Sponsored by Allen’s Cheekies Lollies.

Firstly, my agent is awesome. She’s Irish. We’re in love. A few weeks ago she was all, hey you like lollies right? And I was all. Yes. Yes I do. Seriously I’m like a freaking twelve-year-old. Ice cream and with topping and sprinkles? Yes. Jelly lollies with some kind of delicious soft centre? Yes. Strawberry milkshakes? Yes. Fancy french cake with gold foil and ju? Nuh uh.

Ice cream cake on my 27th birthday. I’m ecstatic because it had choc chips in it. I clearly have some kind of Peter Pan complex.

The lollies to which she was referring to are Allen’s Cheekies. Small bags of sweet  treats for you to have when you’re having a ‘cheeky’ moment. They have the perfect fruit flavoured soft centre which, as a massive lolly eater, I have to say is difficult to achieve but Allen’s have nailed the lolly to soft centre ratio. I got a giant box in the mail and took them to rehearsal where they were devoured in minutes.

The cast of my play slamming bag after bag of Cheekies. They made the most obscene yummy noises.

I’m a huge fan of both cheeky moments and things that are novelty sized, so I immediately said yes to this campaign and thought I’d let you in on a wee little secret that my mother taught me.

When I was a little kid, I adored sick days off from school. My brother would crankily trudge out the door while I was tucked up on the couch with a stack of Julia Roberts movies and a box of lemonade icy poles in the freezer. I didn’t even care that I felt like death warmed up. It was totally rad because everyone was doing something while I was doing nothing. Such a loser, wearing my little smug hat while I had snot all over my face. Classy.

When I got older, I’d sometimes try to lie to my mother and say that I was sick and couldn’t go to school. I tried this three or four times until she finally let me in on a secret of hers. There was a loophole in the whole sick day system and it was time that I knew about it. I was intrigued. She explained that it was a day that technically was a sick day but you’re not ‘sick’. It’s a day where you just need a day off for your brain. Where you go to see a movie, take yourself out for lunch or go for a swim. Whatever your heart desires. She said they’re really rare and you’re only allowed to have them once or twice a year so you had to really think about when you needed them the most. She called these days ‘Me Time Days’ and I’ve been a big advocate of them ever since. They’re totally necessary, totally guilt free and totally cheeky.

Me Time Day Rules

* You can’t have a me time day on a weekend. Unless you work weekends or 7 days a week. A Me Time Day needs to be instead of work, school, parenting or studying. The whole point is that it’s instead of responsibility.

* There’s no errands on Me Time Days. You can’t go to the bank, go to the post office or do the washing.

* You can have a Me Time Day by yourself or with others. It’s entirely up to you.

* It doesn’t have to be a whole day. Sometimes an afternoon is perfect.

* A Me Time Day shouldn’t be stressful. It needs to be on a day where it won’t really matter if you’re not there. If you take a me time day when you have a presentation due, a test at uni or a meeting at your kid’s school, it’s not going to be the enjoyable experience it should be.

* You should do something unusual on a me time day, to make it a bit spesh.

 Here’s a few favourite me time moments of mine…

Buy a magazine and a bag of Cheekies – try the Blackcurrant and Orange with soft citrus centres. Take off all your clothes and jump into bed naked. Spend a delicious hour snacking and reading all by yourself.

Take yourself to the movies. Treat yourself to a choc top.

Meet your mother for high tea. On a Wednesday afternoon. Eat cucumber sandwiches and drink champagne. Get a little too tipsy than would be considered appropriate for a weekday afternoon.

Leave work at lunch time and spend the afternoon at an art gallery. Wander slowly around in the silence. Have a takeaway coffee. Buy a stack of fancy postcards.

Blow off your afternoon of work. Grab a picnic blanket. Pack yourself a delicious sandwich and a bottle of iced tea. Spend the afternoon having a solo lunch date in the sun.

And guess what poppets? The lolly lovers at Allen’s are offering one Smaggle reader a cheeky moment of their own. They’re giving away a Myer gift voucher worth $500 so you can buy anything you want to have the perfect cheeky moment. Gorgeous pyjamas? A perfect new lipstick? Beautiful underwear? Go nuts!

All you have to do to win is tell me what your perfect cheeky Me Time Day would be like.

Make sure you enter with a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. Competition T&Cs here.