Make sure your favourite shops along The Parade are on high rotation. This year’s Shop The Parade prize is a cruise along the Danube River.

Updating your wardrobe with warmer clothes, grabbing a bite to eat, or even visiting the dentist could see you enter the draw to win a six-day cruise along the Danube River, thanks to this year’s Shop The Parade and Cruise Europe competition.

Travel Associates Norwood manager, Krystal Savage, says the trip falls into the “life-changing” category.

“Some people will save their whole lives to go on a luxury cruise through Europe, while others may never have the opportunity to book a big holiday like this,” she says.

“And you only have to spend $25 to be eligible to enter.”

The six-day, five-night cruise along the Danube travels through Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and Germany. It’s the kind of scenery that’s used on chocolate boxes, biscuit tins, or, in Vienna’s case, as the backdrop for a classic Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy romance.

Having done the trip herself, Krystal says “it’s nice to be able to unpack once and when you wake up and open your blinds suddenly there’s a castle in front of you”.

“It’s a beautiful way to travel through Europe… It’s lovely when you dock and walk right off the vessel and you’re in these medieval towns,” she says.

“Within minutes you’re eating the local cuisine and immersing yourself in the culture.”

The holiday for two people is valued at more than $14,000 and includes return airfares from Adelaide with Qatar Airways, airport transfers, plus $2000 spending money to make sure every detail is perfect.

Theo Theodoulou won last year’s Shop The Parade competition, which offered up a Fiat 500 as its prize.

He says winning the car was a “blessing”, coming just after he and his wife Jenny lost their franchise business.

“One of my staff gave me a $100 voucher to Gazman. My wife wanted us to go to the Burnside store, but I said I preferred The Parade store,” Theo says.

Gently putting his foot down provided him an entry into the draw, and he now puts his foot down on the accelerator of a Fiat 500 – which he is happy to share with Jenny.

“I’ve always said to my wife, ‘Go on, take it, you’re going to love it,” he says. “But I think she has only driven it once or twice.”

Gazman Norwood manager Suzy Romeo says her team gets behind the competition, and even went as far last year as to help some customers fill in the online entry form.

“I think our store had the biggest amount of entries… Very few people said no, not interested,” she says.

On the day Theo and his family picked up the Fiat from where it was displayed in the Hoyts complex, Suzy and her staff – including René Podeu, who made the winning sale – were in a flurry of excitement.

“It was really exciting because they were very deserving of it,” Suzy says.

There are over 340 shops, restaurants, cafés and services participating in this year’s Shop The Parade and Cruise Europe competition.

Aqua Boutique owner, Trish Huppatz, whose store has been on The Parade for 22 years, says it’s “an added incentive” to shop within the precinct.

“We always encourage our customers to get involved,” Trish says, noting they have also produced a lucky winner in the past.

Travel agent Krystal has some advice for whoever wins this year: “Pack light and make sure you have space in the suitcase for all the goodies you’re sure to accumulate along the way,” she says.

To enter, spend $25 or more at any Parade Precinct business until 9am Monday, 26 June. Enter online and keep your receipts.

The competition is made possible thanks to Travel Associates Norwood, their partner company Avalon Waterways and the Norwood Parade Precinct Committee.