I finally caved and bought a weighted blanket in November, and I swear I’m not exaggerating when I say it completely altered my existence on this small ball of water, dirt, and palpable stress we call Earth. Pre-weighted blanket, I was just your run-of-the-mill anxious insomniac, who spent each and every night tossing, turning, overthinking, and popping too much melatonin. But in my brave new post-weighted blanket world, I am calm and relaxed and sleepy as hell! It’s awesome.
But ever since that fateful November day when the weighted blanket arrived on my doorstep (well, actually, arrived in the lobby of my walkup, forcing me to carry the insanely heavy package upstairs to my apartment), I’ve been extremely stressed about what I would do come summer, when it would be too hot to sleep with a dense 15-pound blanket on top of my body. But then, I found Bearaby’s Tree Napper.
Unlike my existing weighted blanket and weighted blanket duvet cover, which basically looks like average bedding to the untrained eye, the Tree Napper is actually hand woven in a unique wide loop design, so it’s highly breathable.
But it’s not just the woven texture that makes the Tree Napper feel airy, yet still heavy. The blanket is completely made out of a plant-based tree fabric known as Tencel Lyocell, which is purported to be soft, cooling, and breezy. According to Bearaby, Tencel is made from “wood pulp in a responsible closed loop process that uses 10x less water than conventional fibers and is fully biodegradable, which makes it one of the most sustainable fabrics.” And in fact, the Tree Napper doesn’t contain any artificial fillers to achieve its weight; it’s just layers on layers on layers of Tencel. I was actually previously familiar with Tencel, because it’s what my favorite, softest jeans from Madewell are made from, so I was excited to feel it out in blanket form.
Bearaby sent over a Tree Napper for me to try out for myself. After unboxing, I really was struck by the blanket’s throw-esque look; it’s just more aesthetically pleasing than your average weighted blanket. Actually, it doesn’t look like a weighted blanket at all, but truly, it is heavy. For a while, I was a bit worried that too much handling of the Tree Napper would cause it to stretch out, because in my mind, weight + woven items = unraveling, but this was not the case. No matter how carelessly I threw the Tree Napper about, the weave stayed intact.
But maybe the most compelling characteristic of the Tree Napper is that it feels slightly cool to the touch. In the name of science, I, a hot sleeper, turned off my A/C and slept with only the Tree Napper on top of me, and I felt all the weight of a blanket without any of the stifling heat. Come at me, summer.
(Side note: You have not lived until you’ve slept with two weighted blankets on top of you, just saying.)
The Tree Napper is priced by weight; the 15-pounds blanket costs $249, the 20-pound option is $259, and the 25 pounder is $279. It also comes in four summery colors: Lavender, deep magenta Hibiscus, peachy Sunflower, and off-white May Lily.
So, if you’re looking for a weighted blanket to use when higher temps roll in (or year round—why not!), the Tree Napper is a solid bet. Now that I have one weighting (heh) in the wings, I’m sleeping more soundly than ever.