I won over $1600 worth of prizes from contests in 2024

It’s now January 2025 and I will start a new blog post I already have two prizes to write about. Thank you to those who follow llll along with my contesting journey and please keep tagging me in contests on Instagram @LivingOttawaLocal 

2024 Total Contest Wins was $1635. I loved all the prizes but the two standout ones were the $200 and free tickets to the originals market and tickets to the LionKing Broadway Show. You can read all about it below. 

I enter and win a lot of contests but I always forget to keep track of what I win. This year I will keep updating this post as my prizes come in. 

Contest win #16 

I won a $25 gift card from Marble slab. I have posted about the vegan options at Marble slab on my @vegancanadianfinds account in the past they even have vegan ice cream cake. I had to download the app to get the card and in the app is a bogo coupon. I will likely wait until it is a little warmer to get some ice cream as the location close to me doesn’t have seating. The coupon doesn’t expire until March. I am looking forward to getting some vegan ice cream with this gift card when it gets warmer. 

value of prize $25

Total value of prizes $1635

Contest win #15

I won a second produce box from Oddbunch Canada. It is winter now so I found the produce wasn’t as good as when I won it previously. It is still nice to get a bus of fruit and veg delivered there was pineapple, pomegranate, potatoes, peppers, blueberries, squash  lettuce, and a turnip in my box. This time the quality was okay not as good as the last time I won a box but I did get the perfect veg to get my soup maker out and make  a nice soup. 

value of prize $24

Total value of prizes $1610

Contest Win #14

Contest Win #14

I won a Subway cookie candle. I thought it would be an actual Subway cookie but it’s just a candle that says subway in a sticker. It smells like an artificial cookie so that’s on brand. The shipping probably cost more than the candle. I am not a candle person so this will be gifted to someone. I do like the amount of subway points I won in that contest. 

value of prize $10

Total value of prizes $1586

Contest Win #13

I won a proline cooler from Rona plus. I don’t have a car and live in a 1 bedroom apartment. I have no space or need for a giant cooler. I told my friend she could have it if she went to pick it up. She went to get it and it was way bigger than she thought it was going to be so she said she will have to go back to get it another day when she made room in her car. It’s been over a month and she hasn’t gone back yet to get it but I’m going to include it here because its there waiting for her. I don’t know what the price is of the cooler but everything online is over $200 so I’m going to use that as a conservative estimate. 

value of prize $25

Total value of prizes $1576

Contest Win #12

I won a $25 Sportcheck gift card. This was from a coke contest that @yourcouponing had posted about. She posts daily reminders about contests that have daily entries. I usually go through her stories or contests highlights and enter those contests. It only takes a few minutes a day thanks to her reminders. I received the gift card digitally a few weeks after I won. I had gone to Sportcheck in the mall close to where I work once to look for winter gloves or a coat that I could use the card towards but I didn’t find anything on that trip. There was a strip mall at close where our office holiday party was and there was a Sportcheck there. I found a Tshirt I really liked in the clearance rack it was on sale for $23 so I thought perfect that will be close with tax. When I went to the cash it was on extra sale and with tax the shirt was only $17. I can never find things when I want to in my email. I have a yahoo account that I’ve had for over 25 years it’s just a little full and disorganized. I wanted to use the full gift card and had been looking at the unreal peanut butter cups anyways even though I knew they were a bit more expensive at Sportcheck than a grocery store. I used up the rest of the gift card and paid $3 and got the chocolate. I was happy to leave with a nice shirt and vegan peanut butter cups for only $3.

value of prize $25

Total value of prizes $1376

Contest Win #11

 

I have won a few other prizes in November that I haven’t written about yet. I will update those later since the Ottawa Originals Market is this weekend I am writing about it now. I  won $200 worth of gift certificates and ten tickets to the market. The market is on from December 4 to 8th at the EY Center. This is the first time I have come up the EY Center it’s a nice venue. I have finished shopping at the market but there is ample seating for me to sit and write this post before I leave. There is also a liquidation sale happening at the EY Center that I will check out before I go home. 

I came around 3:30 pm after a work event expecting it to be a small craft market and it is more like a trade show. It’s now after 6 pm so 3 hours went by pretty fast. There is currently live music as well. This is the 50th year and there really is something for everyone. 

 

The vendors have everything from food to furniture. I feel like I got a lot value for the $200 gift certificates. I did give a couple of the gift certificates away to people here and paid for some of the things I bought but the total by of what I got was close to the $200 I won. There was a lot of vegan food vendors. I got dips, spices, chocolate, jewelry, scarf and a toque. 

The first food booth I went to was all vegan dips except for one with honey. 

Then I tried some chocolate. Pleasantly surprised that most of their  chocolate was vegan and they made such big bars.  They even had vegan signs. I got a lemoncello one which seems unique. These chocolate bars would also make a good gift because they are so pretty and unique and made in Vancouver. I love finding BC things in Ottawa.

Then I went to  a spice booth that had really interesting spice kits. One of the reasons I don’t often make Indian food at home is because of all the different spices that are needed and spice blends don’t give the right flavour. These kits actually comes with separate spices and tutorials on how to make the recipes. All the spice packets were vegan the ones marked vegan have vegan recipes with them. I don’t follow recipes anyways so they are all good for me. I had to use the $25 gift certificates with no change. The  special was buy 6 for $30 and get 1 free so I got 7 spice packs. These might also make good gifts because the spices are separate so people can control the spice.

I didn’t take pictures but there was a unique jam booth. I tried a few and ended up buying the carrot cake, onion, and red pepper. 

I also bought a toque with a spot for ponytails, a scarf that doesn’t need to be tied, and earrings. These are all things I was intending to buy anyways.  but I really like the things I got and really love buying from makers directly. 

They also had a coffee drink bar and a couple of food stalls. I got an apple cider it was really nice to have a hot drink while at an indoor market. There was also plenty of places to sit and take a break while shopping.

I really enjoyed the market, my entrance ticket came with a 2 for 1 coupon got the spring market so I will probably be back in the spring. 

value of prize $300

Total value of prizes $1351

Contest win #10

I won a $50 gift certificate from Parkdale food center for Marche Hintonburg. Parkdale food center is an incredible organization that provides food and meals to those in the community in Ottawa. Ever since I moved to Ottawa I have been a regular supporter of this organization I believe everyone should have equal access to food. It is also very important to the neighbourhood and the community regularly holds events to support. Marche Hintonburg is also in the neighbourhood.  I always thought it was a grocery store with great vegan options until I saw the gift card I had no idea it was a butcher shop. It also felt a bit ackward winning a prize of from an organization I regularly donate to. Something I don’t normally talk about is I quietly give away most of the gift cards I win to people I know that can use a little boost. Those of you that follow me know that I am very active with showing everyone vegan food.  I am okay with going into a business that is a butchery when they have vegan options but I know many vegans are not okay with that. I decided that I should use this one to show the vegan haul. I went with some of the more expensive items got some spycegirlz seasonings, Mad Mexican dips and some chips to make nachos with. I regularly buy enjoy and Sproud plant milk from this store. Also got a cucumber because it was on sale. They have lots of other vegan items and I have posted a few hauls in the past on my @vegancanadianfindsaccount. It’s a great neighborhood grocery store. It’s giving Tuesday today so if you are thinking about making a donation Parkdale  food Center is a good organization to support. 

Value of prize $50

Total value of prizes $1051

Update Contest win #9 

I won 2 tickets to the Lion King at the NAC in Ottawa. I had looked at buying tickets before I won but the prices were high and I have seen the show in Vegas before years ago. I decided I wasn’t going unless I won the ticket. Thanks to @Parkdalepublicmarket for the contest win I got to go. It brings back memories of the first time I went to see the Lion King I was in Vegas with my parents. It was the first time I had won a jackpot there well that's what the machine told me anyways. It was $300 which was worth a lot more in those day. The Lion King had been playing at the same hotel so I went straight to the ticket center with that money great memories of times with parents that have both passed now. This time my friend @munchieswithlove was the one that tagged me in the contest so she was the recipient of the second ticket. The cost of these tickets were at least $200 each. This is my biggest win of the year. 

 

I had to go to Byward market to pick up the tickets. I go to this market all the time I had no idea there was a second floor with some interesting displays to look at. This seems to be another perk of winning contests in Ottawa. I keep discovering places I had no idea about when I go to pick up the prizes.

 

 

The seats at the NAC were Orchestra level. I usually sit on Balcony when I go to theatres so being so close to the stage was interesting I could see a lot more detail. The show was different than I remember it but it’s been years since I have seen it. It was a good show I am grateful I got to go to it.

Value of prize $400

Total value of prizes $1001

Update September 2024 - Contest win # 8

I won a $100 giftcard for St Laurent Mall from unstoppable mama on Instagram. I go to this mall a lot because it’s one of the easiest ones for me to get to in Ottawa. It’s a decent sized mall not too big and it doesn’t have a grocery store but has everything else that I would expect to be in a mall. I went after work to pick up the gift card from the administrative office it took me awhile to find it. As many times as I have been in the mall I never went to that area there is even a GoodLife Fitness there I had no idea. After being in a grey cubicle farm all day the mall office looked so nice I almost wanted to apply for a job there. The office staff was very nice I filled in the paperwork they gave me the card in a nice card holder. They told me it would be valid at most stores in the mall but there are a few exceptions. I went and used half of the giftcard at the showcase store and I still have some money left for another shopping trip. 

Bonus :After I wrote this I won a $10 Dollarama gift card from a work event 

Value of prizes $110

Total value of prizes $601. 

 

Update August 2024 -Contest win #6 and 7

I have won and received two prizes since I last updated this post. The first one is a smart tea kettle that I won from Iztanbul Bazaar Canada  a new Turkish grocery store and cafe. This required pick up in Orleans which is just outside of Ottawa. I have been there a couple times as my cousin lives there but it is usually a planned event since it’s far for me to get to. I have a friend that recently moved to Orleans so this was a perfect housewarming gift for her and she was able to pick it up. She made a video for it which worked for me because I don’t put my pictures on social media. I didn’t know the value of this kettle so I looked it up and it sells for over $200 on a few websites online. I am sure my friend will enjoy it.  I will definitely visit the store the next time I am in Orleans.

Value of the prize $200. 

Total value of prizes August 2024 $491

The second prize I received in August so far is a lunch box filled with swag from Sobeys. This is a contest @yourcouponingsis has posted about it was daily entry. All you had to do was send a message to someone on team Canada. I randomly chose an athlete and usually used one of the preset messages. I didn’t know I won until I received an email a few weeks after I had exceeded the maximum entry limit. The prize came within a week of replying to the email. I really love this prize the insulated lunch box has its own ice pack slot and notepads to write notes. It also came with coupons, a clip, and a $25 gift card for any store under the Sobeys banner. I recently learned we do have an actual Sobeys store in Ottawa I have never been to one so I may use this card as an excuse to go visit the store. I really love this prize I am going to go on a trip within Canada soon and this is going to be perfect for all the vegan food I plan to get.

 Value of the prize $50. Total value of prizes 2024 $291

Contest win #5 and #6 are actually both prepaid credit cards. I don’t often win credit cards so pretty amazing that I won two in July. The first one was a $50 USD Amex card that I won from the Jamie Kern Lima show during her podcast launch. I’m a huge fan of her way back since she was selling IT Cosmetics on the shopping channel. I had already listened to the pre launch podcast which was amazing Oprah was the first guest so I decided to join the launch party on YouTube as she was giving away a lot of gift cards. I was surprised I won in the first round. I received the card unfortunately I can only use it in the US but it doesn’t expire for years and it is very likely I will visit the US again. The second prize was a $25 CDN Visa card from a coke contest. If you are not following @yourcouponingsis you should because she posts reminders of contests daily. I already knew about this contest and the no purchase entry emails I had found because I read the fine print on everything but what I hadn’t realized is those same email links could be used daily. I learned about reusing the link from yourcouponingsis. This really worked out for me because those emails were saved in my trash folder and all but one link had been deleted. That one last link was the one I won on. I have received the card and added to one of the online apps I use frequently. The value of the two gift cards in CDN is $90.00

Total value of prizes July 2024 $241

 

 

Contest win #4 is a $25 gift card for Beavertails. I love beavertails in Ottawa because the turnover is high and the pastry is always fresh. A beavertail is a fried sweet pastry kind of like a donut. There are no animals involved in many of their flavours so I can easily get a vegan one just by asking for no butter. They do mark which flavours can be vegan on their menus. My favourite is apple pie. I get beavertails regularly but I’m waiting until my friends come to visit to use the gift card and am looking forward to it. 

Total value of prizes so far June 2024 $151.

Contest win #3 was a medium mixed produce box from OddbunchCanada. Until this contest I didn’t know much about OddbunchCanada. I can’t believe they are selling a produce box of this size and quality for only $32 plus $4 delivery. It is a lot more produce than I was expecting to get and it’s very good quality. Last week during a trip to Montreal I may have complained that I needed to eat some vegetables after all the croissants and sweets that problem is solved. I will likely order a small box $20 from OddbunchCanada in the future. 

Total Value of Prizes so far March 2024 $131

Contest win #2 for 2024 was a Queen Cake from Strawberry Blonde Bakery. A very yummy vegan cake. I packed some up to share with my friends. I’m not sure what this cake is valued at but cakes range from $44-100 on the website. I will go with a conservative $50. 

Total Value of Prizes so far March 2024 $95 

My first win of the year happened to be while I was visiting Vancouver in February. I won two tickets to the home and garden show and a package of Noods (vegan noodles). Thank you to Plant Based Workshop value $45.