Casey Recommends: Napsacks

A sack not just for napping, but for life

Jan 07, 2025

It’s January. It’s cold. It’s windy. It might be snowing. It might not be. But it’s kind of depressing and overwhelming all at once.

Trust me when I say it’s time for a napsack.

A napsack!?!

Yes. A napsack is a wearable sleeping bag. There are a few different brands and styles on the market, but this is my toast-me-up accessory of choice.

It has a hood, zippered armholes, and a drawstring closure at the bottom that can be cinched at the feet for warmth or hiked up around the waist for mobility.

And from November through April, I’m probably wearing mine. In fact, I’m wearing it now as I type this sentence.

We keep our house cool in the winter — shockingly cold, some friends and family might say — but I would rather not give that money to the utility company when I could be spending it on trips to Maine or MASS MoCA.

And as such, layers are a necessity of life here.

Enter the napsack.

Actually, enter two napsacks. I bought my first in 2018 and loved it so much I rewarded myself with a second in 2020, just so I would never have to worry if one was in the wash. Or ripped beyond repair.

How is it different than a slanket?

It’s not a blanket, for one. This is a full sleeping bag you can walk around in, not just a fleecy robe-style cover-up. Because it’s a cylinder of poly-insulated quilted fabric, it will give you 360 degrees of warmth: front, back, and sides.

Because I use my napsack when we’re traveling as well as when I’m sitting around at home, I prefer the bag style to the styles that have separate legs, like insulated onesies.

The bag version is much cozier for you to sleep in and much easier for a cat to immobilize you when he decides to sit on your legs for three hours.

But isn’t it ugly and unwieldy?

Ugly is in the eyes of the beholder, my dear. I happen to think my limited-edition Pendleton collaboration napsack is a pretty chic pattern.

If I am lazy and don’t feel like cinching the napsack for walking, then I’ll cop to doing a fairly unwieldy shuffle. This is mostly when I’m going from the couch to the kitchen to get tea or something, and I am well aware I am creating a tripping hazard for myself.

I do not do this when I’m carrying laundry baskets up and down the stairs or trekking out to the compost bin or any other time I know I’ll actually be mobile.

But is it really that warm?

Yes. Yes. Not like “live outside in a tent in January and stay toasty warm,” but in a 63-degree house (ok, there, I admit it, we live like Scrooge), it is more than enough.

And when my husband and I slept in a campervan for weeks on our Route 66 road trip, the napsacks saved our chilly asses. They kept us comfortable during 30-degree nights in November across eight states!

So if you’re tired of being cold all. the. time. in the winter, then invest in a napsack. Live your snuggliest, blobbiest life.

Your cats will thank you and you’ll thank yourself.