This Mom Found a Way to Get Free Toys From Pampers
Penny Hoarder staffer Kalynn Harshbarger isn’t necessarily a Pampers loyalist. But she and her husband found Pampers to be the best fit for their one-and-half-year-old son, so why not join a rewards program?
“We’re buying them anyway,” says Kalynn, “so we might as well get something for free.”
The Pampers Rewards program does seem to truly reward loyal customers, without a catch.
The couple learned about the program simply: Every qualifying package of Pampers diapers, wipes and training pants has a tag with a Rewards code on it.
Visit Pampers.com to sign up. They’ll ask for your email address and prompt you to create a password. Once you’ve created an account, you’ll submit rewards codes, collect points and cash them in for a variety of free gifts.
Pampers makes the process pretty easy, and the rewards codes are on tags you can easily remove from packaging. Kalynn or her husband tend to remove and save the tags for a few months, then input five or six at a time.
Even then, Kalynn says, it’s a quick process. “Not even five minutes — it takes seconds.”
How Many Points Can You Earn?
This family has been using Pampers Rewards almost since their son was born.
In 18 months, they’ve earned a total of 2,190 points. That’s with spending about $50 per month (same as the U.S average), buying a box of diapers about every six weeks.
Each box of diapers or wipes offers a different number of points, and you can see on the Pampers website how much each will be worth before you buy it.
With a plethora of ways to save money on diapers, score free packages or earn additional rewards when you buy them, Kalynn thinks the Rewards points she earns for buying diapers are a pretty great value.
You can also earn points without buying any diapers.
Pampers gives you additional points for tasks like reviewing products, reading select articles and watching promoted videos. You’ll also receive special bonus offers that boost your points — things like triple points on the first box of diapers you purchase this month.
How Pampers Rewards Works
The steps are easy:
- Find the Rewards code on your package of Pampers diapers, wipes or training pants.
- Enter the code at Pampers.com, through the mobile app or via text message.
- Log in to your account at Pampers.com to see your Rewards anytime.
- Once you earn enough rewards, redeem them for the item you want.
- The website says items should arrive in four to six weeks.
The only caveat about the rewards program is the codes are a bit unwieldy. Each code is a random combination of about 15 letters and numbers, so entering them correctly could be tricky.
To avoid the tediousness of entering each code by hand, Kalynn recommends you use the Pampers Rewards smartphone app. Just take a picture of the code and the app enters it for you.
However, the app’s fairly new and has some kinks to work out. You have to sign in each time you open it, and have to manually enter codes for wipes. But for boxes of diapers, it’s still a worthwhile timesaver.
What Can You Get?
You can redeem any number of points at any time for gifts for your baby or family — or to treat yourself.
As few as 10 points can earn you an entry to a sweepstakes for baby items.
You can get this cute Dora and Diego potty training chart for 100 points. Tons of cool Shutterfly gifts are available, like this set of custom cards for 600 points. This yoga DVD for Mom goes for 1,100 points.
After about 16 months, Kalynn redeemed 1,750 points for a Melissa & Doug Tool Kit, which retails for $14.99 at Target. She didn’t have to wait the estimated 4-6 weeks for the toy; it arrived in about a week and a half.
Get More Freebies With Grow On
The bonus Grow On program is an automatic benefit for Pampers Rewards members.
Just enter at least one code per month, and you’ll get to choose from a bonus selection of gifts every three months.
Keep Saving Points
Pampers Rewards don’t seem to have an expiration, so you can hold onto your points and redeem them as your child grows or to get freebies for the next one.
Just make sure you don’t hoard points for too long without adding more. You could lose them if your account is inactive for six months.
The terms of the program currently state it expires December 31, 2015. But it said that about December 2014, too, and dates before that, according to member forums. As each termination date approached, Pampers emailed members to let them know the program would be extended without a hitch.
So we have reason to believe the program will stick around, and your points will be just fine after New Year’s Eve.
Your Turn: Have you tried Pampers Rewards? What did you earn with your points?
Disclosure: We have a serious Taco Bell addiction around here. The affiliate links in this post help us order off the dollar menu. Thanks for your support!
Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a Staff Writer at The Penny Hoarder. She also writes about writing, work, life and love for blogs and books and sometimes things people care about, like Huffington Post and that one time she had an article published in the Onion.
