With winter on the horizon and icier weather in our midst, if you are someone who feels the cold far too easily, you’ll often find yourself layering up – comedically so, a la Joey from Friends.
As someone who fits this criteria, I’ve found a solution that’ll – without sounding too dramatic – transform your life (and bills) and keep you toasty without the need for three jumpers, four pairs of socks and the heating blasting. The magical winter warmer I am talking about is a heated throw.
I know it’s not revolutionary or new to the market, but this is not your average blanket (I know, I have many). In fact, having jumped on the electricity-powered blanket bandwagon and upon its first power-up, I’ve been thinking to myself: “How have I lived without a heated throw for this long?”
In particular, the Silent Night Luxury Super Cosy 9-Heat Setting Heated Throw in the shade charcoal, which costs £60 at Boots. As the name suggests, the blanket has a range of heat settings from 1, which has the warmth of a really thick chunky blanket, all the way to 9, which is akin to being cocooned in the warmth of a tight hug from your favourite person as well as your go-to hot water bottle.
What’s more, this heated blanket is unbelievably and luxuriously soft to the touch. The chunky knit jacquard fleece style relieves the cold immediately and, with the heat notched up, is ideal for film nights on the sofa as well as chilly days working from home.
It’s also large enough to wrap around you, measuring 120X160cm, and it costs from 1p to run, making it pretty cost-effective (compared to turning your heating on). The Silent Night Heated Throw has a HeatSafe overheat protection and will also shut off after two hours (although you can set its timer to be longer if you wish).
The blanket is machine washable, despite being electrically powered, once you detach the wire, making it a breeze to keep fresh. While I’m relatively new to this heated blanket, I’ve used it most evenings since getting it and can say it’s the best household addition this season – perhaps even this year.
What I will say is don’t be disheartened when, on the first use, it doesn’t heat up to its full potential; the instructions do clarify that, for its first outing, turn the blanket on setting nine and let it warm up for an hour. After this debut, the blanket will only take a few minutes to emit epic cosiness.
My only qualm with this heated delight is that, during the first few uses, the blanket didn’t feel evenly heated in all areas. That said, the more I’ve used it, the more it has levelled out. Available in charcoal grey on Boots and a beige colour (here at ASDA) for £60, my only further qualm is that there aren’t more colours.
Alternatively, this red and grey check throw by Dreamland has a soft, fleecy interior layer and measures a little larger at 135X180cm. Costing £79.99 down from £109.99, the blanket comes with a Digital LED control system with 6 heat settings and costs as little as 5p per hour to run.