I’m starting the year with a resolution to continue supporting the good works that bloggers can do by becoming part of the Mom Bloggers for Social Good with 400 founding blogging Mums.  I know I am in great company and hope that we can make some noise in 2012 for all these good causes.

Mom Bloggers for Social Good is a global coalition of mum bloggers who currently span eleven countries – United States, Canada, UK, India, Spain, Nigeria, Singapore, Netherlands, Malaysia, Jamaica, and the Philippines  – who care about spreading the good news about the amazing work non-profit organizations and NGOs are doing around the world.

When the campaign partners need to reach the masses about new initiatives, advocacy campaigns, or fundraising efforts we will work collectively to spread the word through our social media and blogging platforms to spread the word.

Here’s where you can follow the campaigns in social media:

As someone who is heavily involved in research every day, I tend review a lot of statistics and insights. This research is really quite something, especially since it’s a look into the future and the resounding stats are still ringing around my head; over 80% of 0-2 year olds have a digital footprint and 20% of those are not even born. Like it or not (and I don’t mean in a facebook way) this is the future we are all facing. Social networking, social media, social web, social whatever, is not going away anytime soon – but some of us might be embracing it while others are just none the wiser.

The launch of the research coincides with The Bailey Report, reported here in The Guardian recently. This worthy report about protecting children needs further thought, and I’ll review it in more depth in another post. So back to Digital Diaries; it’s not a flawless piece of research as it compares tying shoe laces and bike riding to internet usage in the under 3s and 5s; I don’t think comparing those skills stack up. However, what was really pertinent was the way it was presented; as a study, a hard back book aimed at children and also an iPad app. It was well thought out and even though there were some great headline stats, I don’t think we should really be suprised by the statistics. Many of us post pictures of our children on facebook – I’ve noticed a lot of those photos are around birth, hence the post-natal digital footprint.

While looking into the digital future is akin to stargazing, it doesn’t hurt to think about it. In fact, it’s something we all need to face up to.

For those of us who are bloggers, there is a badge of pride that comes with followers, friends, likes, recommendations, reviews and badges. So why wouldn’t children be any different? I know several teenagers and younger, who blog, run big pages on Myspace (what’s left of it) and of course, Club Penguin, Bin Weevils and Moshi Monsters are all open to under 13s.

But my big drum to bang is who is showing the way to the new generation about online behaviour? Are schools teaching children how to manage this? No, they are far behind. Is our major public service broadcaster aka the BBC giving how to guides? No. So what’s left for parents? Very little except the common sense of those who are digitallly savvy.

According to the spokesperson from the IWF at our roundtable, it is the remit of influencers, namely Mummy bloggers who have a digital space, to show the way – and that is the way we should all be moving. As a blogger, I don’t know if that’s the right way, I am teaching my daughter the ropes of online behaviour, but what else can I do? Who or what is galvanising our communities to share knowledge and experience without scare mongering? Children’s issues are always so low on the agenda, I don’t want to see this slip through the net, hence my post.

Here are some of the key take outs of the research:

- More than half (51 percent) of 6- to 9-year-olds use some kind of children’s social network such as Club Penguin

- Roughly one in five use email, and despite being underage, 14 percent are on Facebook, according to their parents.
47% of 6- to 9-year-olds talk to their friends on the Internet.

- Almost one in six 6- to 9-year-olds and one in five 8- to 9-year-olds have experienced what their parents consider objectionable or aggressive behavior online

- 58% of parents admit they are neither well-informed nor understand their children’s online social networks

- 56% of parents were certain their family computer has parental controls or safety programs in place

Internet usage is part of our regular conversation at home and I aim to keep it that way.

He writes for children, specifically teenagers and his work has sometimes courted controversy. But he’s adamant that story telling is incredibly powerful and that whenever we write, we are trying to find a story to tell.

He says that we and the cultures we belong in are all about the stories. He was confounded by the stories coming out The Congo; that children were being accused of being witches and chased out of their families. He said it was incomprehensible and explained how people became witches; they were given their witchhoods by being approached in their dreams in the ‘nightworld’ and exist in a wholly surreal and fantastic world, unlike the dayworld. In the night world, these activities are powered by human flesh and blood – rather like vampirism I suppose. He explained the construct of society and that the man is the provider for his wife, children and her family. If things went wrong, the family maybe advised there is a witch in the family and that could be a child; the child then has its night wings burned away by hot wax and all other tortures are given to get a ‘confession’. Children between the ages of seven to eleven are the most picked on and in the last ten years or so there has been an explosion in this phenomenon, 80% of street children are ‘witches’.

Symptoms of being a witch are supposedly; bedwetting, skin disease, answering back, being to stupid, being to clever.

Melvin collected folk stories when he was out there and he also told stories to the street children there; little red riding hood and the big bad wolf were the two favourites he told and he was fascinated about their universality.

His favourite story is available on his blog and Save the Children here (link to come later) told to him by a small boy on the equator; it involves letter writing monkeys and bonobos.

A-lister Gywneth Paltrow has established her llifestyle and family blog/newsletter Goop and a year or so on, there’s still lots of negative backlash. I’m not exactly sure why – it’s a pretty, well designed, considered, and sometimes wistful, statement of who she is; yet it’s had a pasting. It’s more genuine than, say, the lifestyle pages of Vogue. At least when I read her thoughts on London, I don’t feel I’m being sold something, which I so often do when I ready glossy mags fattened by advertising. I love what she does, and by the way, if you haven’t seen Glee, you have to watch her in this.

Celebrity Mommy bloggers aside, Dooce is the leading US Mom blogger, and a great success story to boot. One of my favourite blogs, Gawker, has run a piece on the amount of attention she receives which you can read here. There’s a bit of ‘So what?’ about it when I read it – and I wonder why shouldn’t she get media coverage if she’s a trailblazer, and why is a blog bashing another blog? Well, there are no rules in the blogosphere which makes it such an interesting and frustrating place to be.

Sadly, blog-on-blog bashing is becoming an all too familiar story. I don’t do it myself because I have neither the time nor the inclination, but it’s tough to be on the receiving end one way or another. It’s a very weird feeling to read a blog post written about something you do, or are doing, and the comment trail that follows. It’s then that you have to take on board that blogs are to some degree public property once they are put out in the web at large (and don’t ever forget it, for good or bad). It’s a sympton of the cyber conversation culture that love and snarkiness co-exist – free speech resonates with others and comments can take as little time as a text message to write and post.

But all hope is not lost. Dooce is owned by Heather Armstrong and if you’re into blogging and you can’t fail to have heard of her, she has very resourcefully turned snarking on its head and her army of dissenters into a new art form. It makes me laugh out loud that she has developed a huge ad revenue stream from her ‘hate mail’ by publishing it on an area of her blog for people to read – it turned out to be hugely popular, obviously people love to read a good snark if it’s at someone else’s expense – if only I could the same from spam comments!

And who are the other US Mommy bloggers worth checking out? I’ve just got two super special reads to recommend, and both of them have made me cry with laughter and they also are shit hot writers, so well worth taking a few quiet moments to read and enjoy the stillness (by that I mean after the kids have gone to bed!):

Nashville, Tennessee based Suburban Turmoil is a favourite of mine which I have definitely not had enough time to read of late. While it’s a window on another world it airs the common themes of modern life with a large dose of humour

MTFF is another one, she’s a Brit with a massively creative life, and her blog is choc full of beautifully written prose

And if you don’t know what snarking is, it is by definition:

a) A strange creature created by Lewis Caroll

b) A sarcastic, caustic comment or interaction in cyberspace

Agencies in media need to get more social to survive, so what should you do if you want to be a great social media practitioner? My answer is to immerse yourself in it and become an integral part of it – but how?

The holy grail of digital is getting things right; link baiting (how to earn links organically instead of industrially/commercially) and non-paid SEO (free search engine optimisation can be done through brand mentions, linking, online articles) and general online social buzz all need to be mastered in this fast moving world.

Blogging delivers all of the above so it should be the first port of call if you want to learn from the inside out and gaining new skills is a bonus too.

I’ve yet to meet a single agency person who knows what a blog carnival or a meme is, that may come as a total surprise to bloggers who spend quite a lot of time getting involved in them. If you’re an agency person and you don’t know what a blog carnival is you should definitely find out and there’s a great 101 at blogcarnival. There’s also a great new phenomenon in consumer blogging which moves this on to another level. It is the brainchild of Tara Cain on her blog Sticky Fingers hosts the weekly Gallery. This amazing has been rocketfuel for linkbuilding and you only need to check out her engagement on postrank to realise what a great job she’s done. If you are running a blog for a client, you might want to spend some time getting to know Tara personally and analysing what her success could mean for a social media campaign.

If you’re really keen to get more out of social media, have a read of my Top 5 Tips; please feel free too add your suggestions at the end too.

1. Get some training
I’m notoriously opinionated but I also know when to shut up and listen. As a corporate blogger I have received a lot of training on social media. I listened, learned and applied it to my work. In the corporate world, it may take up a month to get a blog post from inception to publication. Still, it meant a lot to me because I loved the whole process. One of my really early posts even meant to trip to Berlin to meet the inventor of MP3 at IFA, you can see it here. It was pretty involved, I was there for two days and had a professional camera kit with me. I shot and edited the footage too. Even though I was blogging, I couldn’t really equate what I was doing with many of the high profile blogs such as gawker.com or perezhilton.com. The thing is, like everyone else, I had to start somewhere.

2. Get involved
Well the easy part is that most of us are on facebook; how about twitter? Do you know your blogspots from your typepads and your nings from buddy press? Sign up for a social media accounts; try out stumpleupon, digg and then look into other places like yelp.

3. Get blogging
What’s your passion? Photography, travel, shoes, your city? Start a blog. Amy a PR from Wolfstar is a great example, her blog PR Gossip lent her the credibility she needed to belong to British Mummy Bloggers and also do an event with them. I discovered this blog earlier this week Started a Fire by another PR and it gave me a great feeling about the agency. I’m not going to tell you that writing a blog is easy; it’s a voyage of discovery and that’s only going to help you grow.

4. Get out there
Social media is now a lifestyle choice for many. Gone are the days of hiding behind a computer screen and 2010 sees us social types mass mingling. If you really want to be more than just an asset manager in social, make sure you sign up for meet ups like London Bloggers, and volunteer for events like socialmediacamp. This is last year’s agenda from socialmediacamp – I had a brilliant time and lots of debate too.

It takes a lot of nerve to turn up to events where you don’t know anyone but all the people I’ve met are so friendly that I’ve never had any problem being the newbie. If you have any budget available you should also consider sponsoring events like The Sway and BarCamp8 you will get some good online publicity too.

5. Get Outside your Comfort Zone
There is a tendency for birds of a feather to create communities be it technology, beauty, sports, entertainment and so on. Let’s not forget how the agency community sticks together too. The problem with agency blogging is that it’s all about the clients and I wonder if there is a great deal of real interaction with bloggers. This is not a criticism but a fact of life. I have been to many evening events and spoken to the organisers who are a little upset that some bloggers have not turned up. I always say ‘Go to them, blogging is alive and kicking outside of EC2 – these people have day jobs and families and no rules’. I’ve never been averse to sorting out cab fares, hotel stays and train tickets for must have guests at social media events.

And there you have it, quite a lot to take in but it’s definitely a worthwhile pursuit. Things change rapidly in social media and many of the barriers to publication; fear, panic, paranoia, have been replaced by openness and transparency and even to the point that companies have changed their language from the formal to the vernacular.

Week in week out, social media never ceases to amaze and surprise me with all the innovations and quirkiness that evolve and launch out of nowhere. Wdgets, platforms, plugins, networks, APIs, apps – they all sound really dry until you see what they can do and what a wonderful place they make our shiny little world become. While it’s worth checking out sites like mashable and econsultancy for news and industry gossip, it still makes sense to gen up on your topic by getting to know it from the inside.

So go ahead, jump in and leave a comment.

Linda Jones at havealovelytime asked me for my views on her recent article Travel PR meets Parent Blogger – How to do it Properly. Linda is someone I have great respect for her. Not only is she prolific and an all round good egg, she has amazing insights and vision. Her blog gotyourhandsfull set up for twins has been a valued resource for a friend of mine who is Mother to twins. Havealovelytime is a great resource for the family traveller. To be honest, it’s probably one of the only community of shared experience about travel and days out for families, by families. That’s why during my work at lastminute.com running it’s social media efforts, I recognised the great work she was doing and named the blog in two lists, the Top 10 Travel Blogs and also the OYLB Top 50 travel and lifestyle blogs.

Which brings me on to my response to Linda’s post. If you’re a blogger there are some things you should know about how brands view you…and not just in travel either. Your blog can make for a rich and rewarding experience through the communities you engage with which will without any doubt include brands.

And what makes me so qualified to write this post? I’ve been a corporate blogger for over four years and a parenting and lifestyle blogger for nearly two. My advice is for bloggers who are finding themselves approached by brands, pr agencies, digital agencies and advertising agencies who are all trying to get a piece of this new blogging bubble.

First and foremost
If you’re a blogger with a PR and journalism past, you will certainly understand the migration of media away from the traditional print medium towards social media. If not, well I think you’ll be learning pretty quickly that you are in demand, and here’s why

1. It’s all about you baby!
And why are you so popular? Brands are on the look out for UGC / CGM (user generated content / consumer generated content) in blogs. This could be; reviews, news, praise, rants or a personal story and it does not have to be orchestrated, negotiated, planned or placed. If there is a link back to the brand site or product mention this will help with SEO (how high they appear on the page on google) for the brand which is great for them and affiliates the two of you, giving them credibility. If the company is using a monitoring tool such as Radian6 they will find your post or tweet and be able to compile it with others to find out the public opinion and calculate sentiment. What does this mean for a blogger? You’re opinion will be analysed. Sounds weird doesn’t it? Maybe a bit Big Brotherish (in the true Orwellian sense)? Don’t be put off. It’s massively democratic – if you put your opinion out there in the public domain, it is being listened to and smart companies are using their ears to learn and hone their offerings. If you’re unhappy about a product or have an issue, you might even get a response from the company and your problem resolved. As many parent bloggers know and others who write about fashion, beauty, travel – you can also get to build strong relationships with brands which are mutually beneficial.

Your blog + postive brand mention = authority and credibility for brand

2. Why is blogging so popular all of a sudden?
Blogging is very powerful and wikipedia is a good source of info on the varying trends if you want to know you knitting. Since the arrival of the internet into the mainstream, the last 10 years or so has seen a paradigm shift in the media and not just from print into online. Traditional journalism has been eroded by brand power and people power – both are putting out content in the new realm of social media. News is broken on twitter by people not journalists any longer so what does this mean for the corporate bod? They’re lonely as they don’t have many journalists left to talk to and they still need to create buzz around their brands.

PR – journalism = no press coverage
PR + social media = online coverage

3. Why brands want to work with bloggers
If you are a travel company, Linda has listed several in her article, it’s a difficult sell to put your product in 40-50 words on a website and add a thumbnail. Getting bloggers to experience and review product or holidays gives meaningful feature length content and opens the door to conversation.

Blog + brand product/experience = meaningful content

4. If brands are getting it wrong – you can do them a favour, point it out
The thing is, a lot of brands are terrified of social media and that’s why they’re getting things slightly off key at times.

Have you had an email from a PR company asking ‘when to expect coverage’? or from a marketing person saying ‘I need your decision today’. These are the questions that PR and media people ask on behalf of clients as they harvest their crop of media coverage or bums on seats for an event. At work, I constantly have to remind people inside companies that bloggers have different sensibilities; they write about niche interests and usually out of hours and the usual rules don’t apply – so they need to be patient, understanding and show they care. In fact, I would say 20% of a social media role is actually an emotional, yet professional, investment into your work. On this blog, I am on the receiving end of invites and offers for trips, products to review, news and events. I feel well within my right to explain where I stand to brands or media companies; if I am not going to write about something, I will tell them why. If they want to me to come to events, I have baggage. I’ve recently explained to a PR agency that unless they can arrange my transport to an event I can’t go because of the time pressure of the school run. They have booked me a taxi and now we’re both happy. Other brands run evening events in town; they forget the obvious; Mummy bloggers don’t live in London and have kids to put to bed. The conversations which we have with our blogging communities must continue into the relationships we build with brands to make them mutually beneficial.

Blogger = opinion
Blogger + feedback = change

5. So what to do if you are approached by about your blog?
If you are a blogger, and you’ve never worked with PR, marketing and advertising agencies or even big global or domestic brands like Disney and Butlins, you may feel wowed that you are receiving attention. It’s great isn’t it? But it’s a two way street, you are valuable because you have set yourself up as an independent blogger with a point of view. You may also experience the rabbit in headlights effect too and feel overwhelmed or even pressured into committing to something. Do make sure you ask questions; why are you inviting me? what are you expecting me to do? do you want time commitment? are you giving me product? are you offering to pay for a post? A good social media expert will set all of these things out for you but if they have not do not be afraid to answer questions. It is in both of your interests to make this work if you are interested in the brand.

Blogger + social media expert = conversation

6. What to do about unwelcome attention
As Linda and many other bloggers have stated, bloggers are often on the receiving end of unwanted, mismatched, irrelevant and untimely promotional material. As time goes by, agencies compile lists of bloggers which they rely on to blast out news. It’s important that you respond and tell them you want to be removed off that list or better still, tell them what you are interested in. Often the only way to reach a blogger is by a comment on their blog, an email or a tweet – how do they know what’s going on in your head? Of course, great social media experts will read your blog but an intern sending a press release out to 50 journalists and 100 bloggers will not take such care. Help try and change this it before it becomes common practice.

Blogger + feedback to agency = progress

If you have any comments or questions, do feel free to ask me here or on twitter @nixdminx

I grew up in a very political household. My very Conservative Mother believed that women should earn less than men so in response to the challenge I grew up as an ardent Leftie feminista (replete with designer handbag, shoes and champagne flute). My elder sister though is a dyed in the wool Tory. But she still wears nice shoes (not as nice as mine though).

So how do you explain politics to a 10 year old? Especially when that child is your one and only daughter? It’s quite a passionate topic so I have to admit I’ve found it a bit difficult to stay calm and unemotional. Deciding to rise above it all, I did watch two of the televised debates with my daughter and friends (hers and mine). Not soon into the screenings I had to excuse myself as I became bitter and enraged by the discussion and was on the verge of hurling stuff at the TV. Grrrr.

1997. I was overjoyed when Labour got in, I got in at 5am and rang people singing. The world has definitely moved on however since those heady days of champagne socialism and the shiny new optimistic-modernised-’Brit Pop’-dot com-wonderworld we lived in for a while. So roll on tomorrow. It’s going to be very different from back then.

And today? We’ve been hassled by the hustings left, right and in the middle here in leafy riverside Chiswick and not least of all at the school gate. On the homefront, I’ve had far too many leaflets through my door, including the BNP ones, to find it funny anymore.

I’m not saying it is a waste. I’ve been interested in the whole process and politics has a rich and complex place in my life. If only it were really simple and the decision could be clear cut.

For a 10 year old it appears that is really is. Miniminx has been giving me daily updates of the campaign trail at her junior school. She was a wobbly voter and undecided for a while. Unconvinced by policies, looking to make a decision on who her vote went to by how much she liked them.

She came home yesterday with her mind made up. She has decided that since the LibDems have nothing on offer it’s a two horse race between the Conservatives who are offering Mac Air notebooks and the Greens who are offering wind up laptops.

What happened to Labour is anyone’s guess I suppose.

Sorry for the bad joke but I just couldn’t help repeating it all day long. It’s just a mask for the fact that I’ve been having kittens about being stuck abroad and have had to keep my pecker up for the last few days and make it all seem like fun for my daughter. Actually, scrub that, it’s been an adventure of great magnitude and instead of coming home feeling a bit sad the holiday is over, we’ve both experienced a huge rush of appreciation for all things domestic, friendly and well, just our own doorstep.

Having told the world and his wife that we were delayed and unable to return from our holiday until next Monday, instead of last, things took a drastic turn for the better when the flights to the UK were announced again.

It would be an understatement to say that we’ve been in a state of crazed delirium for the last 24 hours. Having swapped Cote D’azur for a far chiller London W4, it feels brilliant and a bit lunatic.

I don’t know what it is about the human spirit but it has a homing device that propels the heart and mind in tandem towards reaching that destination against all odds, just to be there.

Last night after Miniminx and I had skyped,tweeted, texted and called everyone we possibly could from our French outpost, we found out before going to sleep that the skies over the UK were reopening. I did a celebration dance and downed another glass of wine then spent the night sleeping very badly as my daughter did her usual holiday prank; shrieking with laughter in her sleep throughout the night. It was all good, we could travel and get back home, lack of sleep permitting.

Not to be outdone by the general somnambulent squawking and whimpering, it was my turn to wake up with a fire in my belly at 5.50am and skittle around the room turning lights on and off, before settling at my laptop screen for some airline ticket motivated search action – I was determined to get us home.

As I flicked between tabs and screens and the abundance or search items, the flights were all coming up fully booked, and every few minutes there would be a change, prices would wobble, new airlines would be appearing, it all seemed a bit crazy.

‘Psssssssst, darling, do you want to go home this morning?’
‘Yeszzzzzzzz, but ….Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz I just need sleeeeeeeeeeep. Let’s go later.’

I was tempted to go back to sleep myself but I couldn’t. I was mad awake. Just the thought of being away from home with no good reason for a day longer was driving me a bit loopy. I let her sleep, and kept refreshing the flight screen. Two flights – oh no, gone already. Another one, at £1500. Another £386 with one stopover. Then after another 20 minutes, bingo. The 9.30am flight out of Nice, after the fourteenth try, had availability.

‘Wake up – we’re leaving in … oh quick, in 15 minutes, we have a flight to catch. Brush teeth, get dressed, close suitcase, do a room sweep*’

It was 20 minutes actually, but in that time I had to call reception to prepare the bill, shower, pack (yes for two) and dress and panic, oh and buy the tickets. The merry dance began and within 15 minutes we were out of the room and finalising the hotel bill and leaving, not before drinking a massively strong coffee. Our taxi arrived and I prattled on in French to the driver. It turned out his wife was stuck in Frankfurt, unable to return. Everyone had a story about some loved on somewhere, our waitress at breakfast had a boyfriend stuck in Thailand.

Determination and sheer bloody mindedness are one thing, but navigating the nuances of local traffic are another thing altogether. Needless to say as we lurched through the early morning traffic, 7.45am is never a good time anywhere, there was still a chance we would miss the check in period so it was all a bit touch and go. We arrived at 8.20 and had to go to the ATM to get the cab fare then to the check in desk, we had 8 minutes to spare. We got through the whole process, very smoothly in fact and boarded.

The flight was amazing, we arrived 30 minutes early and got back across town in good time. Arriving home was perfect – the sun was shining and London is full of Spring blooms. We are very very happy to be back.

So home and back to the grindstone it maybe but the simple pleasure of cooking an evening meal and having neighbours pop over to say hello is just the bees knees.

I’d always believed the old adage that travel broadens the mind, but it also emboldens the home loving heart much more than I imagined or remembered.
I wonder how long it will last?

*a room sweep is what I do after packing, moving around the hotel suite with military precision to check cupboards, wardrobes, shelves and drawers and underbeds for anything and everything I might have left lying about

And now it’s my turn to give some of you an early christmas pressie back.

So without further ado, here are the recipients of the goodies, and I only ask that you email me at nixdminx@live.co.uk to organise posting things to you.

Karaoke Golden Ticket

The Lucky Voice Golden Ticket with two hours free singing in this most glamorous of establishments with cocktails and microphones galore goes to: MummyTips

Uh Oh Oh Oh Oh and the song below turns out to be Crazy in Love by Beyonce!

Super Lush Sweet and Dreamy Box

This gorgeous Sweet and Dreamy Lush briar box of rosy dreams and sugar candy baths will be winging it’s way to Sandy Calico.

Festive Fun: Peter Pan tickets

Two tickets to see the Peter Pan show at the 02 from lastminute.com* will be winging their way to Liz a Living with Kids.

The Simple Human Sinky Caddy & Drainer is going to Gotyourhandsfull.

Tickets to SeaLife
And two tickets to Sea Life – take your pick which one you want to go to – are given to The MadHouse

Transformers DVDs
We have four winners of the of Transformers 2 Revenge of The Fallen DVDs and you are:

Amy at and1moremeansfour

Clarebabble at clareybabble

Vic at Glowstars

and finally Insomniac Mummy

Thanks to again for dropping by. And thanks also goes to Lush, lastminute.com, Simple Human, Lucky Voice and Paramount DVD for their generosity.,

*valid for performances Monday to Thursday before December 17 2009

While I’d love to buy a drink for each and every single of the one hundred bloggers heading to the Zoo this Sunday, I don’t think it’s fair on those of you that can’t make it.

How about I make you all some cake? Yes, that photo is me in the kitchen, rustling up something tasty, wonderful and celebratory – but oh, what rotten luck, with our low-tech social networking, you can’t even taste it!

Well fear not, I’ve managed to magic up with a bit of blagging and barefaced cheek blogging goodness some cracking goodies for everyone to have a shot at bagging.

And here they are and they could be yours, just drop me a comment on this post, or a tweet @nixdminx and I’ll pick the winners of these darling goodies by December 10. I’ll be adding a few more over the coming week too, so keep your eyes peeled lovelies x

Karaoke Golden Ticket

I’ve got a Lucky Voice Golden Ticket on offer. That means two hours free singing in this most glamorous of establishments with cocktails and microphones galore!  It’s so much fun, you’ll want to say longer…I ended up staying an extra three hours on my Birthday last year.

If you can work out what this song is below, will you let me know…the lyrics aren’t recognisable but I think we sang it more than once!

Super Lush Sweet and Dreamy Box

This gorgeous Sweet and Dreamy Lush briar box of rosy dreams and sugar candy baths (quite tempted to keep it actually) could be winging it’s way to you ahead of the Christmas Party Season and could help you get over all those dreadful hangovers feel fresh as a winter daisy.

Festive Fun: Peter Pan tickets

This is one hot show this Christmas – I have two tickets to see the Peter Pan show at the 02 from lastminute.com*.  It’s also a little known fact that my birthday falls on the same day that the original book was published (Peter Pan by J M Barrie)

Kitchen Goodies from Simple Human

Thanks to Simple Human for the Sinky Caddy & Drainer – I would hate for you all to be scrubbing pots and pan without some kind of stylish kit…

Tickets to SeaLife

Here’s one to fill the days after Christmas when you simply have to get out of the house, two tickets to Sea Life – take your pick which one you want to go to

Transformers DVDs

Blockbuster movies are always great for rainy days and I know this one is a goodie. I have four, yes four!, DVDs of Transformers 2 Revenge of The Fallen

I really enjoyed the first film, so please let me know what you think of it – but remember it has a 12 rating.

Thanks to Lush, lastminute.com, Simple Human, Lucky Voice and Paramount DVD for their generous offer of prizes – it always helps to keep the readers happy! x

*valid for performances Monday to Thursday before December 17 2009