2009 recap Part 1: Happy Mail Days

My name is Emily, and I am a giveawayaholic.

I’ve been entering giveaways for over 10 years and with all that entering, I do actually win some here and there. Some of my favourite wins from years gone by include a $5,000 gift card to HBC (from a local radio station’s online contest – that was awesome!), a KitchenAid stand mixer, a Sony digital camera, a bunch of clothing, skin care products from Decleor and Peter Thomas Roth (both really luxe and pricey, which I would never have treated myself to!) a big box of chocolate from Lindt… The random reward keeps me entering! (Pavlov’s dog, anyone?!)

I do keep track of my wins, and in 2009 the approximate retail value of everything I won was $6,265. (The year before, $7,512!). Crazy, right? It’s just a hobby. I don’t watch much tv, I don’t spend much time talking on the phone, or shopping, and since I don’t have kids (yet?!), I have the time. And while it’s partly about winning, it’s also mostly about learning about new products out there, and thinking about how they would fit into my life. Most of the time I spend entering giveaways is really time spent dreaming.

I only enter giveaways that I actually want to win! And I was the lucky winner 113 times last year. (To put that in perspective, I am entered in about 450 contests right now – that’s kind of low for me as a lot of contests ended December 31st. Not all of those are blog contests, by the way!). They say you can’t win if you don’t enter. From my perspective – if you enter, and enter, and enter some more, you are bound to win at some point.

So here are some of my favourite wins from 2009:

• In March, the $500 worth of Icebreaker clothing. I won this directly from Icebreaker in a contest on their website. They make lovely merino wool clothing that is super warm (yet breathable), thin and soft. I was worried that the wool would be itchy, but it’s not at all. For $500 worth, I chose the Courtenay jacket (they were out of stock of the jacket I initially wanted), Amazon Scoop shirt, Lily Pants, and two Bikinis. I wear my Icebreaker clothes all the time.
• Clothing from Boob. I won a top at Sweet Sticky Reviews (a blog I can no longer find), and then another top at Lipstick to Crayons. Let me just say their customer service is amazing, and the clothing I received is great quality and also very flattering. Obviously with the two lost pregnancies I haven’t had a chance to fully enjoy the maternity & nursing wear (although I confess I wear one of the nursing tops often because I like it!), but I can’t wait to wear them to their full potential!
• Lovely swaddling blankets from Miracle Blanket (directly), Beba Bean (won at Simply Stacie), and aden+anais (won at Celebrity Baby Clothes). Again, all great quality. I tested the Miracle Blanket out on my best friend’s daughter at two months; it was easy to use and she was a happy baby.
• See Kai Run shoes. I won three pairs (at Seeryus Mama, Minnesota Mama’s Must Haves, and Daily Essentials and Deals), and our future baby will be well-shod. The shoes are so cute, well-constructed, and have great packaging too.
• The Booby Trapper nursing cover from Oh My Baby. This is Canadian-made and has the great feature of two (not one) ribs that make it the best cover I’ve seen. My best friend has this on a lengthy borrow and is using it to nurse her little one.
• Baby carriers: An Evenflo Snugi Sway carrier (for newborns) from Mommy Goggles. I just love it. Can’t wait to use it. The Sleepy Wrap from The Bragging Mommy (for newborn to one year) and the Boba Carrier from Dirty Diaper Laundry (for 1-4 years). I am set for carriers.
• Cake lingerie (nursing/maternity lingerie) that I won at Now What Baby. (Most of their contests seem to be now US only so I was very lucky to get in on this.) Cake is an Australian company, and the bra, briefs, two nighties and sleep shorts that I received are the nicest lingerie I have EVER owned. The nursing bra is simply amazing – soft, so pretty and functional. I can’t say enough good things. I love this lingerie.
  

These are my most favourite things from the last year. Of course there are more - too many to go into detail (and some of which I have reviewed already), but nothing I have received has disappointed. And the majority (in quantity, not necessarily in value) of what I have won has been baby-related – with the stash I have ready for baby, he or she had better come soon!

Have you won some wonderful things? I'd love to hear about it!