But not every Christmas giveaway needs to follow the same formula. You can make your own products the prize, ask followers a Christmas-themed question, run a giveaway across Instagram and Facebook, partner with another brand, incorporate Instagram Stories, or organize a series of giveaways throughout December.
In this article, we’ve gathered nine social media Christmas giveaway ideas illustrated with real brand examples. Use them as inspiration to choose a prize, participation format, and social media strategy that fit your audience and Christmas campaign objectives.
1. Showcase Your Products with a Christmas Giveaway
Your own products can make excellent Christmas giveaway prizes, especially when they have a natural connection with the season or make attractive holiday gifts. Instead of offering a generic prize simply to attract participation, put a product you want your audience to discover at the center of the campaign.
Austroflamm, an Austrian manufacturer of fireplaces and stoves, put one of its own products at the center of a Christmas giveaway, offering a Fynn Xtra fireplace in Kaminrot as the prize. The campaign highlighted features such as its heat-storage capacity and large viewing window, positioning the product around the warmth and comfort associated with the winter season.
The giveaway was promoted through four posts across Instagram and Facebook, with followers able to participate until December 24. Eligible participation from the selected posts was brought together for the random winner selection using Easypromos’ Multi-Network Giveaway.
This approach can work particularly well for brands with seasonal collections, giftable products, or products that become especially relevant at Christmas. The giveaway generates an incentive to interact while keeping the product itself at the center of the communication.
2. Choose a Christmas Giveaway Prize That Fits Your Audience
A Christmas giveaway prize doesn’t need to appeal to everyone. Choosing something closely related to your brand and your audience’s interests can make the promotion more relevant to the people you actually want to reach. Think about what your community would genuinely be excited to receive and how the prize connects with the products or services you offer.
Woolsens, a brand specializing in wool socks, took this approach with a giveaway centered entirely on its own products. The brand offered three Woolsens bundles worth €300 each, with three winners selected over a three-month period. Rather than presenting them simply as product bundles, Woolsens framed the prize as “a whole year of comfort,” making the concept particularly relevant to an audience interested in its cozy wool products.
Woolsens promoted the giveaway through an organic Instagram post in English and two promoted posts adapted for French- and Spanish-speaking audiences, while keeping the same prize at the center of the campaign.
The same principle applies to a Christmas giveaway: a relevant product bundle, experience, or service can be more meaningful to your audience than a generic prize chosen primarily for its monetary value. And if your campaign targets different markets, you can adapt the promotional content to each audience while maintaining a consistent giveaway and prize.
3. Ask a Question in Your Christmas Giveaway
A comment-based giveaway gives you an opportunity to do more than simply ask followers to leave any comment. Use a question related to your brand, products, or the Christmas season to give participants something specific to respond to and make the conversation around the giveaway more relevant.
For example, you could ask followers which product from your Christmas collection they would most like to receive, what they always serve for Christmas dinner, their favorite holiday tradition, or where they would spend their ideal Christmas getaway. The question should be easy to answer while still making sense for your brand and the prize you’re offering.
Degusta Box UK, a food subscription box service, used this approach for an Instagram Giveaway featuring a month’s supply of sauces from The Simple Root together with a Ninja multicooker. To participate, users were asked to comment with which sauce they were most excited to try. Rather than requesting an arbitrary comment, the question directed attention back to one of the products included in the giveaway.
Although this particular campaign wasn’t Christmas-themed, the same approach is easy to adapt to a festive giveaway. A food brand, for example, could ask which product followers would include in their Christmas dinner, while a retailer could ask which item from its holiday collection they would most like to find under the tree.
4. Let the Winner Choose Their Christmas Giveaway Prize
If your brand has several products, experiences, or locations that could make an attractive prize, you don’t necessarily have to choose just one. Giving the winner a choice can make the prize more flexible while allowing your Christmas giveaway to showcase several options at the same time.
MYND Hotels, a hotel brand with properties in Spain’s Canary Islands, used this approach in an Instagram Giveaway offering a four-night stay for two people. Instead of tying the prize to a single property, the winner could choose between MYND Yaiza in Lanzarote, MYND Adeje in Tenerife, or LACASA Apartments Cotillo in Fuerteventura.
For MYND Hotels, a single giveaway could therefore showcase three different accommodations and destinations to its Instagram audience. For the winner, the prize offered additional flexibility by allowing them to choose the stay that appealed to them most.
You can apply the same idea to products and services. A retailer could let the winner choose between several Christmas gift bundles, a restaurant group could offer a choice of locations or experiences, or a beauty brand could let the winner select the product set that best suits them.
5. Partner with Another Brand for a Christmas Giveaway
A brand partnership can help you create a more compelling Christmas giveaway by bringing together products, services, or experiences that complement each other. Look for partners with a relevant audience and think about what you can offer together that makes sense as a single prize.
Natureo, a brand of alcohol-free wines, partnered with Mas El Mir, a rural accommodation in Catalonia, Spain, for a December Instagram Giveaway. The prize was a one-night stay for two, including breakfast and dinner, giving the two brands a natural way to connect a food and beverage audience with a getaway experience.
The campaign was promoted through both an organic Instagram post and paid content. Participation from the selected organic and promoted posts was included in the giveaway for the random winner selection using Easypromos.
Another approach is for each partner to contribute something to create a combined prize. Cutter & Squidge, a London bakery and gifting brand, partnered with Fraser’s Mulled Wine, a British mulled wine brand, for a festive Instagram Giveaway. Together, they offered a Christmas Luxe Afternoon Tea and two bottles of mulled wine, creating a prize bundle with a clear Christmas theme.
When choosing a Christmas giveaway partner, look beyond audience size. Brands with complementary products, services, and audiences can create a more coherent campaign and a prize that gives followers a reason to discover both businesses.
6. Run Your Christmas Giveaway Across Instagram and Facebook
If your brand has active communities on both Instagram and Facebook, you can publish your Christmas giveaway on both networks and give followers the opportunity to participate on the channel where they already interact with you. You can then bring eligible participation from the selected posts together for a single random winner selection.
The Gailes Hotel & Spa, a hotel and spa resort in Ayrshire, Scotland, used this approach as part of the SimpsInns 12 Gifts of Christmas Giveaway. Over 12 days, the campaign offered a series of prizes, including spa experiences, luxury stays, dining, and other experiences from across the hospitality group.
For each giveaway, posts were published on both Instagram and Facebook. Rather than running separate winner selections for each social network, the brand used Easypromos’ Multi-Network Giveaway to combine eligible participation from the selected Instagram and Facebook posts and randomly select the winner.
Running the same giveaway across both networks can be particularly useful when your audience is divided between Instagram and Facebook. The campaign content can be adapted to each social network while participation is brought together for the winner selection.
7. Create a Series of Christmas Giveaways
Instead of putting all your prizes into a single Christmas giveaway, you can create a series of separate giveaways throughout December. Each new post gives followers another opportunity to participate and lets you put a different product, service, or prize in the spotlight.
Bahco Australia, the Australian division of hand tool manufacturer Bahco, used this format for its 12 Days of Giveaways campaign on social media. The brand maintained a consistent giveaway concept throughout the series while revealing a different prize each day, creating multiple participation opportunities in the lead-up to Christmas.
You don’t have to commit to 12 consecutive giveaways to use this idea. Depending on your resources and objectives, you could run a giveaway every week in December, select several key dates, or create a shorter countdown with a new prize for each post.
Want to explore the countdown format further? Take a look at our 12 Days of Christmas giveaway and campaign ideas for more examples of how brands can structure prizes and participation throughout a festive series.
8. Use Instagram Stories for Your Christmas Giveaway
Instagram Stories can play different roles in a Christmas giveaway. You can ask participants to share a giveaway post to their Stories, offer additional entries for doing so, or use Stories to announce the winner once the promotion has ended.
SKNN Medspa, a medical aesthetics and skincare clinic, included Stories as part of its Christmas Instagram Giveaway offering more than $300 worth of SKNN favorites and an additional surprise prize. Participants were asked to share the giveaway post to their Instagram Stories as one of the participation requirements.
Emmett’s ToyStop, a toy and collectibles retailer, took a slightly different approach for its holiday giveaway. Sharing the giveaway post to Stories was optional, but participants who did so and mentioned the brand received five additional entries.
Santa Fixie, an online retailer specializing in urban and fixed-gear cycling, also asked participants to share its pre-Christmas giveaway post to their Stories. The brand then returned to Stories at the end of the campaign to announce the winner.
Stories can also become the participation channel itself. With Easypromos’ Instagram Story Giveaway, you can run a random giveaway among users who reply directly to your brand’s Story or among users who publish a Story mentioning your brand. For the Story + Mention mechanic, participants must have public Instagram profiles.
9. Give Back with Your Christmas Giveaway
Christmas is also an opportunity to connect a social media giveaway with a charitable initiative. Rather than focusing exclusively on the prize, you can use participation in the campaign to support a nonprofit or contribute to a cause that is relevant to your brand and community.
EuroPhoria Medical & Personal Spa, a medical aesthetics and wellness provider in California, incorporated a charitable component into a holiday Instagram Giveaway offering nine laser hair removal sessions and six theme park tickets. For every friend mentioned in the giveaway comments, EuroPhoria pledged to donate $1 to a local nonprofit, with the goal of raising $10,000.
The campaign was also accompanied by an in-store donation drive at its Bakersfield locations, where customers could donate canned food and clothing in exchange for credit toward a EuroPhoria gift card.
Another option is to combine a seasonal giveaway with a separate charitable contribution. In a Chinese New Year giveaway supported by sportswear brand Tela Athletics, the campaign offered a cash prize to followers while highlighting a separate donation of 20,000 Philippine pesos that Tela Athletics had already made to the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) on behalf of its community.
Although the second example comes from a different seasonal celebration, the idea translates easily to Christmas. Your brand could donate an amount for each eligible participation, set a fundraising target alongside the giveaway, make a separate donation connected with the campaign, or allow the winner to choose the organization that receives a contribution.
What Makes a Good Christmas Giveaway Prize?
The best Christmas giveaway prize is one that is attractive to your audience while still making sense for your brand. A high monetary value can help generate interest, but relevance is just as important. Ideally, the prize should reinforce what your business offers and attract people who are genuinely interested in your products or services.
Depending on your business, Christmas giveaway prizes could include your own products, a festive bundle, a gift card, an experience, a limited-edition product, or a prize created together with a partner brand. You can also give the winner a choice between several options, as we saw in the MYND Hotels example.
When planning your prize, consider its relevance to your target audience, connection with your brand, seasonal appeal, and perceived value. If you’re running several giveaways throughout December, offering different prizes can also help you showcase a wider range of products or services.
Above all, the prize and participation mechanic should work together. A simple prize may be ideal for a quick comment-based Christmas giveaway, while a more valuable prize or prize bundle can support a larger campaign running across several posts or social networks.
Create Your Christmas Giveaway with Easypromos
As these examples show, there are many ways to adapt a Christmas giveaway to your audience and social media strategy. You can promote your own products, collaborate with another brand, ask followers a question, run the same giveaway across Instagram and Facebook, incorporate Stories, or create a series of giveaways throughout December.
With Easypromos, you can manage Instagram Giveaways, Facebook Giveaways, Multi-Network Giveaways, Instagram Story Giveaways, and other promotional formats from a single platform, with tools to manage participation and carry out a transparent random winner selection.
Looking for ideas beyond social media giveaways? Explore our Christmas campaign ideas for more ways to engage your audience during the holiday season.
Have a Christmas giveaway or other promotion in mind? Reach out and we’ll be happy to review your use case and help you choose the best participation model for your audience and social media channels.
