Giveaway: 10 Winners of $60 Gift Cards to UrbanSitter.com

Screen shot 2012-05-23 at 10.36.10 PM

As far as I know, the best gift that anyone can give you is the gift of free babysitting.

I know this because my sister has been shirking off material gifts since my daughter was born in favor of cards with a coupon inside that say "one free weekend night of sitting".

Somehow, this makes me way happier than a Macy's gift card ever could.

Because without the coupon, my sister might agree to free babysitting but that babysitting comes with conditions. Only weeknights. Preferably a Monday. Come home early so she and her husband can still meet up for a late dinner. (God, I feel old when she does that.) And most annoyingly, I have to schedule WAY in advance.

Sudden urge for a date night with my husband? Not happening.

Well, I want to give you guys some free babysitting and I don't want to caveat whatsoever. It can be a weekend. It can be a weekday. It can be tomorrow. It can be for freakin' Christmas Day and you can book it Christmas Eve for all I care.

And I'm not just going to give away free babysitting to one person, I am going to give away free babysitting to TEN PEOPLE.

That is incredibly good odds of going out, my friends.

Screen shot 2012-05-23 at 11.31.00 PMOne of my new sponsors is a site called UrbanSitter.

They are basically "Open Table" for babysitting. Log in, write what date/time you are looking for a sitter and immediately see a listing of who is available with their rates. Read their profiles plus user recommendations and then book right online.

But who are these sitters and why should I trust total strangers to watch my child?

UrbanSitter runs through Facebook Connect so you can see who all your friends have used and recommended. You can also see sitters who have been recommended by affiliation— like parents who go to your preschool or belong to the same little league team. Or check out your sitter's friends— because most people I know (including myself) find sitters through previous sitters. 

And if you need a level of trust higher than a friend's word, UrbanSitter has made sure a number of sitters are background checked in each location.

You can also search potential sitters by those who speak French, know CPR, charge less than $15 an hour and won't freak out about your incredibly large dog. Pretty cool, right?

Even better, you can pay by credit card online so no awkward exchange of cash needs to be had at the end of the night. It's like the future!

We used UrbanSitter last weekend and it was ridiculously easy. I found my sitter on a Thursday for a Saturday night— that is almost unheard of in Manhattan. She was on time, had a degree in education and came background checked. I made sure to leave her a lovely review the next day and will attempt to book her again for this coming Wednesday.

Typically, I would take my new sitter's number, covet it and never breathe a word of her to friends. Sitters are precious and you don't want them poached. But UrbanSitter makes finding a sitter so easy, I bet parents will begin to let go of old ownership habits. 

UrbanSitter just launched in New York and currently operates in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago Boston and Seattle. If you are from one of those cities, then you are eligible for today's awesome giveaway.

Ten winners will get $60 gift cards redeemable on UrbanSitter. That's $600 worth of free babysitting.

PLUS- everybody can use the code MSHORTS10 for a one time $10 credit.

Now get off your ass and make some plans!

——————————————

GIVEAWAY RULES

1) You must be a Mommy Shorts facebook fan or subscriber to enter. Then answer the following question in the comment section below: If a free babysitter suddenly showed up on your doorstep tonight, what would you do?

2) You can get a second entry by joining UrbanSitter and leaving a second comment below.

3) You can get a third entry by tweeting the following:

I entered to win one of TEN $60 BABYSITTING CREDITS from @UrbanSitter via @mommyshorts http://bit.ly/JWIeqB #giveaway

Winners will announced Friday, June 8th.

Good luck!