Sound Asleep Blanket with Built-In Speakers

THERE have been so many parodies of the fleecy blanket/wizards cloak, that I’m starting to think my (and the nation’s) obsession with getting comfortable of an evening has got a bit out of hand.

There’s no point in a blanket-with-sleeves-and-speakers however, if the blanket itself isn’t comfortable. If you can’t cosy up with hot cocoa ready to watch Geordie Shore or any other reality TV drivel, then it ain’t worth the sheep it was stolen from.

Working out which one came first is like trudging through a blanketed minefield. There’s the Slanket, Snuggie, Mooncosy, Blankoat and many other ridiculously-named glorified dressing gowns to snuggle up in. We may as well start decorating our living rooms in fleece wallpaper and stitching cushions to our bum cheeks.

Still, the arrival of the less-suffocating-sounding Sound Asleep Speaker Blanket was a welcome twist to the genre when it arrived at Confidential HQ.

The speakersThe twist is the hidden pockets on the inside of the hood. If we were in the wild, these would make me a genetically modified kangaroo, but instead of storing Joey twins, Sound Asleep comes with little disc shaped speakers to slot in.

There’s no point in a blanket-with-sleeves-and-speakers however, if the blanket itself isn’t comfortable. If you can’t cosy up with hot cocoa ready to watch Geordie Shore or any other reality TV drivel, then it ain’t worth the sheep it was stolen from.

Thankfully Sound Asleep is gloriously cosy. It’s made of that really soft fleece material that will make you want to hug yourself with joy. Confidential editor Schofield hates the word cosy, but unfortunately no other words do it justice. It’s cosy with my cocoa at home, cosy (and slightly embarrassing) sat at my desk at work and cosy when I’m not even cold. It’s 18 degrees and the sun is shining yet here I am, wooled up and whimsical.

It doesn’t come without its faults though. The speakers, although a great idea, have been dreamt up by a team off the Apprentice, it would seem. It’s like they’ve come up with the concept in eight hours and just gone for gold without really thinking it through.

Cosy, cosy, cosyThe speakers don’t attach to your ears like head phones; they hang within the hood so if you play your music too loud it will annoy the person in bed next to you. Even for a single person, the sound that comes out of the speakers isn’t worth substituting your iPod headphones for plus there is no pocket to put your MP3 player in (no, it doesn’t come with one of those either, unfortunately).

The speakers make your music sound like it’s playing on full blast in a tin bin, with the lid on. In another room. With the door closed. This additional feature to what is otherwise one of the most comfortable blanket gowns I’ve tried, is unnecessary, and would be laughed off by Lord Sugar with a remark such as:  “On paper it looks good, but so does fish and chips.”

That said, I’m still wrapped up in mine. But I’m using the ear pouches to store nuts instead.

Follow Lynda Moyo on Twitter @lyndamoyo