Shine On Now | Table for Five

Update on my American Girl Doll Giveaway

July 29, 2010 By Elizabeth

I was looking for a way to boost the number of entries in my American Girl Doll giveaway, so I emailed a popular giveaway blogger who gets hundreds of entries on every giveaway and asked her for suggestions. She asked if she could give me some feedback. I said of course she could!

She told me that the main entry requirement for the giveaway was too complicated. That it sounded like entries needed to be an impassioned plea and that I would pick the “best” entry as the winner. That was totally my fault for not explaining it correctly.

American Girl is encouraging girls to be active in their communities, to help others. What I SHOULD have said in the main entry requirement is “tell me who you’ll give this doll to if you win, and whether they do anything to help their community, such as helping with food drives, giving unwanted clothes and toys to Goodwill, etc.”

I use a plugin called “And the Winner Is” to choose the giveaway winner, it searches through the comments on the post and pulls one at random. If it’s a bonus entry, I go into the post and verify that the person left the required main entry, if they did, I close comments and email the winner.

One last thing – even if you don’t want to enter to win an American Girl doll, please take a minute and go to Shine On Now to donate virtual stars to the program. All you have to do is type in a child’s name and a parent email address, then click to drag a star into an outline. You can do that up to 100 times a day, and when 1 million stars have been donated, American Girl will give $1 Million to four childrens’ charities.

Both my giveaway and the Shine On Now program end this Saturday, July 31st.

American Girl Doll Giveaway -Enter By 7/31/10

July 25, 2010 By Elizabeth

This giveaway is closed. Congratulations to the randomly chosen winner: comment #24 from Hannah B.!

American Girl is giving you a chance to make a big difference in the lives of children through their Shine On Now program, which I first told you about last week. Their goal is to donate $1 million dollars to four childrens’ charities and in order to make that happen, one million virtual stars need to be donated to the program. Here’s how it works:

Go to the Shine On Now website and look for the Donate Your Star! box. Type in the name of your child and a parent email address and click the arrow. This box will pop up:

Click on the star, drag it into the outline, and you’ve donated one star. For every star, your daughter gets one entry in a drawing to win an American Girl Doll, they are giving away one every day until July 31st. You can donate up to 100 stars a day so that’s 100 chances to win!

Not only did American Girl donate 1000 stars in my name to the program (which will become $1000 in donations to charity IF they reach 1 Million stars donated!), they are also giving me the opportunity to give a lucky Table for Five reader their own American Girl Doll!

The winner will be asked to fill out a form with their mailing info as well as their choice of doll from a wide variety of options such as skin tone, hair color and style, and eye color. The winner will be chosen at random using the “And the Winner Is” plugin and contacted by email. I will also edit this post to announce the winner’s name as soon as I’ve verified their main entry and received a reply.

WIN IT: To enter, leave a comment on this post telling me about a special girl in your family or community who you think deserves to win this American Girl Doll, AND write about why she deserves this doll — share with us what kinds of activities she is involved in, how she helps others, etc….. This entry must be completed before any bonus entries will count.

EDITED TO ADD: I apologize for not being more clear about the required entry. What you need to do is leave a comment telling me who you will give the doll to if you win, and whether she does anything to help her community, like collecting canned food for the food bank or giving unwanted toys and clothes to Goodwill. If the girl you are entering for doesn’t do any of those things, that’s okay, you can still enter!

HOW THE WINNER IS CHOSEN: I use a plugin called “And the Winner Is” that searches through the comments and pulls one at random. If it’s a bonus entry, I verify that the commenter also left the required main entry. If they did, I close the comments and notify the winner.

Open to U.S. mailing addresses only, entries must be received by July 31st 2010 at 11:59 pm ET.

Bonus Entries: Once you’ve posted your main entry, earn additional entries for each of the following that you do or have done. These are all worth ONE ENTRY-

Post the link to this giveaway on any “contest linky” making sure to include the end date of 7/31. Leave the URL of the site where you linked it up.
Tweet about the giveaway: Enter to win an American Girl Doll from @Table4Five & #shineonnow! Enter by 7/31/10 at 11:59 pm ET.http://wp.me/p9SRW-1FN
Become a fan of Shine On Now on Facebook and post this message on their wall: I donated a star to Shine On Now and entered the giveaway on Table4Five.net!

For FIVE Bonus Entries: Blog about this giveaway and the Shine On Now program. Please link Shine On Now to http://www.ShineOnNow.com/ , and link Table for Five to http://table4five.net, and include that both the program and the giveaway end on July 31st. Leave the URL to your post in your comment.

Thanks for entering and good luck everybody!

disclosure: as an American Girl Shine On Now Parent Partner, I received a badge to post, information about the program, and will receive an American Girl Doll as a thank-you for helping spread the word about Shine On Now.

Filed Under: Group Projects Tagged With: American Girl, doll giveaway, Shine on Now

American Girl Gives Back With Shine On Now

July 20, 2010 By Elizabeth

I am thrilled to be among a group of amazing bloggers who are helping American Girl with their Shine on Now initiative. From now until July 31st, girls and their parents can go to shineonnow.com and put their collective efforts to powerful use. Visitors can contribute up to 100 free stars each day to help American Girl reach its goal of collecting one million stars by the end of the program. If the target is reached, American Girl will donate its maximum gift of $1 million dollars in clothes, books, dolls, and money to four designated charities – Kids In Distressed Situations, National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions, National Wildlife Federation, and Save the Children.

YOU CAN HELP! It’s SO EASY! ALL you have to do to have a star donated is go to the site, fill in your child’s name and a parent’s email address, and click donate. You don’t even have to wait to get a confirmation email! You’ll see a graphic pop up with a star and a star outline, you just click the star and drag it into the outline and your star is donated! I checked the Shine on Now website, and they are at $547,442. We can help them get to $1 Million, RIGHT?? Please, go to the site and click to donate a star. Then, while you are watching TV or surfing the web or blogging or whatever, go back and click the donate button again, drag the star into the outline, and another star is donated. You can do this 100 times every day!

Every star donated equals one dollar donated to four very deserving charities and all you have to do is type and click!

The Shine on Now site also gives girls the chance to become official American Girl Ambassadors. Click the link to get:
* An official American Girl Ambassador Certificate
* A sign-up sheet to help you inspire others to get involved
* Fund-raising tips to help you make a difference at home, in your community, and even throughout the world!

There’s also a link to American Girl’s new virtual world, Innerstar University. Follow American Girl’s Shine on Now on Twitter and Facebook for reminders to donate stars each day. And coming up tomorrow, I’ll be starting a giveaway to give one lucky Table for Five reader their own American Girl Doll!