9th blogversary giveaway (E: 16 October 2019)

This October my blog Chez Maximka is celebrating its 9th anniversary.
When I started writing it, it was a record of my newborn's milestones, mostly meant for my family and friends, as I didn't imagine anyone outside my close circle would be interested much in our life. I was proved wrong, as years later I have had visitors from all over the world.

The blog's themes are always fluctuating - from baby-related issues to product reviews, from food to books. At some point of its history it was more food-based than anything else, but in the last couple of years it's gone back to a bit of everything.

I will never call myself an influencer, in fact I dislike this word, as it's so pretentious. Yet it does give me a buzz when my readers come back to me to say they have read a book I reviewed, or tried my recipe. Yay!

To celebrate the 9th blogversary, I am offering my readers a 9-day-long giveaway of my favourite things.
If you've taken part in my yearly Chocmas giveaways, you might know the drill (and do not worry this giveaway is not a substitute for the chocolate one, Chocmas will be back in December).
If not, please read the T&Cs.

Every day I will offer you a surprise gift. These are all things that I personally love and enjoy.

For 9 days (= 9 years of my blog's life) I will be revealing a part of an overall prize, and each day there will be a new question.

As stipulated in the T&Cs below, the number of winners will depend on how many questions the first randomly selected winner will answer. If they answered all 9 questions, they get the whole lot. If they choose to answer less questions, they'll get less prizes, and the remaining part of the prize will go to the next randomly selected winner.

T&Cs:

The giveaway is open to the UK residents only.

Please leave your name or Twitter name in the comment if you login as Anon, or I will never know who commented.

There will be one or more winners, who will receive all the goodies appearing during the nine days of the giveaway. If the first winner has replied to all twelve questions, they will receive the whole lot.

If the first winner answered less questions, they will receive the prizes from those days only.

The remaining prizes will be allocated to the next winner(s).

I hope I don't have to send nine different packages though.

The more questions you answer, the bigger your prize will be.

Only one entry per person is allowed (per day).

If you missed a day, you will have a chance to catch up on any other day until the end of the giveaway, as long as it comes in a SEPARATE comment.

Please note, if you answer 9 questions in one comment, it will count as 1 entry.

For a Bonus entry, please visit my brand new Facebook page ChezMaximkaBlog and engage (leave a comment or like). Leave a separate comment to say that you did so, and leave your name (First name and letter of the surname is enough).

Once the winner is selected randomly, I will count their replies.

I will contact the winner, who will have 28 days to reply with their address details. 

All the prizes are provided by me, and are in no way sponsored by any brand.

This is my way of saying Thank you to my blog readers.

I will be posting the package(s) at my own cost.

If the winner's away when the parcel arrives and is not able to rearrange the redelivery, and if by some chance it is returned to me, please do not expect me to cover the cost of the postage again.

If that happens, the prize will be taken to the local food bank (foods) and charity shops (non-perishables).

I will send the packet by Royal Mail, tracked and to be signed for.

The giveaway will end on the 16th of October at midnight.

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Now, what do we get on day 1?

Day 1:

I'm a huge fan of Cornishware, and have quite a few pieces in classic blue, and red stripes.

I'm very happy to offer you a 6oz red stripe mug from Cornishware as the 1st day prize.

Question 1: 
How was your summer? What's the best memory of the last summer for you? (for me the highlight of the summer was our trip to Cornwall)

Day 2 (9 October): Now that you have a pretty mug, have a cup of tea.
Today's addition to the prize stash is an Earl Grey tea from Whittard. I love this tea, and buy it regularly.
Question no.2 (9 October): As we're on a topic of tea, how do you take yours? Black, with dairy or plant milk, lemon, sugar, honey, or spices?

Day 3 (10 October): Chocolate and tea are my favourite treats. I love dark chocolate, and was delighted to see that Waitrose has introduced a new line of dark chocolate bars.
Here are three different dark chocolate bars as a prize for the 3rd day - from Peru, Madagascar and Dominican republic.

Question 3: As my mind went blanc re: question to ask, I asked my son if he would help me with the question. He suggested using the question Cressida Cowell asked her audience last Saturday at the literary festival:
If you had any superpower, what would it be and why?

Day 4 (11 October): Reading is one of the greatest pleasures in life. I wanted to add a book or two to my prize, and then decided that you might enjoy choosing your own book.
I am adding a £5 gift card to spend at The Works. If you opt for their 3 for £5, you could get three paperbacks - whatever genre you like. (The books in the photo below are for the illustrative purpose only, the actual prize is the gift card.)

Question 4: What fictional character would you most like to meet and why?
(and if you're curious about my choice, I'd love to meet Brother Cadfael and talk about herbs, Crusades, monastic life and human nature)

Day 5 (12 October):
I love Moomins, always have loved them, since I first discovered them as a child. When I saw this pin in the bookshop, I knew I had to buy it for my giveaway.

Question 5:
What's your favourite childhood book?

Day 6 (13 October):
Today's prize addition is more to do with my younger son's likes - he's crazy about Harry Potter ad Funko Pop figures.
Funko Pop Harry Potter key ring will look cute on any bag.

Question 6: What film or book character are you most similar to?
(I think I'm Moominmamma - a good cook, and a calming centre in a rather disorganised crazy household).

Day 7 (October 14):
L'Occitane is one of my favourite brands. Today's top-up prize is a selection of mini beauty products from L'Occitane.

Question 7: What's the best or worst purchase you've ever made?

(For me it would be a children's bed in a shape of a car. We saw it on Amazon, and my younger son begged me to get it. Once it arrived, it proved to be the most uncomfortable plastic monstrosity, narrow inside, with a very thin mattress. My son moves a lot in his sleep, and kept banging his head on the heavy plastic sides. He didn't last more than a couple of nights in it. That was such a waste of money.)

Day 8 (15 October): I can never resist pretty stationery. Give me notebooks, pens, pencils, stickers etc, and I'm on cloud nine.
Here are a few bits of stationery to add to the prize.

Question 8:
What book or film does always make you smile?

(For me, it's Gerald Durrell's My family and other animals. I've read it many times, it makes me smile every time).

Day 9 (October 16):
On the last day of the giveaway I'm offering you a mini bag from Seasalt. I like to use their small size bags instead of the gift wrapping. They are pretty and re-usable.

The last question: What takes up too much of your time?

(I confess: it's social media and books).

WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT:

Now that the winner got back to me, I can now announce their name.

Many thanks to everyone who has left comments, I have enjoyed reading all of them.
We selected the winner the old-fashioned way - a name picked from a hat by my younger son.
And - drumroll - the winner of the giveaway is

ANTHONY H! Big well done!

Hope you enjoyed answering the questions and reading what the other people said in comments. Please do come back for a 12 days of Chocmas giveaway, which will start on 1 December, and is becoming something of an annual event on my blog. I love choosing the chocolate bars and different bits and bobs to go with them.