Free Competitions: Winning Big with No Entry Costs

Here at Magic Freebies, we’re no stranger to competitions. In fact, we love a good free-to-enter competition with an amazing prize, and we’re constantly hunting for the best of the best competitions from top brands to add to our site and share with you all. So, here’s our little guide on finding and entering competitions based on what we know and what we’ve learned so far!

Entering competitions: some handy guidelines

First of all, make sure you follow these basic steps when entering competitions to keep on top of everything and boost your chances of winning… as well as keeping track of what you’ve actually entered so far!

Read the rules

Check eligibility: age, UK residence, closing date, how winners are chosen.
Understand how entry works: is it a form, comment, share, email signup?
Make sure there’s genuinely no purchase necessary, unless you’re happy spending a bit of dough.

Enter early and enter often

The fewer the entries early on, the better your chance of being drawn.
Don’t just wait until the last minute. Sometimes, entering when a competition first launches boosts your odds.
But! Don’t enter so many you lose track of deadlines and details.

Be smart with tailoring your entries

If a competition asks for a photo, short caption, video or creative idea: give it your best shot. A strong entry is more likely to stand out.
For simple “fill-in-the-form” entries (email, name, address) you might still benefit from careful reading of any optional fields (e.g. “why do you want this prize?”).

Stay alert

Check your email and your spam folder! If you win, many brands will contact you via email. Make sure you check your spam so you don’t miss it!
If you’re following social media, enable notifications for brands you enter often so you don’t miss “winner announced” posts.
Stay safe: if someone says you’ve won but asks for payment or bank details, be cautious… you don’t ever have to give those over to claim a prize.

Where can I find free-to-enter competitions?

Now onto the big question. Here at Magic Freebies, we’re always on the lookout for some epic free to enter competitions, so we’ll let you in on our method of finding them, as well as ways to tailor these competitions to win goodies from brands you really love.

Look at brand websites and newsletters

Lots of companies that own top brands host competitions on their own sites or via email lists. By subscribing, you get notified when they launch something. For example:

Sign up to a favourite brand’s newsletter and watch for “enter to win” announcements.
Check the “Promotions/offers/competitions” tab on the brand’s website.
Some brands reward social sharing entries, so keep an eye on their social channels.

Social feeds are gold. Many competitions are run on platforms like Instagram, Facebook or X (formerly Twitter) because they drive engagement. Here’s what you should look out for:

Brand posts saying “comment and share to enter”.
Tagged posts asking you to follow the brand account, repost an image, tag friends.
Use relevant hashtags, e.g., #WinIt, #FreeCompetition, #GiveawayUK, etc etc.
Paid/sponsored posts: some brands boost a competition post to reach more people. If you spot a brand you like holding one, get in early.

Aggregator websites & forums

Sites that gather lists of current competitions help save time. Instead of scouring loads of brand pages, you can visit one site and browse. Tips:

Look for “UK free competitions” or “no purchase necessary competitions UK”. The Money Saving Expert Forum (insert link) is a great place to find competitions that are regularly updated by bargain and freebie hunters.
Bookmark a few good sites like that and visit them regularly.
Join online forums or social groups (e.g., on Facebook) where competition-hunters share new entries and wins. You can join the amazing Magic Freebies Facebook group here (insert link)

Offline/instore promotions

Being aware of in-store or offline promos is still useful:

Some brands print competition entry cards inside products or packaging.
You might scan a QR code on a receipt or product.
Check magazines or newspapers for promotions, especially in the papers or shopping centre (Tesco, Morrisons, Asda) leaflets.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

Think you always enter, but never actually win anything? Run over this list of common mistakes and see if there’s any you think you might have made…

Missing the deadline: set reminders on your phone or make a habit of entering early in the week.
Over-entering, under-tracking: if you enter loads but don’t record anything, you won’t know which ones you actually did; tracking matters.
Assuming you’ll automatically win eventually: competitions are random/selected, not guaranteed. Entering more helps, but don’t assume you will get something.
Ignoring the fine print: Sometimes “free to enter” still means you must pay shipping, or you’re only eligible if you buy… skip those unless you know that you’re okay with that.

Final thoughts

Free-to-enter competitions are a fun and often rewarding way to win freebies without spending. With a little strategy, and following the handy steps from our guide above, hopefully you can win some great prizes!