Contests & Freebies Around the World

Free Instant Letter From Santa Claus

2009-11-10T11:25:00.000+08:00

I grew up knowing that Santa Claus is just a fictional character. However, I cannot say the same for my friends, or my counterparts in other corners of the world, especially in the West. Haven't we read about teachers getting into trouble for telling children that Santa Claus is non-existent? LOL

Whatever the case, if you would like to make Christmas just a little bit more special for your children, you can print out a personalized letter from "Santa Claus" by visiting the link that I am providing in this post.

First of all, choose a template from a selection then just follow the step by step instructions and you would be good to go! Once the letter is ready, remember to preview your work first, print it out. It’d be best if you have a color printer with ink that doesn’t smudge!

Free Activities For Children

2009-11-10T11:11:00.000+08:00

My friends, who are married with children, are desperately looking for free activities on the web that could help them keep the children occupied this coming school holidays which will last a few WEEKS. That's certainly wrinkle inducing that would need the best wrinkle treatments to rectify!

My friends have asked me for help even though I don't have children myself and these freebies would be useless to me but I certainly will help them search for free children's activities on the web. At least I could feature them on my freebies blogs when I do come across anything interesting.

Anyway, the school holidays are still two weeks away. I still have some time to come up with something.

Free NYC Visitor Guide, Travel & Meeting Planner

2009-11-10T11:00:00.000+08:00

Image courtesy of NYC Go

My friend, Paul, who works in New York City, has promised to take me around should I visit him. However, that was a few years ago and until today, I have yet to step foot in New York. Well, in the first place, I don't even know if his offer still stands.

Well, even if it's no longer valid, I could always explore the city by myself. I don't think it's difficult. After all, I speak English too and I could always check up for touristy information on the web before I even board the plane. Isn't that convenient?

NYC Go is even offering a free official New York City guide, travel planner and meeting planner. If you are going to New York City soon, you may find these freebies useful. Just head over to NYC Go by clicking on the link that I have provided in this post and you will be able to request for your freebie.

Holiday Freebies

2009-11-10T09:01:00.001+08:00

While most of my friends are making vacation plans with their families this year-end holiday since the kids will be off school, one friend may even be flying to gran bahia principe punta cana, I am stuck at home due to family commitments.

What's there to do when I've done all my shopping and most of my friends are going away? Nothing much except to update my blogs, I guess. Some are in desperate need of some attention, I have to admit.

Luckily, since it's the holiday season, there surely will be plenty of freebies on offer, especially by corporations and I am determined to unearth them all for you and for myself. Stay tuned to my freebie blogs for holiday goodies these coming weeks!

Cute Sesame Street Online Games

2009-11-07T20:18:00.000+08:00

Image courtesy of Sesame Street

Google reminded us of Sesame Street's 40th anniversary with their cute Google doodle for two days a couple of days ago. Frankly, I have totally forgotten about Sesame Street already even though I watched the show every weekend without fail when I was a kid.

I guess there are so many programmes now or maybe I have so many things on my head, I have no space for children's shows since I don't have children yet. However, since being informed of Sesame Street's 40th anniversary via Google's doodle, I revisited the website and revisited my childhood memories too.

There are plenty of free cute Sesame Street online games on their website. If you have pre-schoolers, it's great to let them play these games on the website of Sesame Street since they are pretty education as well. Even at my age, I found it quite fun to play these games.

Free WordPress Designs

2009-11-03T17:19:00.000+08:00

Image courtesy of Sam Karathanos

I had itchy fingers this morning and thought of making changes to my WordPress blog. The layout has been with me for a couple of years already and it's time to spur it up, or so I thought. I took some time browsing various designer websites and found this website by Sam to feature on my blog because of the free WordPress themes that he offers.

If you have a WordPress blog, you really should check this website out. Although there are only two WordPress themes right now and one which has been converted to Blogger by another designer based on Sam's WordPress theme, I feel that this site is worth bookmarking. Sam would surely add more free high quality WordPress themes in time to come.

Emila Yusof's Mixed Bag Of Freebies

2009-10-31T09:35:00.002+08:00

Image courtesy of Emila Yusof

I cannot remember if I have featured Emila Yusof on my blog yet since I have known about her for a couple of years already. We are both Malaysians and she regularly runs giveaways with extremely cute prizes and I have participated in previously but never the luck to win anything.

Anyway, if you are into cartoony freebies, you MUST check out Emila Yusof's blog where she offers plenty of freebies from printable postcards, her very own recipe eBook, Blogger/Blogspot templates, scrapbook quick pages, desktop wallpapers and printable To Do sheets.

Emila Yusof's blog is worth bookmarking as she continues to add in her original illustrated freebies so check back often and I am sure you will find what you like here soon enough. Enjoy!

Childhood Ambitions

2009-10-31T09:11:00.001+08:00

A couple, of evenings ago I had the opportunity to catch up with three of my old school mates and we were talking about our careers now and it is funny how far off target we are from our childhood ambitions. For me, I remember distinctly that I wanted to be an audio engineer but as you could see, I am a semi-professional blogger now. Back then, there was no such thing as being a blogger. LOL

Another friend wanted to be an air stewardess. She certain has all the qualifications but after 9/11, she decided that flying isn't for her but she still loved to be in the air travel industry and so started looking for philadelphia airport jobs and landed one.

When we were kids, we were really unimaginative. All we could think of were jobs like teachers and nurses but children now could aim for more interesting careers like web designers and game developers. Next time, I don't want to be just a blogger but a freebie hunter. How about that?

Free Download Audio Books

2009-10-28T20:31:00.001+08:00

Image courtesy of Audio Book Central

I discovered the joy of listening to audio books lately, without having to READ from a book or the computer screen. Kindle just wouldn't do now. By listening to a book, i could continue to work at the computer, or play games. I get to keep my hands free from holding a book, or iPhone or Kindle. And I could listen to a book over and over again without getting bored, and catch the parts that I missed listening for the first time.

Since the first audio book, I have continued to look for quality audio books to download. Needless to say, sometimes I get disappointed when the readers are unprofessional in their presentation and that kills the joy of listening to the book.

Well, I found this site that offers free audio books, Audio Book Central, but the catch is that we have to set up an account with them. I haven't done that yet. Hopefully they would allow us to download their selection of free audio books even WITHOUT an account.

Home Decoration Ideas

2009-10-28T20:03:00.000+08:00

My sister has roped me in to help her with redecorating a couple of rooms in her house. She said that she wants a different theme for each room with a different color scheme decor. Basically, she has an idea what she wants to do with the rooms but what she wants me to do is match colors and patterns for her. i also would have to look for ceramic tiles with designs that would match the themes of each room.

That looks like pretty tough job knowing how fussy she is and I told her I don't have the time but I will look out for home decoration ideas or many home DIY projects on the web for her to inspire her. Maybe by looking at other people's ideas, she would be able to come up with something better for her home. Also, I will keep checking for home decoration freebies and if I come across any, you can be sure I would be sharing them on my blog!

Free Photoshop Tutorials & Web Graphics

2009-10-26T10:17:00.000+08:00

Image courtesy of Eshark Design

Whilst surfing around looking for freebies, I found this blog on Photoshop and web design by a fellow Malaysian and am impressed enough to feature it on my blog. This blog, Eshark Design, not only offers us free original and high quality web graphics by the designer himself but also other free graphics sourced from other sites.

Eshark Design also presents to us Photoshop tutorials, interviews with other designers around the world and the latest updates on gadgets and devices that Mohd. Ishak, the designer, himself likes. Oh, if you are an Apple fanboy or girl, you should follow this blog and get your hands on Mac freebies like wallpaper.

Free Cinderella & Sleeping Beauty Pumpkin Carving Stencils

2009-10-22T10:32:00.001+08:00

Image courtesy of Huggies

A pumpkin carving post that I wrote on my other freebie blog was so well received that I decided to post another Halloween pumpkin carving freebie today. This one is courtesy of Huggies Baby Network, and is especially made for children.

Well, basically, most children like Halloween so why shouldn't they have their very own favourite cartoons carved on the pumpkins, right? Thanks to Huggies, we now have a selection of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty stencils and you can select the right size to be printed out for your pumpkin.

Both Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty have five stencils each and each stencil comes in three different sizes. Does your child like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty? Or would she want you to carve both sets of Cinderella AND Sleeping Beauty? That’s a lot of work to be done, then!

Free Children's Online Dress Up Game

2009-10-17T22:47:00.000+08:00

Image courtesy of StarDoll

A girl whom I met playing Pet Society on Facebook told me that there is a similar game on the internet that is like that. It's a dress up game that seems to be very popular among girls. At least this girl told me that judging from the way her two sisters are addicted to the game.

In Pet Society, we create our virtual pets but in StarDoll, we create a MeDoll avatar. Well, even though this isn't my kind of game, I thought it would be good to share it with on my blog with readers who may like such games or maybe have children who would like to spare a little time playing a game like this.

This game is free and also has social networking elements. Players can get connected to each other and make friends. Well, I am not going to start playing it lest I get addicted to it but if you are already playing on StarDoll, do let me know.

Busy Time For Freebie Bloggers

2009-10-17T04:41:00.001+08:00

I told a friend that even as a blogger, we have our busy seasons as well. Going into the holidays, as a freebie blogger, there is going to be a whole lot of freebies to unearth. I know that a lot of companies are going to take this opportunity to offer freebies, or at least samples, to get the word out about their products or services.

My friend laughs at me and says that I should work in a call center to know the meaning of "busy" and she is speaking from experience. She has worked in various call centers these past few years and she says that her telephone seems to ring nonstop so much so that the buzzing sound even came into her dream.

She also told me that luckily she loves talking so has no problems talking the whole day at work and some customers who called in really cracked her up with their ridiculous questions and demands.

Free Christopher Bonn Jonnes Autographed Bookmark

2009-10-14T00:34:00.000+08:00

Image courtesy of Christopher Bonn Jonnes

If you do not know, Christopher Bonn Jonnes is the author of the suspense novel entitled, Wake Up Dead. Christopher is generously giving away autographed and dated high quality bookmarks of his book, Wake Up Dead. This is, of course, a must have if you like the book. I figure it could be a collector's item as well.

As a book lover, this is something I’d like to have but unfortunately, it looks like it’s only available within the United States.

In any case, if you would like to get your hands on one, just send in a request by clicking on the link that I have provided in this post for more information. You will have to provide a self-addressed-stamped-envelope (SASE) so that Christopher's autographed bookmark could be on its way to you as soon as your request is received.

Christmas Freebies

2009-10-13T10:36:00.000+08:00

Christmas is still slightly over two months away but I know that some people are already doing their Christmas shopping. Well, if the Christmas gift list is long, you really need to start early! My sister is worse. She even has an artificial christmas tree up already! She said she needs it up early so that she could take her time in decorating the tree.

Anyway, I am trying my best to look for Christmas freebies. I know that a lot of people are looking forward to them. I actually found a few websites already but they only offer Christmas web graphics and I thought that it is a tad early to feature them. Other than these, I have yet to come across other more interesting Christmas-themed freebies.

There's still Thanksgiving before Christmas so perhaps I should look for websites that offer free Thanksgiving recipes first. It wouldn't be too difficult looking for turkey recipes. Stay tuned!

Free Twitter Theme Pack

2009-10-13T10:26:00.001+08:00

Image courtesy of Zidalgo

The other day, I wrote about finally making better use of Twitter. I update it more often now, especially since I feed my tweets to to Facebook as my status updates. I know, I'm cheating but I only have so many things to say per day. LOL

I have been looking for free Twitter themes because of this and what a coincidence it is that I discovered this free Twitter theme pack that is offered by Zidalgo. There are four Twitter themes in this downloadable package and yes, you read it right. These themes are FREE.

I actually have downloaded quite a few Twitter themes but I stupidly haven't figured out how to change my Twitter theme from a preset one. I don't even have the time to mess with my Twitter page yet so it will have to wait for now.

Anyway, if you are using any from Zidalgo, please let me know. Also, if you have other sources of beautiful Twitter themes that are free, I hope you will share with my readers and I. Thanks!

Wedding Ideas & Gifts

2009-10-13T10:07:00.002+08:00

We're coming to the end of the year already, a time which is very popular for couples to get married. Perhaps it's the romantic Christmas mood, perhaps it is the year end holiday which means that people have time away from work and school and they could better prepare a wedding. Whatever it is, I have already received a couple of wedding invitations. I don't like them, honestly, because they are going to break my budget for the month. SIGH!

In addition, one of the brides, a good friend, has roped me in to help her plan her wedding. She said that she doesn't have much time as she would rather concentrate on looking good on her big day. She is diligently going on a weight loss diet and has arranged for weekly facial and spa treatments. With all these lined up, believe me, she wouldn't have time for anything else! That's where I come in. Well, what are friends for?

Free Barcode Art Postcards

2009-10-11T20:56:00.000+08:00

Image courtesy of Barcode Art

What a coincidence for me to have discovered this freebie offer of Barcode art postcards. It was the 57th anniversary of the creation of Barcode on 7th October. Although I am a little late, I feel that it is still apt to feature this freebie on my blog. After all, the day is celebrated annually!

Designer Scott Blake is offering a total of twelve different Barcode art postcards which feature a famous face each postcard. You may request for one postcard only, choosing from postcards with the face of Jesus, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Bruce Lee, Andy Warhol, Ronald Reagan, Madonna, Elvis Presley, Charles Manson, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ozzy Osbourne.

Scott is sending his postcard to wherever you for free. Just email him your request at scott@barcodeart.com with your postal address. I have no idea when this offer is good until. Let me know when you have received your postcard.

Investor Information For Silver

2009-10-10T11:40:00.000+08:00

My friend, Paul, just returned from a business trip in Europe and he told me that he was surprised to see that silver is becoming quite popular among fashion enthusiasts. Doing some research, he said that silver is now the metal to watch among European investors. Silver has long been popular in Asia where it is known as a cheaper alternative to white gold and platinum. However, at the rate that price of silver increased in 2009, it is not that cheap anymore!

From an investor point of view, this is certainly awesome news, even though the increase has not been as sharp as it was a year ago. This year, the price of silver may see some correction, but if an investor is in the commodity market for a long time, he should know that this is expected after the phenomenal increase last year. It wasn't just silver or gold that benefited from investor activity last year but almost all metals and minerals.

Paul has been wondering if he should expand his metal portfolio to include silver. He has only been investing in gold so far, which is almost like a sure bet. Frankly, I am not able to let him have a definite answer to invest or not. I always believe that an investor should do his own research, read up on what the experts have to say, check the price trend, etc. and as if this homework is still not enough, luck plays a role in any investment too.

Fortunately, with access to the world wide web, doing research prior to committing to an investment is a lot easier now compared to ten years ago. I remember my father would dig up old business papers to check for prices and trends. We don’t have to do that now.

Anyway, according to a commentary on the recent World Silver Survey, many gold investors who are finding it difficult to keep up with the increase of gold price, are switching their focus to silver. This will be a factor in driving the price of silver and helping to sustain it in addition to the increase in silver holdings by the Exchange Traded Funds.

Compose, Share & Download Free Ringtones

2009-10-05T14:19:00.000+08:00

Image courtesy of Myxer.com

My mother bought a new mobile phone a couple of days ago and wants me to help her change ringtone to a Chinese New Year song. I blame myself for telling her that it is possible to do it. I didn't know how to convert and mp3 file into a ringtone but I did a search online and came across this free website, Myxer.com

This website allows us to compose our ringtones or upload an mp3 file to their server to be converted into a ringtone. We could then share the ringtone with other users or download it.

I haven't done it yet as I have to search through my music library first but it looks pretty easy to make our own ringtones. I believe once I have do it one time, I will get the hang of it and then maybe change my own ringtone to a customized one. Teehee!

Corporate Gifts Galore

2009-10-05T11:38:00.000+08:00

It's the end of the year soon enough and this is the time where corporations would hand out promotional gifts for their staff and customers. As a freebie hunter, this is a busy time for me to search for companies that would be giving away such gifts for their potential customers.

A friend once gave me his Google Logo flash drive and you know, that first one spurred me to start a collection of custom flash drives. What I like about these custom flash drives is not the logos but the novelty shapes that they come in from tennis balls to pens. No one would know that these are actually flash drives!

I am looking forward to growing my collection as the New Year approaches.

Free Download "The Fabric Of My Life" MP3

2009-10-03T23:44:00.000+08:00

Image courtesy of The Fabric of My Life

The Fabric of My Life is actually a song for a commercial for Cotton. The wonderful thing about this song is that it is sung by three different people in three different styles. You can download one version or all of them.

The three singers of The Fabric of My Life are Miranda Lambert, Zooey Deschanel and Jazmine Sullivan. If you ask me which version is the best, sorry I can't tell since all of us have different tastes.

Besides this new Cotton campaign, on this website, you are also able to learn all about cotton, its usage, styles and fashion, home decorating tip and many more cottony issues. But it's OK even if you have no care for cotton. Just go grab those three free songs! Enjoy!

Over 900 Free Quality Vectors

2009-09-27T14:48:00.000+08:00

Image courtesy of 123 Free Vectors

Can one have enough of vectors? I don't think so, especially if they are free. I stumbled upon this website called 123 Free Vectors, clicking from one link to another, and was surprised to come across a resource site (free stock vector site) like this with more than 900 free quality vector art and images for free download.

It looks to me that these free vectors are all sourced from other websites and placed here for the convenience of vector users. If you have vectors to share, you could submit to this website as well. Although there are more than 900 vector images and graphics here, looking for what we want is not too difficult as they are all categorized. Enjoy and let me know if you have fouind something useful from this website!

Online Education Opportunities

2009-09-26T12:47:00.001+08:00

Meeting some of my old school friends over a recent reunion makes me feel like I have some catching up to do when it comes to my studies. I left school with only a high school certificate while the majority of my classmates are university graduates; some are even pursuing their doctorate degrees.

Some people console me by saying that tertiary education is not a measure of how successful one could be in life but it sure gives one a head start. I feel handicapped without a degree, so much so that I am thinking of going back to school even though at my age, books are no longer top priority.

I know that when I do decide to hit the books again, I would prefer to get an online university degree instead of attending college. At this point, I no longer have the time to waste at college. Juggling work and books at the same time would be demanding and I would relish the convenience of studying online.

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