What's the best free thing you've gotten?

I received two free tickets to see Paul McCartney in concert when I graduated from USC in 1993.  
It was an amazing concert. 

I tend to win smaller prizes pretty often, but on the larger side, I have won a $1000 shoe store gift card, Kitchen Aid mixer, a week in a condo (not one with a sales pitch), a children's museum membership, and a stereo system.

All 4 of my animals were "free." I actually think it would have been cheaper to get them from a shelter because the first set of shots (not to mention getting them fixed) costs more than a shelter animal around here.

The last time I was at Sephora, I asked if they had any better 500 point redemption offers than the ones they had out, and they had a really good one tucked away. That FELT like getting something free, even if I was just redeeming points I was entitled to.

I got a Vespa scooter from Target in a drawing my daughter entered me into. We get free stuff from Amazon all the time by using our rewards credit card and paying the bill in full at the end of every month. The biggest thing wasn't really free as my ex-h invested a dollar twice a week in lottery tickets. We won $100,000 a month after I told him I was leaving him. I got a brand new car, a large check and the ability to leave debt free.

My dog.

It was thru our veterinarian friends that my parents found her and she was my 15th birthday surprise. I cried! The people didn't want any money for her, but we gave them $20 for food.

She was my best girl for 15 years. Had to let her go 5 years ago and still miss her. Haven't been ready to have another dog yet.

Not necessarily best - although definitely up there - but certainly the strangest circumstances. I once won a pair of gig tickets to see the Counting Crows by tweeting an insult. It started when someone on Twitter got into a discussion with the lead singer and called him a douchebag. There was a bit of banter ending with one party being blocked. Off the back of that, said singer decided to have a contest to give away gig tickets. They were on tour at the time, and up to 5 pairs per UK gig were given away for the best 'douchbag' synonyms.

Also a contender for the best, and kind of a surprise, another competition win. I sorta collect Absolut Vodka stuff - bottles, glassware etc. When they released Absolut London, they had a competition to win a bottle and glasses plus a signed limited edition print of one of the featured characters from the bottle (designed by Jamie Hewlett). A few days after entering, I got an email saying I'd won, which was pretty awesome. Then the prize turned up. I hadn't just won 'a' prize, I'd won the top prize - so instead of one print, it was a full set of 8! They are from a limited run of just 20, and most went out as individual prints I believe so I've probably got one of only two or three complete sets in existence. We called my friend the picture framer into action, and they now line the walls of my stairs.

I've ended up with a couple of not inexpensive scrapbook things free due to shipping errors etc - a big box of Sizzix dies from the sale (including about a dozen alphas!) that they sent twice, when I tried to arrange a return they were going to refund me, couldn't get them to understand that I didn't need refunding as I already had what I'd paid for. Similarly some WRMK albums that got lost en route, so they re-sent. The originals turned up a couple of weeks later and I phoned them to arrange a return, but their courier never showed up for the collection. In both cases I did try to fix them but there's a limit to how much I'm prepared to do to correct other people's mistakes!

A long time ago I worked for an office supply store. They had a Christmas party for the employees and were giving everyone gifts like $15-20 baskets with scented bath gel/lotion or coffee gift sets. Since I'm allergic to scents and don't drink coffee, they felt bad and gave me the option of picking a boxed set of 126 Prismacolor pencils or a $50 leather bound Dayrunner that were on the clearance rack. Even though I already had a Prismacolor pencil set just like it from when I was in college, I happily chose it to have as a backup knowing it was worth over a hundred bucks! 

I won a big flat screen TV at my company Christmas party several years ago. I had just started working for them on the 1st of December and then won this a few weeks later. Everyone kept saying the drawing must be rigged, they'd been there forever and never won anything.

Funny thing is, the TV had to go home with a coworker because I was in my little mini cooper and the TV wouldn't fit. It was wider than my car. They were awesome though and met me the next day when I had DH's truck.

Ok, I received a rotisserie oven years ago along with other stuff from being in Ellen's audience during her 12 days of Christmas shows. We use it every Thanksgiving and it makes the most amazing turkey!

Also, I have found 2 wonderful pieces of furniture that others had put out for "free". They were in terrible condition but after my fabulous DH worked on them they are now some of my favorite pieces. One of them was a "hope chest" and once we got it home we realized it was solid cedar and based on some vague research of the brand think it could be worth close to $2k!!!!

Besides airline miles tickets and hotel stays on reward points, we got a free stay at a condo in Orlando as an incentive to buy, BUT we didn't have to sit through a spiel. I recently bought a new DSLR lens from B & H and got a $75 thank you credit toward more merchandise.

Thanks in part to the peas, my dd won a three night stay at a resort in Cabo. I also won a $100+ dinner for two at the same resort.

I've accumulated over $1200 in credit card rewards, but haven't decided how to spend it, yet....

I've won scrapbooking supplies at various crops. In second grade, my name was drawn from all the students and I won a pair of professional grade walkie talkies that we sold to a farmer for $200. I also won $100 in a Halloween costume contest in college and from a radio contest, a dozen roses.

Finally, several years ago, I was awarded employee of the year in our school district and received a plaque and $300.

We get free Six Flags tickets every year with the Read to Succeed program. They cost $57-77 each of you have to purchase them.

I just thought of something else. I won an extensive kit of stuttering intervention materials at a workshop I attended. Since I am not given a budget for materials through my school district, this was amazing. I use it all the time.

We've gotten some great 2-4 day vacations at first class resorts/hotels by listening to a 90-minute presentation. Laguna Beach, Lake Tahoe, Palm Springs and Carmel to name a few.

Our dog Pia. She was our only free dog we've had, she was from my brothers dog who had 9 puppies.