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Tips to Maximize Your AARP Rewards Program

Navigating the deals, games, and online communities for a chance to win big


spinner image illustrations of active people and numbers indicating aarp rewards points
David Weissberg

When I joined AARP, I was introduced to the AARP Rewards program almost immediately. I wasn’t sure how it worked exactly, but I had enough time on my hands to take a quiz or two. I immediately began accruing points — 450 points to test my knowledge of driving laws. I measured my body mass index (BMI) for 75 points. Those 75 points were not much consolation, but I took them.​

I didn’t know what I was collecting points for, but it was easy to do. Soon after, I started getting offers to enter sweepstakes in exchange for my points. Suddenly, I was hooked, playing games and entering sweepstakes — a $250 card to Macy’s or a $500 coupon for Delta Airlines. ​

I was accumulating points like mad but not cashing in on deals. The points themselves became the reward for me, like the dopamine hit of a like on Facebook. I started to wonder if I was doing it right, so I asked AARP what the world’s largest nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization was doing with this program. ​

Turns out, AARP Rewards is designed to help people get ahead of the curve balls life throws at us as we age by making it easy, fun and rewarding to participate in challenges, games and quizzes to help loved ones, test your savings chops or walk 5,000 steps in a day. Program participants earn points for these activities, which they can use to reward themselves. ​

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The program incentivizes learning with quizzes, trivia, and brain-stimulating games. Each month, AARP offers a curated set of learning activities, offering a deep dive into topics like why sleep is good for your health or ways to spot cyberscams.

The AARP Rewards program also encourages users to earn points by connecting their fitness tracker or their iPhone Apple Health or Android Google Fit apps to the free AARP Now app. Once connected, participants can earn points while reaching their fitness goals. Walking 5,000 steps a day or biking 25 miles a week accumulates points. AARP also offers its own fitness videos, including a 5-minute strength exercise or 10-minute cardio class. The AARP Now app is useful for checking point balances and finding additional activities and rewards.

But back to those payouts. According to Megan Barrett, AARP Rewards Marketing Director, these are four of the best ways to get rewards and save in the program:

  • Monthly sweepstakes featuring popular stores, restaurants, and travel offerings.
  • Daily Deals, which are deeply discounted offers that run every weekday starting at 12:00 p.m. ET.
  • Discounted gift cards on travel, cruises, everyday essentials, restaurants, shopping, and more.
  • Local deals where for as little as 500 points, you can get a discount from stores and restaurants in your neighborhood.

Barrett told me that AARP Rewards hosts about 10-15 sweepstakes each month, with hundreds of monthly winners. Every day of the week is a new Instant Win game. The number of winners varies based on the type of Instant Win, she said.

​According to Barrett, since the program launched in 2019, users have saved $30 million. This year alone, users have saved almost $19 million. One user shared with Barrett that she had saved over $1,000 in the program — more than the cost of her monthly mortgage. ​​You don’t even have to be a member of AARP to play, but as one, you can earn 50 percent more points and gain access to members-only rewards. ​​AARP members can earn 1,500 points just for joining the Rewards program, and participants can earn up to 7,500 points each day by playing games, watching videos or doing things they already do every day. Players can earn points by signing up for AARP’s newsletters or installing the AARP Perks browser extension. Users can also earn points for downloading the AARP SafeTrip app, which offers points for hitting safe driving streaks.

​Barrett said users can redeem their points for gift cards, local deals, digital downloads, print magazines, digital greeting cards and more. ​ I regularly visit the AARP Rewards website and head straight for the Earn page to learn how to fill my points scoreboard. The AARP Rewards link is always in the top right corner of the header bar on AARP.org. I will probably grab a Daily Deal today — maybe 30 percent off at Chevron gas stations or 30 percent off an Old Navy gift card. I don’t shop there, but plenty of my friends’ kids do. Gift-giving made easy, all just from playing games.

​Share your experience: Have you cashed in on AARP Rewards? How and what did you get?

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