Twelve days of chocolate giveaway (Ends 12 December 2020)

It's that time of the year again, my lovely blog readers! The 12 days of chocolate giveaway has now become an annual event, which I run from 1 December. Don't know about you, but I'm pretty excited about it. I enjoy choosing different chocolate bars for each day of the giveaway, as well as buying little bits and bobs to go with them. This is a kind of prize I'd be happy to win myself. 

Hope you will enjoy it as much as I do. There is over 1,400kg of chocolate to win (some bars are 150-180g)!

First of all, let me wish all my blog readers a stress-free Christmas and a happy new year! (and if you don't celebrate Christmas, you're welcome too, I'm wishing you a lovely festive season!). It's been a crazy year, filled with sadness and anxiety. Sending everyone a virtual hug!

I love chocolate, and this giveaway is my celebration of all things chocolatey.

Every day I will offer you a chocolate bar and a little something too, edible or decorative.

For 12 days 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 answer all 12 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.

Day 1:

The first chocolate bar to be won is Tony's Chocolonely Almond Honey Nougat (180g) + a small sized Parks Black Magic candle (lavender, lilac, honeysuckle, hyacinth, pear & orange).

 

Question 1: Do you have a cherished family tradition from childhood (or the one you've established yourself for your kids)? If you don't celebrate Christmas, what do you usually do on the day?

In case you're curious, we didn't celebrate Christmas when I was a child. We celebrated the new year's eve in great style, partying until the early hours, visiting friends and neighbours and often going out to see the fireworks in the central square. One of my fond memories is of my Mum painting winter scenes on windows, with a snow maiden, frosty swirls and snowflakes. It was so pretty, and I loved it. I haven't done it recently, but think perhaps I should resurrect this tradition from my childhood.

Day 2 (2 December):

Godiva 90% Cocoa Dark Chocolate + a tin of M&S Gryffindor milk chocolate balls.

Have you seen the latest Harry Potter range of chocolate gifts in M&S? It looks so good, and I couldn't resist buying a couple of mini tins, one for us, another one for the giveaway.

Question 2 :

Do you prefer giving gifts or receiving gifts? If it's not a secret, what's the best gift you've ever given/received?

I suppose, when I was a child, I would have thought, of course, receiving gifts is much better, but now that I'm an old wise owl, I believe it's the other way around. I love giving gifts.

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Day 3 (3 December):

Today's part of the stash is for the marzipan fans - you will get a Niederegger marzipan in milk chocolate and a mini marzipan log, both yummy.

Question 3 :

- Are you good at wrapping presents? What do you find the trickiest to wrap up?

I confess, I'm total pants at this job. I can just about manage a rectangular box of chocolate or biscuits, but if a shape is a bit irregular, my wrapped gifts look like a child's done the job. Actually, a child might do better. :)

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Day 4 (4 December):

Today's part of the prize is Cadbury Dairy Milk Winter Gingerbread Edition + KitKat Santa

Question 4: 

Which holiday song annoys you the most? (if none, what's your favourite Christmas song?)

Secretly, very secretly I do like Last Christmas, but after hearing it non-stop for weeks everywhere in the shops, it tends to annoy me. My younger son makes me laugh, singing it as "Last Christmas I gave you my heart, the very next day you sold it on ebay". Young people these days, nothing is sacred.

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Day 5 (5 December):

Today's part of the prize are vegan treats - Montezuma's Like No Udder Milk Chocolate Alternative + a small sachet of Zero Trace Full Taste hot chocolate.

Question 5:

What TV show and specials are you most eager to watch over the Christmas season?

Now that we don't have Downton Abbey any more, for my period drama fix, I'm looking forward to Bridgerton. Also we're big fans of Julia Donaldson, and will be watching Zog and the Flying Doctors.

Will there be Call the Midwife as well? 

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Day 6 (6 December): can't believe it we're already half way through the giveaway.

Today's part of the haul is a festive edition from Divine - Smooth Dark with Tangy Clementine + a box of 4 snowflake place card holders.

Question 6:

What is your favourite festive food and/or drink?

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Day 7 (7 December):

If you enjoy mint-flavoured chocolate, today is your day. The next part of the prize is Co-Op Dark Chocolate with Mint + Lindt Lindor Mint.

Question 7:

Do you have a Christmas jumper? (do you buy them for your family?)

I know they are naff, but I love them. This year I got a Star Wars-themed jumper for my younger son, and a Mandalorian-themed jumper for my older son. Of course, they have nothing to do with Christmas, but they are festive and jolly. 

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Day 8 (8 December):

Do you like M&Ms?! (apologies for the confusion, this is not the question of the day, see below the picture) If you do, you will be pleased with today's part of the prize - Crispy M&Ms chocolate bar (150g) + a Christmas cake ribbon kit found in Lakeland.

Question 8:

Tell me a Christmas joke (maybe a bad Christmas cracker joke?) or something funny your children say.

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Day 9 (9 December):

Waitrose No.1 Milk single origin chocolate - Hazelnut, caramelised cashew & pistachio is today's part of the prize + a soft Santa decoration.

Question 9: Would you ever want to celebrate Christmas somewhere warm and sunny like Hawaii, or would you opt for a proper snowy holiday in Lapland? (It's a hypothetical question right now, for obvious reasons)

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Day 10 (10 December):

Another festive flavour from Divine - Smooth Dark Gin and Tonic Inspired chocolate + a "tin" of sardines (chocolate as well).

Question 10:

What is THE-MUST Christmas dessert for you - a Christmas pudding, cake, Yule log, trifle, panettone, stollen, a big box of Roses, or anything else?

When it comes to desserts, I'm basically an "omnivore". Usually we have a fancy panettone, and sometimes I make a Christmas cake. A couple of years ago when we celebrated Christmas with friends, they brought a home-made tiramisu with them, and it was so boozy, Prue Leith would jump with joy.

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Day 11 (11 December):

Today's part of the prize is  Cadbury Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations Jelly Popping Candy (180g) and a mini chocolate Santa from Waitrose.

Question 11: 

What is your favourite carol?

If you haven't had a chance to spot it yet, ClassicFM does their annual The Nation's Favourite Carol vote, and you can win a Fortnum & Mason hamper.

I have voted for Gaudete, in case you're wondering.

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Day 12 (12 December):

For the final day of the giveaway, there is a Lindt Excellence Dark Sea salt chocolate, a pack of tags and a scratchcard, which I hope is a winning one.

Question 12:

Please wish a Merry Christmas to a poster above you (to do that you'll need to scroll all the way down, and press Load More, to see the latest comments).

If you missed answering on any of the previous days, you can still catch up, you have until midnight of the 12th.

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Many thanks to everyone who joined in my giveaway, and made it such a fun event! I enjoyed reading each comment. I don't reply to comments on the giveaway threads, but I can assure you I read them all.

The winner of the giveaway has been selected by the simple method of a name from the hat (thanks to my son who helped me with the task).

The name of the winner will be announced as soon as they get back to me. And big well done to the winner, hope they will enjoy all the chocolate!

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T&Cs:

The giveaway is open to the UK residents only.

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

There will be one or more winners, who will receive all the goodies appearing during twelve days of the giveaway.
If the first randomly selected winner has replied to all twelve questions, they will receive the whole lot.
If the first winner answers less questions, they will receive the prizes only from the days they leave their reply.
The remaining prize(s) will be allocated to the next winner(s). Hope I don't have to send twelve different packages.

The more questions you answer, the bigger your prize will be.
Only one entry per person per day/question is allowed.

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 12 questions in one comment, it will count as 1 entry.

Once the winner is selected randomly, I will count their replies.
I will contact the winner, who will have 7 days to reply with their address details. Due to the nature of the prize which I hope to dispatch in good time before Christmas, the time limit to get back to me is shorter than usual.

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.

Previous winners are welcome to join in as well, you're not disqualified from winning again, if your name is drawn from the hat.

I will post the prize 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 parcel by Royal Mail, tracked and to be signed for.

Any personal data given (basically the winner's address details) will not be shared with any 3rd parties, and will be deleted after the prize is received by the winner.

The giveaway will end on the 12th of December at midnight.

Good luck!