WASHINGTON — As winter weather blows in, who doesn't want to curl up and watch Christmas movies?
Contests and promotions offering to pay a lucky viewer to watch Christmas movies pop up frequently around the holidays, meant to drum up business and sign people up for mailing lists with the promise of cash prizes and a festive job watching films all day.
There are a pair of holiday promotions already this year that will allow two people to do just that, and get paid for their cozy work.
The first "job listing" is by flower-shipping company BloomsyBox.
The winner of BloomsyBox's contest will get $2,500 for watching and rating 12 Hallmark Christmas movies. They'll also receive two pairs of UGG Cozy Chenille Socks, two packs of Ghirardelli Premium Hot Cocoa and a 12-month BloomsyBox flower subscription.
The winner will be tasked with ranking 12 Hallmark movies on a 50-point scale based on factors such as how festive they were and how predictable the ending was.
Here are the films you'd have to watch:
1. The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (2008)
2. Crown for Christmas (2015)
3. The Nine Lives of Christmas (2014)
4. Christmas Getaway (2017)
5. Journey Back to Christmas (2016)
6. Ghosts of Christmas Always (2022)
7. Family for Christmas (2015)
8. Christmas Under Wraps (2014)
9. Three Wise Men and a Baby (2022)
10. A Royal Christmas (2014)
11. Northpole (2014)
12. The Christmas Train (2017)
Hallmark movies are streamable on Peacock, the NBC streaming service, so BloomsyBox will also pay for a one-year subscription for you to watch.
So what's the catch?
There's no real catch to this particular promotion, just a few requirements. You'll need a working email to register, and will be contacted through email if you win. You'll need an Instagram account to post your rankings and tag BloomsyBox, and a PayPal account to accept your prize money.
Applications are due by Dec. 3, and after a winner is selected, they have until Dec. 24 to watch all the movies.
Get paid $2,500 to watch 25 holiday movies
You can also apply to be CableTV.com's "Chief of Cheer," a dream job that will pay you $2,500 and give you a one-year membership to several streaming services. In return? You'd just need to watch 25 holiday movies in 25 days.
"One of our favorite holiday traditions is breaking out the bin of old VHS tapes (or, more realistically, the “holiday” sections of our favorite streaming services) and watching some classic seasonal movies. If you feel the same, we have good news for you: you could get paid $2,500 just for keeping up this festive tradition," according to the company's website.
Similarly, the winner will have to rank the movies they watched and let CableTV.com use those rankings in promotional materials.
Both the BloomsyBox and CableTV.com promotions are only available to U.S. residents over 18.