Facebook contests Archives - American Sweepstakes

The $10,000 Shopping Spree Contest from Milano Diamond Gallery helps celebrate the Month of May (and Moms)

May is finally here which brings us new life to our gardens and landscapes. It also is the month of Mother’s Day, Graduations and the beginning of the wedding season. So what better month to kick off a new promotion that’s offering a chance to win lots of jewelry! The Milano Diamond Gallery $10,000 Shopping Spree Contest is doing just that.

Milano started out as a small jewelry store in Jamaica over 20 years ago. They now provide exclusive, classically designed diamonds & gemstone jewelry with a modern flair. They carry various boutique designers like Chrysalis and Le Vian and have all types of jewelry including rings, earrings, bracelets, watches and more. You can shop the Milano Gallery at www.shopmilano.com, or at one of their 40 port locations you can easily find coming off a cruise in the Caribbean, Mexico and in the USA.

The contest will be running for a full year up to April 30, 2019. Participants are invited to enter the contest by visiting one of the Milano port locations and taking a photo of themselves wearing or showing their favorite piece of Milano jewelry or watch. They must then Tweet or post the photo either on Twitter or Instagram and include the promotion hashtag, #Milano$10KContest. They must also follow and tag the sponsor on Instagram @milanodiamondgallery or on Twitter @milanodg.

They may also visit the sponsor’s Facebook page and like the page, locate the contest post, upload their photo as a comment to the post and include the hashtag #Milano$10KContest. An alternate way to enter without having to physically be in one of the Milano port locations is to Tweet or post a photo of their favorite Milano jewelry which can be found on their website. Participants must still include the promotional hashtag #Milano$10KContest

At the end of the contest period a panel of judges will review all the posted photos and choose one Grand Prize winner that they will base on the following judging criteria; 34% Creativity and Originality; 33% Enthusiasm; 33% messaging. In the case of a tie, the score for Creativity and Originality will determine the winner. The Grand Prize winner will receive $10,000 in-store credit that may be used in-store in any Milano port location or online at www.shopmilano.com.

Milano is currently offering some great gift ideas on their website for Mother’s Day and for graduates. As a family we traveled to the Caribbean island of St. Maarten for several years where we vacationed with my parents. There was one jewelry store there that we shopped at quite often that my mother really loved. Between my mom, my sister, myself, and also some gifts for my daughters, we expanded our jewelry collection quite nicely. It brings back some very happy memories. I miss my mom very much. Happy Mother’s Day to all moms.

Celebrate Halloween with these two zombie inspired promotions

Just in time for Halloween, Bawls Guarana has partnered with Paramount Pictures in anticipation of the upcoming theatrical release of “Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse“. The movie will be out on October 30 which is about three Boy Scouts who join forces with a tough cocktail waitress to save their once-peaceful town from an all-out, zombie invasion.

For those not familiar with Bawls Guarana, they are an energy drink manufactured here in the United States who have a pretty dedicated fan base. I know since my daughter collected the bottles during her high school days and made a pyramid out of them in her bedroom. They collected dust for a number of years before we recycled them!

We are administering a sweepstakes for them that ties into the movie. To enter participates just need to visit the Bawls Guarana Facebook Page and click on the link to open up the entry form page. The Sweepstakes is accepting entries up until October 25.

One Grand Prize winner will receive a BAWLS Guarana/“Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse” movie prize package that includes 2 cases of BAWLS Guarana along with 20 reward codes each valid for a certificate to see the movie. It also includes a year’s supply of BAWLS Guarana and a BAWLS Swag Pack that includes a sweat shirt, t-shirt, Coozies, backpack, key chain, mints and stickers.

They also are awarding one First Place prize winner four cases of BAWLS Guarana and four reward codes each valid for a certificate to see the movie. Ten Runner-up Prize winners will also each receive two movie reward codes and one case of BAWLS Guarana.

Another Halloween inspired promotion we are administering through our sister company, Alliance Sweepstakes, is for Colonial Williamsburg and their Haunted Colonial House Contest. Colonial Williamsburg is known as one of the “most haunted places in America”. So for the first time ever, they are allowing one lucky person. along with their family or friends, to spend Halloween night in one of their haunted Colonial Houses.

Participants are invited to click on their Facebook post and upload a photo of their favorite Halloween costume into the comments. They have until October 9. Then the Sponsor’s judges will select the top 5 finalists based on creativity, originality, inspiration and quality and post their album for viewers to vote on their favorite. Here are a few old photos of costumes (back from the ’80) that they posted on their blog to help inspire people.

Now historians have been unable to track down the original owners of the house, mainly due to wars and fires that occurred between the 18th century and today. Without records of who lived there, they also haven’t been able to identify the apparition that has been spotted in the house several times. The ghost is described as a woman in a dark, full dress sitting in a rocking chair on the lower level of the cottage. She appears to be observing what’s going on around her. Other times, while she isn’t spotted, the rocking chair itself will start rocking…. back-and-forth. You can read more about the history of this house on their Making History Now blog.

The winner will be announced on October 25 and has to be available to stay in Colonial Williamsburg on Halloween night. In addition to lodging accommodations for a party of four, each guest will receive an all-access pass to their Haunting on DoG Street as well as a $75 gift card to use toward dinner, souvenirs, and haunted carriage rides. They’ll also have the option to get professional zombie make-up done for the night and some super cool skeleton mugs! What fun!

This contest from Honest Kitchen is looking for honest pets

I have two dogs, and two cats, I’ve spoken at or attended most all of the BlogPaws Social Media Conferences and one of my daughters is in veterinary school. Therefore, those that know me and/or follow this blog are aware that I’m a big pet lover. So I came across this pet-related promotion this week that I thought I’d share. I’m going to work on entering for the fun of it.

The promotion is from pet food company, The Honest Kitchen, who is looking for the year’s “most honest pets.” Their Honest Pet Contest is inviting people to upload a photo of their pet with a confession caption from now till September 14. Participant’s can enter on their promotional website, honestpetcalendar.com , on Twitter or Instagram using the #HonestPetsContest hashtag or on Facebook by uploading it to the promotional comment on the Honest Kitchen’s Facebook page.

There are no limit to the amount of entries, so there will most likely be many. I’ve posted a couple of my favorite entries. The public is invited to vote for their favorite on the website and can only vote on a submission once during the entire contest.

At the end of the contest five finalists will be selected as “Fan Favorites” based on which entries received the most votes. Out of the five finalists, the Sponsor will select one Grand Prize winner who will receive a pet friendly weekend getaway and be featured in The Honest Kitchen’s 2016 Pet Calendar. All five (5) finalists will receive Honest Kitchen products.

This Grand Prize winner will be based upon the quality of the content submitted and how well it fits the brand. The Grand Prize winner’s trip package to a getaway pet resort for two people and their pet includes round trip airfare to San Diego (including a pet fee) along with 3 day/2 night hotel accommodations at the superior, pet-friendly US Grant Hotel, up to $600 in spending cash and drinks with The Honest Kitchen team at Mission Brewery in downtown San Diego and an a tour of the Honest Kitchen office. The Grand Prize if valued at $3,500.

Also each entrant will receive free food samples and coupons from the Honest Kitchen, so even more reasons to enter. Plus I just learned that today, August 26, is National Dog Day! So treat your dog(s) to something special today. They bring so much love and joy into our lives!

What would you do with a $5,000 tax return?

Football and taxes are both about as American as Uncle Sam. Moving forward from Super Bowl 49, we all in the U.S. now have to focus on tax season. Yeah. it’s that time of the year when we have to file our taxes for the previous year. Those of us on the business side also have to issue W2 forms to all employees and 1099 forms to contractors, vendors as well as those who were lucky enough to win a prize!

Since we’re in the business of awarding prizes we have to send 1099 forms to all winner of a prize valued at $600 or more. It’s our Federal government law. So each year at this time we get many inquiries from winners who don’t remember why they received a 1099, even though they signed an affidavit stating that they accept the prize and understand they’ll receive a 1099. Or those that won a trip and decided to tell us at the last minute.that they can’t travel either because of their schedule or other personal reasons. Then of course there’s those who moved and didn’t forward their mail and wonder why they haven’t received it!

This year our sister company, Alliance Sweepstakes, helped launch TaxSimple’s All About the Bank Contest. TaxSimple is a new online tax preparation software that is easy, fast, and low-cost. It is part of the Tax & Accounting Division of Thomson Reuters, which is the sponsor. They started running this contest on their Facebook page on Jan. 19th and it runs till April 16, the day after the tax filing deadline.

Participants are invited to visit the Facebook Tax Simple page and submit a photo that depicts what they would like to do with their tax refund this year for a chance at winning $5,000. Since the contest is heavily focused on college students, they also have the option of first posting their photo on Instagram and linking to their Instagram account from the entry form. All approved entries are displayed in the contest photo gallery and the public is invited to vote on their favorite entry.

At the end of the contest a panel of judges will choose a winner based on the following criteria: 45% public appeal (number of votes), 30% creativity and originality and 25% composition and quality. The entries have ranged from those that want to take their family on a vacation, to those who need it to pay for college as well putting the money towards a home.

This recent photo depicts what it’s like right now to live in the northeast part of this country. Here’s the caption that goes with it: “Wanna trade some snow for some sand , my girls are delirious”. Yeah, we’re all pretty sick of this snow by now!