Christmas Contest Ideas – Retail, Travel and Entertainment Promotions that Capture the Holiday Spirit

Posted by Lisa Manfield

Your customers are doing a lot of their Christmas spending online this year, whether it’s on gifts, holiday travel or Christmas entertainment. According to the National Retail Federation, more than half of Christmas shoppers will buy online this year, and the average person will complete about 40 percent of their shopping online, pushing e-commerce sales up 15 percent over last year.

With the volume of consumer spending taking place online this holiday season, it’s a good idea to get your brand in front of digital consumers with a Christmas promotion that grabs their attention, encourages them to engage with your brand and entices them with your holiday offerings.

Need contest ideas? Here are some timely and well-crafted online Christmas contests and sweepstakes in the retail, travel and entertainment sectors to inspire your own seasonal promotions.

Christmas Contest Ideas in Retail

Take a page out of Ellen and Oprah’s books and give your customers what they really want this Christmas: free gifts! A 12 days of giveaways-style sweepstakes will maximize prize draws and give entrants a reason to check back often, and to get to know a variety of your products. Not only will you tap into a well-known Christmas tradition, but you’ll also keep your brand top of mind during the holiday season.

Crate and Barrel's 30 Days 30 Prizes Christmas Giveaway

Crate and Barrel has taken the 12 days concept and extended it to a whole month. Its 30 Days 30 Prizes Countdown to Christmas Giveaway reveals a new prize every day until December 23 with a total prize value of $22,000.

Mattel's Win Your Wishlist Christmas sweepstakes

Meanwhile, Mattel is giving busy parents a break this season by enticing them to skip the mall and create a wishlist they can win. Its Win Your Wishlist sweepstakes enables participants to enter each of their children to win one of three customized $500 Mattel prize packs.

Christmas Contest Ideas in Travel

While a great escape often tops holiday wishlists, it’s not always feasible for a fantasy vacation to make its way under the tree. So appealing to your customers’ desire to travel—and helping to make it a reality—can win your promotion more than just envious glances this Christmas.

Hilton's Cure Vacationitis with Hilton sweepstakes

The Hilton Hotel, a property on many travel bucket lists, has launched a unique promotion to help potential customers fulfill—and justify—their desperate need for a vacation. Its Urgent Vacation Care Center offers a diagnostic test that also serves as a sweepstakes entry form for its Cure Vacationitis With Hilton sweepstakes. In addition to encouraging visitors to use their vacation days before the end of the year, it’s also helping them do so with a weekend vacation getaway for one lucky winner.

Visitlondon.com's The London Story sweepstakes

Visitlondon.com, the official visitor guide for London, England, takes a storytelling approach to its sweepstakes on The London Story, a site it has populated with video tales of Londoners who are affiliated with some of the city’s most popular tourist attractions. To enter, participants must watch and select their three favourite stories. Each story represents a prize that is then added to the entrant’s potential prize package, which also includes round-trip travel to London and a five-night stay at a Radisson hotel.

Christmas Contest Ideas in Entertainment

Spending time with those closest to us at Christmas can be its own special kind of entertainment. Of course, in the age of the smartphone, there’s often a mobile device available to capture the memories or to provide an alternate source of entertainment should the need arise. And this can be fodder for great contests!

Kyocera's 12 Days of Holiday Giveaways sweepstakes

Kyocera, for example, knows that mobile devices are everyone’s best friend at Christmas, and its 12 Days of Holiday Giveaways promotion “is giving away what you REALLY want for the holidays - Android smartphones!” The sweepstakes requires a Facebook like to enter, and is drawing two winners per day for 12 days.

Holiday DJ's Get the Party Started contest

No holiday entertainment is complete without music—and what would a family gathering be without a few party tricks? The Holiday DJ, a plug-and-play party machine that syncs indoor lights with musical beats, has tapped into music lovers’ inner performer with its Get the Party Started contest in which participants can submit two-minute videos showcasing their own Holiday DJ party tricks. The top 5 entries will be determined by user votes, with a grand prize winner to be selected by judges and awarded a cash prize of $500. Happy holidays indeed!

Ready to launch your Christmas contest? Our social promotions platform can help you get your campaign up and running in no time. Contact us for more info.