Hanna Andersson Luxe PJs Turned Us Into a Matching-Pajama Kind of Family (2024)

When my daughter was 2-ish, she was given a hand-me-down Hanna Andersson zip sleeper from her cousin: a red-striped piece with green cuffs. Honestly? Not my taste. But I’ll say this—that sleeper was in incredible condition.

The math seems crazy here, but stick with me: The sleeper’s first owner is 12 years older than my kid, meaning this thing was at least a decade old. Yet the sleeper looked brand new. The stripes were still a rich crimson. The cuffs were snug and unfrayed. The fabric wasn’t pilled. The zipper pulled smoothly, and the knees weren’t threadbare. And, according to my sister-in-law, those jammies were beloved and well worn.

At the time, my daughter was a diapers-wearing sometimes-crawler, and the pajamas didn’t bag or sag, even when she wore them for a couple of nights in a row. Made of a thick rib-knit cotton, they were also the perfect weight for winter here in Maine, where we keep our house cool but sleep under down comforters. I laundered them with absolutely no care, chucking them in with towels, bathmats, and jeans. She wore those jammies to death, figuratively speaking. In reality, at the end of the winter, they were still pristine.

The next year, she’d outgrown the jammies, so we passed them along again. But the Hanna Andersson seed had been planted. Pricey? Yes. Worlds better than the slouchy, quick-to-dull Old Navy jammies I usually bought? Also yes. She needed another pair.

That Black Friday, I bought her a two-piece Long John Pajama Set in a classic holiday tartan. At the time, I was also in the market for new pajamas. Hanna Andersson had a matching flannel set.

In true Carrie Bradshaw fashion, I couldn’t help but wonder: Could we be a matching-PJs type of family after all? Shockingly, my partner was supremely game. All of us wore those jammies nightly through at least May, and I’d be hard-pressed to think of a simpler investment that made our daughter happier. (Full disclosure, this was at the height of the pandemic, so we were looking for thrills.)

A few notes on the adult flannels: They’re kind of luxe! The fabric is thick, the edges are finished with contrast piping, and they’ve got great details like pockets and sewn cuffs. Because the tops and bottoms are purchased separately—I wore a small top and medium bottom—they fit better than other sets I’ve had, where a small bottom is usually tight on my hips, but a medium top falls off my shoulders. The flannel washed and wore just as well as the cotton. A small downside that’s a matter of personal preference: They’re too hot for me to sleep in the full set, even in the depths of winter.

If you run too hot for flannel, we also recommend the Hanna Andersson adult Long John sets, in our guide to the best pajamas for men and women (they similarly come in several patterns for matching potential).

We wore them the next winter, too, when my belly and my daughter’s were both showing—hers because she’d grown and mine because I was pregnant with our son, who wore his first set last winter. Which brings me to another thing I love about those jammies: Because they’re generously sized, we’ve usually been able to get at least a couple of years out of each pair, even with younger, quickly growing kids. And when you’re ready to invest in a new set, they’re often generously on sale—around Memorial Day and Labor Day, through most of the fall, and around Thanksgiving.

I just checked my camera roll—not a single photo exists of us wearing them together. But if you swing by our house anytime after 6 a.m. from now through spring, you’ll find us jamming. My daughter will be picking up her brother without his consent, my son will be asking for a second post-breakfast popsicle, and my partner will be grimly calculating the hours until “rest.” Our family is definitely not perfect. But our pajamas are.

This article was edited by Rachelle Bergstein and Catherine Kast.