Rather than rewrite our advent tips for another year, we’ve brought back our blog post from 2010 and given it a bit of an update! Christmas is less than 25 days away but before the Loquax Team get a couple of hours off to have a bit of turkey dinner and watch Eastenders (that’s all the time off we get) there’s the small matter of the advent competitions. An advent competition is just like your traditional advent calendars but instead of a picture or chocolate behind the door each day there’s usually a prize draw. You simply visit the site running the competition, enter and repeat for 24 days!
It’s Going To Be Manic
A lot of sites run advent competitions (expect anything between 75 and 250). Some are good, some are fun and some are frustrating. This year we expect to see plenty running via Twitter and Facebook too, so it’s going to get a bit manic! To make your life easier we have our list of advent competitions.
We’ve also included Facebook and Twitter indicators so you can see at a glance how some giveaways are running. Plus as we have a strong bingo section on Loquax, some of these sites do appear in our list. The good news for 2011 is that we’ve now broken things down for you to make the listings clearer.
Top Tips for Advent Competitions
1. Don’t wait up! We’ll be up around midnight doing a few updates and checks but the advents will be online in the morning and most run for 24 hours. They are exciting, but trust us they’re not that exciting!
2. Don’t panic! The first day of advent always throws up a few late starters or something goes wrong. Just move on and try another competition. Compers might not sleep but techie people do.
3. Be Selective! You don’t need to enter them all (unless you want to).
4. Watch for Locals! Some of the radio competitions and shopping centre competitions are for local residents only or you have to collect the prize. If you’re not in the area then save time and leave it for others. Don’t worry, we’ve indicated “locals” on our advent list!
5. Enter the Loquax Advent Competition! It’s the easiest of them all to do and it takes seconds. We have mug prizes that we’d love to give to Loquax fans again this year. Plus we also have Groupon vouchers to giveaway weekly and an overall prize of a Kindle.
6. Pace Yourself! Advent entries tend to drop off around mid December. People are at parties, doing the shopping or have just got bored. You have (at least we think so) a better chance of winning later in the month, so keep your enthusiasm up.
7. Enter Other Competitions! Sounds obvious but with everyone charging after advent prizes many people forget to do the usual stuff.
8. Enjoy It! Advent competitions are just an extra bit of fun at this festive time of year. Treat it as that rather than a chore – that applies just as much to your day to day comping too. If you miss a day then don’t worry, there’s always tomorrow (unless it’s Christmas Eve then you’re in trouble).