July Prime Day is just around the corner and that means a flood of deals on everything from noise-canceling headphones to your favorite Apple products. It’s a perfect time to grab early holiday presents (hey, it’s never too early to start), birthday surprises or even a little something for yourself. But here’s the catch: If you share your Amazon Prime membership with family members through a shared account, your surprise gift might not stay secret for long.
Unless you’re careful, your gift could be revealed through an Echo device lighting up with a delivery alert, a push notification on someone’s phone, or someone looking through shared order history. Not exactly the element of surprise you were hoping for.
Luckily, Amazon offers a solution that can help you shop stealthily: Amazon Household.
For more shopping tips, don’t miss out on the best Amazon tech deals and how to get great savings on Amazon right now with coupons.
What Amazon Household is and why you should set it up before Prime Day
If you’re planning to take advantage of Prime Day deals, setting up Amazon Household in advance is a smart move. This free feature lets you share Prime benefits with your family while also keeping purchases, wish lists and recommendations private between adult profiles.
You can link up to two adults, four teens (ages 13 to 17) and four children (12 and under), each with their own login and viewing preferences. The best part? Adults in the Household can hide their order history and digital content, so gifts stay under wraps.
How to set up Amazon Household
- Go to the Amazon Household page (amazon.com/myh/households) and sign in.
- Select Add Adult, Add Teen or Add Child under “Create your Household.”
- For adults, enter the name and email to send an invitation. They’ll have 14 days to accept. You can also opt to sign in together on one device.
- For teens, follow the prompts to enter their name and birth date. Once they accept, they’ll have their own login, and you’ll be able to manage their purchasing permissions.
- For kids, enter a name and birth date. Kids can’t shop, but you’ll gain access to parental controls for Amazon content and devices.
What Household participants can access
By sharing your Prime membership through Amazon Household, your family gets access to more than just fast, free shipping. Here’s what else is included:
- Adults can share digital content, like Prime Video and Amazon Music offerings, ebooks and more while keeping personal order history private.
- Teens can browse and request purchases, but a designated adult must approve each transaction.
- Children can enjoy age-appropriate content, with customizable parental controls, but they won’t have purchasing power.
This setup ensures that Prime Day gifts, or any purchases, remain a surprise until the right moment.
How to remove someone from your Household (if needed)
Need to make a change? You can remove members from your Amazon Household at any time:
- Head to the Manage Your Household page.
- To remove an adult, click Remove under their profile. Once they’re removed, they can’t join another Amazon Household for 180 days.
- To remove a teen, click Edit Profile, then Remove from Household. If they’ve turned 18, their account becomes a regular Amazon account without Prime access.
Don’t let a shared account spoil your Prime Day surprises. By setting up Amazon Household now, you’ll not only get the most out of your membership, you’ll also keep the element of surprise intact for every gift you pick up this July Prime Day event.
For more information, here are some Amazon Prime perks you may not know about. Also, here are the best shows to watch on Prime Video and all the perks of being a Prime member.
