How to Hold a Giveaway

Sometimes you have more stuff than you need and others you just have money and want to help. It's time to do a giveaway! But how should you go about doing this? Here's a few common giveaway types and how to run them.

Free Raffle!
In this giveaway every player who wants in is allowed one entry to the raffle. This keeps chances fair for rich and poor players alike. A raffle of this kind is typically held for a week with a few advertisements being posted in the shoutbox, typically one or twice a day.

You will need....
 * A single forum thread
 * |A random Number generator
 * Something others might want and be interested in (ex: a Ribbon, a nice baby pet, ect.)

Make a forum post titled "Free raffle (ends ___)" with the ending date in the blank so others know it's still open. Put it in "general" as it's a charity event and not for sale. This title will be changed when the raffle is over to read "Free raffle- winners chosen!" so others will know it's over.

You are going to need to make at least two posts inside your thread. The first post will hold the rules for the raffle. It also will list any and all raffles you are holding at the time so everyone can see them all at once. The second post will hold the list of entries for your raffle. If the raffle will be pretty big (like over 50 people big), it's possible to make multiple posts to hold each raffle.

Open and close the thread when you say you will. Then go to the random number generator to draw winners.

Rules you'll probably want to cover

 * Can you win multiple prizes?
 * Open and closing date/time
 * How many entries per player and cost per entry
 * Any restrictions (ex: "only if you don't have an elite pet already")
 * Can you enter more than one raffle?
 * How do you enter?
 * How are entry numbers chosen?

Example rules
Thread Title: CalibCat's Free Raffle - Ends Aug 7th

Welcome to my free raffle! I am doing two raffles, one for a Ribbon and one for an elite pet of your choice!

The ribbon raffle is for players without ribbons only. The elite pet raffle is for players with three or less elite pets only (basilisk don't count). Anyone is free to join for their chance to win!

Rules
 * One entry per player. All entries are free!
 * You may enter once into each raffle.
 * Each player may only win one prize.
 * Your entry number will be the number in which you joined. (ex: if you were 4th, your number is four)
 * Winners will be chosen by random.org
 * The raffle is open from August 4th until August 11th at 12 pm EST.
 * Please post here to enter.

Pay Raffle Variation
Due to people seeing these as a way to scam others out of money as of late, raffles that require you to pay to enter or pay fees at any point have been banned from this site. You can't even put them in the sales/trades area. Only free raffles are allowed on Celestial Vale.

A contest!
Contests are a fun way to give out things you don't want that others do want. However, they are harder than just using a raffle especially as it's always tempting to give everyone who entered something. Here's how to do it!

Here's a few ideas: art, heart collecting, writing, captions, puzzle solving, name the critter, ect. The harder and more specialized the contest is, the less entries there will be. For example, art contests tend to get few people, but lots of people are willing to PM you the answer to a riddle. Choose your contest content based on how many people you want to enter.
 * Select What the contest is about (type)

The longer you run, the more chances people will enter. However, if it's for too long (over a month) people tend to forget about it and not enter at all! Base your time length on how hard it is: harder contests get more time. Also, advertise long running contests starting a few days before it's posted in order to gather interest. If no interest, pick a different contest type.
 * Choose how long you want it to run

If you run lots of short contests, feel free to recycle a thread for all your contests in order to keep clutter down. Just make three posts in your thread before starting the contest. Post 1 is the current contest and rules. Post 2 is current entries. Post 3 is past contests and winning entries.
 * Make a thread and tell contest running dates in the title

This one is the hard part, especially for art contests where you may get nothing but junk that looks like it was scribbled by a four year old in paint using their off hand on the mouse. Post your judging requirements in the first post along with the rules and don't budge! If you do budge, it becomes unfair to those who tried hard to stick to what you wanted.
 * Choose your judging requirements and stick by them.

Posting in shoutbox is a great way to let people know your contest is there and encourages them to come play.
 * Advertise at least once a day so people know to come join your contest!

Rules you'll probably want to cover

 * Can you win multiple prizes?
 * Open and closing date/time
 * Can you enter more than once?
 * Your judging requirements

Example judging requirements by type:
 * Art: on subject, shading, anatomy, style
 * Heart Collecting: 1 day to gather, Post screenshot with time, one try per person
 * writing: Grammar, spelling, theme, mood
 * captions: Creativity, good use of images, funny factor
 * Name the Critter: Keep it clean, (insert name theme ideas here)
 * puzzle solving: Single elimination or double, PMs only, solo or team?

Example rules
Welcome to CalibCat's Puzzle Challenge!

Every day I will post a new puzzle in this thread. PM your answer to me before time is up. If you got it right, you move on to round two. Every day is a new round until we have our winners!

This is a tiered game like a tournament. Each player has one chance to win but losing isn't the end! The top two who don't get the final puzzle right will also win consolation prizes.

First place: (prize here) Second and third place: (prizes here)

Rules
 * One entry per player per day.
 * All entries must be PMed to me. Do not post them here!
 * Each player may only win one prize.
 * This is a single elimination tournament with prizes for second and third place.
 * Do not work together on this or use a search engine. It's cheating!
 * The game starts at 12:01 AM and ends at 11:30 PM each day.