magazine with a recap of the winning essay that I won the prize in. Advice: Just write from your heart and enter those that click with you. What's good about it is the fact that you don't get it back all red written and graded!! I enter the ones that I feel I bond with only and don't enter if its a struggle getting it together.

TIP: Be sure to start taking lots of digital pictures and keep them in a folder on the computer. Lots of new sweeps coming out all the time that just ask for a simple picture of something or of you!! You'll be prepared.