Youth sleeping bags are designed for your boy or girl’s body shape.
By having them use an adult hand-me-down sleeping bag, you are dooming your kid to a night of misery, shivering, and teeth chattering.
This is because putting a kid into an adult sleeping bag leaves a great deal of open space.
This open space allows cold air pockets to form and prevents optimal sleeping bag performance.
While you do not need a kid sleeping bag for your boy or girls sleepover in a neighbor’s basement, youth sleeping bags are a must if you are planning to camp in Glacier National Park or any other wilderness area. Otherwise, your child may end up hating the outdoors as much as you love it.
Affordable Kid Sleeping Bags
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Luckily, girl and boy sleeping bags are priced at a far more reasonable level than adult sleeping bags.
For a mere 50-100 dollars, you can get a top-of-the-line kid sleeping bag and ensure your child will have a safe and healthy night of sleep while camping.
While some youth sleeping bags cost only 20-30 dollars, I would recommend steering clear of those. These are more boy and girl slumber bags, designed for indoor sleepovers.
For camping, especially in a US National Park or State Forest, it is worth investing the extra 50 dollars in your child’s health.
Even the best kid sleeping bags cost no more than 100 dollars and are light enough to be stuffed into a backpack and taken for an overnight hike.
Kid Sleeping Bag Features
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The fact is, boys and girls are typically more needy in the outdoors than parents might be.
Youth sleeping bags take this into consideration when designing a boy or girl sleeping bag, including additional comforts that may benefit a child, such as:
- Interior Design – Many kid sleeping bags have cool designs on the inside. Not important to parent backpackers–very important to kids
- Pillow Pocket – Your child will sleep comfortably with a pillow and youth sleeping bags create pillow pockets just for this reason
- Increased Water Resistance – Kids are messy, which is why child sleeping bags use materials that increase the sleeping bag’s water resistance
Boy & Girl Sleeping Bag Reviews
Searching the internet for the best youth sleeping bags is exhausting. So, I’ve done the research for you.
Below is a list of what many consider to be the best in kid sleeping bags to ensure your boy or girl has a healthy night of sleep. After all, who wants a grump or sick kid around, which may ruin your family vacation?
Cold Weather Child Sleeping Bag
Montana evenings can get cold, even in the summer. If you are planning to camp in cold weather environments, your kid needs a sleeping bag that can handle the extremes.
Cold weather US National Parks include anything outside of the southeast or southwest, such as:
- Yellowstone
- Grand Tetons
- Glacier National Park
- Yosemite
- Denali
- Any National Park in the Northeast
For cold weather environments, a +15 or +20 degree kid sleeping bag is required. When it comes to youth sleeping bags for cold weather camping, the consensus is clear: nothing beats the Big Agnes Wolverine.
This kid sleeping bag includes all the best features, such as a pillow pocket, mummy design to trap and maintain warmth, stain and water resistance and weighs only 2 lbs 15 ounces.
Learn more about the Big Agnes Wolverine Kid Sleeping Bag.
Ligthweight Youth Sleeping Bags
If you are planning an overnight backpacking trip with your boy or girl, a lightweight & cold weather kid sleeping bag is required to meet the demands.
For forays into the backcountry, no child slumber bag can compete with the North Face Tigger.
Clocking in at 2 pounds, 1 ounce, many adult sleeping bags are brought into the backcountry and weigh more. Additional benefits include:
- Mummy design to maximize heat retention
- Water resistant material
- Includes a stuff sack and storage bag
The only downside to the North Face child sleeping bag is that it lacks a pillow pocket. However, if your boy or girl is tough enough to rough it in the backcountry, I think they can handle life without a pillow pocket.
Learn more about the North Face Tigger Child Sleeping Bag
Cheap Youth Sleeping Bags
By cheap, I don’t mean in material, design or overall product. Cheap in this instance means best product for your hard-earned dollar, and in this economy, who doesn’t want to maximize their money’s worth?
Lately, REI has been delivering award-winning outdoor and camping equipment while slashing its price tag when compared to big name brands, such as North Face, Big Agnes, & Marmot.
This is the same in their boy and girl sleeping bag product line.
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REI’s Kindercone Boy/Girl Sleeping Bag costs 1/3 less than competitive child sleeping bags from big brands and accomplishes much of the same.
Since the Kindercone weighs 3 pounds, I would not recommend it for overnight hiking trips. Also, it is a +30 degree sleeping bag, which means it may not be ideal for Montana weather.
Still, since you would only use this sleeping bag while car camping in the front country, you can always throw an extra blanket or two in the tent to ensure your child stays warm through the night.
If you are looking for a discounted boy or girl sleeping bag, it does not get better than REI’s Kindercone.
Learn more about REI’s Kindercone Kid Sleeping Bag
More Sleeping Bag Information
Best Sleeping Bag: Don’t let cold weather or wet nights ruin your vacation — learn how to pick the Best Sleeping Bag for you
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