** CONGRATULATIONS to our Birthday Giveaway winner — Michelle V.! **
Today, What’s Doing? Tampa Bay is celebrating its 1st Birthday. Wow, already? Honestly, I never dreamed when I started this blog a year ago that it would become what it is today — and it’s completely thanks to all of YOU!
Oh, What a Year it Has Been!
This blog has come a long way over the past 12 months:
— September 2010: What’s Doing? was born last September with a mission, a space on the web, and a welcome post — that’s it!
— October 2010: What’s Doing? featured its first 5 events.
— November 2010: In November the site boasted 28 family-friendly events, and the site branched out to include “Deals & Freebies” of particular interest to parents, too.
— January 2011: After much hunting, I finally found the perfect calendar for the site (thanks, Keep and Share!), and added fun “Play Date Ideas” to enjoy at home or with your play group. The “Contests” section was also added this month.
— February 2011: Ashley joined What’s Doing?, making for a staff of two!
— March 2011: We had an incredible 99 event posts on the site for the month of March, and we finally broke the 5,000 unique visitors threshold! An amazing milestone!
— April 2011: With so many great FREE kid’s crafts to make, we had to consolidate them into a special “Crafts for Kids” section just to cover them all! Regarding blog stats: April was the first month the blog received more than 10,000 visits — in fact, we had 13,724 visits! Plus, the site welcomed more than 8,000 unique visitors this month, and has continued to do so every month since.
— May 2011: We made quite a few additions to the blog in May. First, we expanded our special lists to include all of the FREE and cheap “Family Movies” you can enjoy around Tampa Bay each month. We also added a tab for “Charity/Fundraisers”, so you can enjoy your family time AND give back to your community. And finally, at the suggestion of one of our readers, we added the “Event Reviews” feature, where you can give your feedback about the events you attend.
— July 2011: We expanded our “Deals” section to include children’s consignment events so families can save money while keeping their kids fashionable.
— August 2011: Our most recent additions are the “Birthday” tab, where you can find cool party venues, as well as “Birthday Freebies & Deals,” and the “Sensory-Friendly Events” tab showcasing events planned especially for families with special needs. This month What’s Doing? Tampa Bay had more than 16,900 visits, making it by far our busiest month ever!
So, now we’re wondering … what does the upcoming year have in store? We don’t know, but we’re excited to find out!
You Mentioned a Giveaway?
We thought it would be more fun to celebrate our birthday by giving a gift to one of you. Since it was the constant searching for fun, new things to do with my daughter that led to the birth of this blog one year ago, it seems only fitting that our giveaway be to a place where you can enjoy one of my daughter’s favorite treats — a Starbucks Pink Birthday Cake Pop! (But you can order whatever you like!)
How to Enter:
To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment below telling us what you like best about “What’s Doing? Tampa Bay,” or what feature you would most like to see added to the site.
Want more chances to win?
Leave a separate comment after you:
1. “Like” What’s Doing? on Facebook
2. Follow What’s Doing? on Twitter
3. Share this post with your friends on your Facebook feed
4. Share this post with your followers on your Twitter feed (@whatsdoingtampa)
NOTE: If you already “Like” us or follow us, we appreciate that! Just leave a separate comments letting us know you already “Like” us/already follow us, and you’ll get extra chances to win, too!
** IMPORTANT! Don’t forget to come back here and leave a separate comment for each completed task. We will be randomly choosing our winner from the comments posted on THIS PAGE. Thanks! **
The Fine Print: Only comments posted on THIS PAGE will be included in the random drawing. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents ONLY. The contest period ends on Thursday, September 29, 2011 at Midnight EST. The winner will be selected at random using random.org and notified by e-mail; the winner will have 48 hours to reply back before a new winner is selected.
Disclosure: The gift card we are giving away was NOT given to us. We purchased this card from Starbucks in order to be able to give it away on our site.
