Hoosier Popcorn at Its Finest

I don’t usually enter Twitter contests but when I saw that Indiana-based SKP-Popcorn was running one two weeks ago, I wanted to help spread the word. Each Friday they give away samples of their popcorn to lucky winners. You can find them at www.twitter.com/skppcrn.

I participated in the contest, was lucky enough to win, and then left town for a week. I completely forgot about the popcorn until I was going through the mail stack this morning and found the sample. When they say “sample,” they don’t mean handful. They mean enough for my whole family to try (if it’s still here when any of them get home today, which it might not be!).

I’m not a buttered popcorn girl. I don’t even eat it at the movies. But ever since I was kid, I have always loved flavored popcorn. I can actually remember going to a birthday party in Evansville in 6th grade where the mom bought different flavors and we stayed up all night snacking on them and watching movies. Ever since then, I have been hooked.

So of course I had to open my bag immediately. It turns out that I got a “test” of chocolate and banana. I can hardly think of anything more perfect! I headed to their site to find out what other flavors they have and ended up learning some great facts about the company. Here are just a few:

• Their popcorn is 100% Indiana grown
• They are the official popcorn of the Indianapolis Colts (this Steelers fan can forgive them for that)
• They donate a portion of the profits from their “TYE-DYE”Licious popcorn to Rupert’s Kids (a great charity run by the Survivor winner)
• They do custom labels, corporate promotions, and fundraisers

I just couldn’t be more tickled to see an Indiana company that not only makes a great product but is also supportive of our community. Now I just need them to start an affiliate program so that I can add them to all of my websites and introduce them to my national marketing friends!

You can visit SKP-Popcorn on their website. And be sure to start following them on Twitter so that you have a chance to win this Friday.

Win 25K in the French’s Cook-Off 2009

Looking for the ultimate cooking contest for moms? Check out the French’s Cook-Off. They are looking for easy, original recipes that “smiles back to dinnertime.” The recipes must include at least one French’s product and have no more than 8 ingredients.

The process is a little bit complicated:

“During the Recipe Submission period (see below), 20 semi-finalists will be selected for advancement: 10 selected by a judging panel and 10 by popular online vote. The top 20 recipes will be featured on the FRENCH’S® website and advance to the Selection period (see below) for a chance to be named as one of the five finalists for the LIVE cook-off using your recipe. The finalists will consist of one “people’s choice” award winner selected by popular vote along with four other finalists chosen by the FRENCH’S® judging panel. These five finalists will advance to the final LIVE Cook-Off event in February or March 2010.”

The grand prize is $25,000! One of the other cool things is that you can browse through the site and read other recipes. If you submit yours, leave us a comment and we will go vote for you! Click here for the French’s Cook-Off 2009.

Win a Trip to the Superbowl from Mars

Want to win a trip to the 2009 Superbowl? Check out the “Be on the Field Sweepstakes” from Mars. Basic rules: Complete official registration form available on the Website, enter your UPC Code and follow the on-screen instructions to play the Game. If you do not have a UPC Code, you may obtain one free entry code through the Website (an “On-Line Code”). LIMIT: one (1) On-Line Code per person and per email address during the Game Period. ALL CODES MUST BE ENTERED BY 11:59:59 PM (ET) ON 2/1/09.

The prizes are really awesome! Grand Prize: A 5 day, 4 night trip for 4 to Miami, Florida (including air, rooms, and tickets) to attend Super Bowl XLIV and the EA Sports Super Bowl XLIV Party plus $2,000 spending money. 1st Prizes: (2) A 3 day/2 night trip for 2 to attend the 2010 Pro Bowl, and $500 spending money. 2nd Prizes: (2) A 3 day/2 night trip for 2 to the first game of the 2009-2010 NFL season plus $500 spending money. 3rd Prizes: (5) A $1,000 Visa gift card. 4th Prizes: (10) A $500 Visa gift card. 5th Prizes: (50) A $100 Visa gift card; (50) A $100 NFLShop gift card. 6th Prizes: (100) A $50 NFLShop gift card.

PARTICIPATING PRODUCTS: MINIS MIX® 10.5 OZ; SNICKERS® Brand Miniatures 11.5 OZ; SNICKERS® Brand MINIS MIX® Variety Bag 10.5 OZ; Milky Way® Brand Minis 11.5 OZ; TWIX® Brand Caramel Minis 11.5 OZ; M&M’S® Brand Peanut Chocolate Candies 14 OZ; M&M’S® Brand Milk Chocolate Candies 14 OZ; and SNICKERS®/M&M’S® Brand Peanut Chocolate Candies Full-Size Variety 36 OZ Bag.

Net Smart Moms: Finding Contests and Sweepstakes on the Internet

If you are like me, you love a good contest or sweepstakes. But with so many online, how can you tell them all apart? I find it easiest to break them down into three categories: national brand contests, website contests, and affiliate program contests. While not every online contest fits into one of these categories, most fit nicely.

National Brand Giveaways

National brand giveaways are my favorites. They tend to have the largest payouts with the least chance of your information being sold. Prizes often include vacations, automobiles, and large cash prizes. In addition, there are usually multiple smaller prizes in addition to the grand prizes.

Various contest websites collect these national brand contests and sweepstakes and earn no income off of your participation. The national brands sponsor these contests mainly in an effort to achieve brand recognition and publicity. Some will begin sending you coupons or promotions, but only if you check a box that you allow it. Aside from the contest directories, you can find these contests yourself by visiting your favorite national brands online.

The national brand giveaways may also be in the form of recipe contests or essay contests. Often they are tied to big events such as holidays, sporting events, movie premiers, or awards shows. Examples of sponsors of national brand giveaways include Procter & Gamble, Oprah, Kraft, and Disney.

Website Freebies

Smaller companies will often feature low budget contests on their websites as a means of getting website traffic. The website freebies are also a way of getting you to sign up for a newsletter or company distribution list. That is not to say that the contests are not worth entering. In fact, your chances of winning are likely to be much better than with the national brand contests.

Contest websites directories that feature national brand giveaways will often include many of the smaller freebie contests as well. A good example of the smaller website freebie is Usborne books. You can find these contests by visiting contest directories or merely by searching for your favorite types of products in a search engine with the word “contest.” Chances are good that you will stumble across these on your own.

Survey Signup Contests

Survey contests are a different animal altogether. Although these will sometimes feature a national brand as the prize, they are not affiliated in any way with that national brand. You have to read the fine print on the website carefully.

As far as I can tell, the motive behind the survey signup contest is to gather your data for use (usually) by third parties. The down side of these is that you can get added to lists where you will receive a lot of spam (email junk mail). The up side is that you will often receive the opportunity for free samples or discounts from vendors. The motivation on the part of the website directory where you find the link is generally that the website gets paid per number of entries.

You will predominantly find these listed in contest directories or as part of advertisements. You can also search for the word “survey” and your particular area of interest and you will find hundreds of them quickly.

Contests in General

The bottom line with all of these contests is to know what you are getting into. Read the print of every checkbox on the screen before you decide whether it is worth it to enter a contest. All of the types of giveaways listed above can be legitimate when done properly. One tip that I give everyone is to set up a separate email account for your contest entries. In the event that you get placed on a spam list, you will protect your personal or work account for too much traffic or even viruses.

At Helping Moms Connect, we carefully screen through all of the different types of contests. Our main Contest sites contain only national brand giveaways with an occasional smaller website or survey contest that we have personally taken and find to have true merit. The remainder of the small website freebies and survey contests are placed on our Get Paid pages so that you know to be more careful with your information when you enter those.