The Very Best Nightlights

What we’re looking for

Dimmable: Yes | Power source: Rechargeable | Extra features: Made of toy-grade materials; one-hour auto-shutoff

The Vava nightlight is flexible, nice-looking, and inexpensive enough to suit a variety of needs. It’s made of toy-grade materials so you can give it to a toddler, but its minimal design doesn’t limit its range to a kids’ room. It’s dimmable, rechargeable, and portable, and it can be programmed to any of eight soothing colors. “This nightlight didn’t sear my eyeballs during bleary-eyed night feedings,” Herman Miller creative director Kelsey Keith writes, and a year later, her daughter was“completely entranced by it as a toy.”

Dimmable: No | Power source: Plug-in | Extra features: Dawn-to-dusk sensor

This inexpensive, color-changing mushroom nightlight is a longtime Strategist favorite for good reason. “During the day, it looks like a little toadstool sprouting from my wall, but at night, when I turn off the rest of the lights, is when the thing really shines,” former writer Anthony Rotunno said. It plugs into the wall and comes in five colors, including a color-changing and warm-white option, and has a dawn-to-dusk sensor to shut on and off automatically depending on daylight. (We also spotted it in John Derian’s house tour.)

Dimmable: No | Power source: Plug-in | Extra features: Salt

This plug-in nightlight is crafted from a real lump of pink Himalayan salt with a lightbulb nested inside. It’s switch-operated, unlike the Ausaye lamp’s dawn-to-dusk sensor, which may be preferable if you don’t want your nightlight on the whole evening. Salt is a surprisingly good light diffuser, creating a warm peachy glow that acts as an alternative to sleep-disrupting blue light.

Dimmable: Yes | Power source: Rechargeable | Extra features: Sound machine, Wi-Fi enabled, audio monitor, alarm clock

One of our favorite gifts for new moms, the Hatch Rest+ is an all-in-one machine: dimmable nightlight, white-noise machine, audio baby monitor, and gentle, toddler-friendly alarm clock. “If you’re looking for a multifunctional gift that will be used daily for years, the Hatch Rest+ is a solid choice,” says Miriam Cohen of the blog the Very Best Baby Stuff. The light has warm-white and color-changing settings, and it can be controlled via app. Blogger and author Laura Izumikawa also loves that it’s portable: “Our girls fall asleep to it, and we always bring it along with us for trips,” she says. “For long road trips, it’s easy to just tuck in the back seat to help our kids relax and fall asleep.”

Dimmable: Yes | Power source: Plug-in | Extra features: Alarm clock, sunrise lamp, noise machine, integration with Google Home and Amazon Alexa

Sunrise alarm clocks have exploded in popularity in the last couple years, and although they’re full of features, they tend to not be especially aesthetically pleasing. The Tala Wake light is the exception. Strategist deputy editor Simone Kitchens tested the light, which dims via a swiveling ceramic base and can be programmed to lull you to sleep and rouse you in the morning with changing light levels and adjustable sound. “Almost immediately after getting it, I started waking up earlier and easier, even before the sound alarm went off,” she says.

Dimmable: Three brightness levels | Power source: Rechargeable | Extra features: None

For a more analog option, Trolio uses these Hooga book lights, which are clipped onto each level of her kids’ bunk beds and could also be affixed to a bathroom shelf or bedside table — or carried from room to room like an old-timey candlestick. Writer Molly McGhee calls the Hooga book light a “true game changer” of a reading light: “The amber hue keeps the blue-light blues at bay,” she says. “Plus, I don’t wake my partner up while I’m reading, and I can wind down without feeling like I’m staring at a screen.”

Dimmable: Pivoting shade | Power source: Plug-in | Extra features: None

Food52 co-founder Amanda Hesser uses this clip-on Hay lamp in her kitchen, but it would also make a great nightlight clipped to a headboard or shelf. The steel shade pivots 360 degrees, allowing it to transition from a directional reading light to nightlight. The shade comes in three colors — black, white, and banker-lamp green.

Dimmable: Yes | Power source: Rechargeable | Extra features: Timer

Strategist contributor Chantel Tattoli loves this detailed star projector as a nightlight for her daughter. It’s “the economy model by Takayuki Ohira, the planetarium designer who also created the best (most accurate, most starry) home planetarium on the market,” which sells for tens of thousands of dollars. “For less than one percent of that price tag, the Homestar Pro produces a high-resolution and surprisingly affecting theater … We may not be under a night sky, but the projection is so soothing we might as well be,” she says. The machine comes with two discs, but you can purchase more from the Sega Toys website or on Amazon.