The 10 Best Night Lights
This wiki has been updated 43 times since it was first published in June of 2015. Whether you want to soothe a child who has a fear of the dark or just need an extra bit of illumination for late-night bathroom trips, one of these handy nightlights is sure to do the trick. Our diverse selection features basic models that glow a warm white, vibrant choices that cycle through many colors, and those that play sounds and project images onto the wall or ceiling. When users buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn commissions to help fund the Wiki.
1. GE LED 34693
2. Cloud B Twilight Turtle
3. GE Vintage LED
Editor's Notes
May 04, 2020:
Having one or more nightlights around the house comes in handy for those who make trips to the bathroom during the wee hours, as well as for anyone with a small child who has a fear of the dark. There are many designs to choose from, from colorful and kid-friendly ones to stylish and elegant models. The newly added GE Vintage LED falls into that category. True to its name, it features an Edison-style acrylic bulb that houses the LEDs, along with a handsome black lid and cage. It would look nice in any room, especially anywhere that features farmhouse decor. It produces a soft, warm white glow and can last an impressive 10,000 hours. Another GE selection that made the list is the GE LED 34693, which is great for any child or adult who likes some color in their life. You can have it shine stationary in your choice of eight vibrant colors, or you can set it to cycle automatically through them all.
For young ones who could use some soothing help falling asleep, we added in the Cloud B Twilight Turtle. Based on personal experience with this model, we feel it’s very easy to use and that kids really enjoy the plush smiling face, arms, and legs. It projects eight constellations onto the ceiling in colors you can choose, including blue, green, and amber. Included is an illustrated star guide to help you identify the major constellations such as the Big Dipper. Another fun kid’s choice is a light-up children’s alarm clock called the LittleHippo Mella. It’s been popular for a few years now and is advertised as a sleep trainer clock. It lights up a soft red throughout the night, yellow when it’ll soon be time to rise and shine, and green when it’s okay to get out of bed. This color-coding makes it easy for a little one to understand whether it’s bedtime or wakeup time.
Leaving the list in today’s update is the Soaiy Soothing Aurora, which produces a sound that tends to be fuzzy, as well as The Projectables LED Plug-In, which is not suitable for kids younger than three years of age. Also departing is the Safety 1st LED Nightlight which, although it features light-sensing technology, remains on all day for some users. We also removed the Rienar Mushroom Dream amidst several reports of prongs becoming stuck in the outlet when the rest of the light is pulled out of the outlet.
Special Honors
Recycled Glass Poppies Nightlight You’ll drift off to sleep with ease with this scenic nightlight that’s made of recycled glass and depicts colorful red poppy flowers. It’s made by hand using 100% post-consumer bottle glass by artists in Cape Coral, Florida. It comes with an incandescent 4-watt bulb, and is also available in designs featuring elephants, giraffes, bees, koi fish, and rainbow unicorns. uncommongoods.com
Night Light Designs Custom Light If you’ve got a picture you’d love to show off, why not transform it into something that lights up the room? Just upload your photo when you place your order, and add any text you wish to have included on it. It’s available in both landscape and portrait orientations, with either an LED or an incandescent bulb. It plugs into a standard outlet, is Underwriters Laboratories approved, and is fully enclosed to allow for a safe operation. The front panel is made of glass, and it’s backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. nightlightdesigns.com
4. LittleHippo Mella
5. Enhance Mood Lamp
6. Urpower Aromatherapy Diffuser
7. GRDE Ocean Wave
8. Crystal Allies Gallery Himalayan
9. PlayLearn USA Aquarium
10. Boon Glo
Outstanding Performance In An LEDing Role
When the right voltage passes across the device, electrons recombine with these holes and emit photons in the process, photons that we see as light.
Light Emitting Diodes, or LEDs, have all but completely taken over the nightlight industry, as well as a tremendous amount of lighting fields. From giant movie sets to the smallest microscopes, LEDs have proven that their longevity and durability–not to mention their favorable power draw and low temperature operation–place them rightly at the top of the food chain.
There are extremely tiny holes in an LED called electron holes. When the right voltage passes across the device, electrons recombine with these holes and emit photons in the process, photons that we see as light.
The pattern of photon output determined by the shape and spacing of these holes makes LED lighting a particularly abysmal choice for color reproduction in product photography, but if you're using them for anything else, they're the best thing around.
LEDs are also dimmable, as controlled by that voltage causing a varying intensity of electron response.
When applied to the nightlight industry, LEDs give you a safe, consistent source of minimal light. It can be just enough to provide a glow to an otherwise blackened space or enough to light the entirety of the room in a variety of colors.
A Lot Of Ways To Light
The sheer variety of available night lights for you and your children can be overwhelming. We've gone and whittled the field down to what we believe are the best investments you could make for a little extra light.
Take a moment and think about who this light is for, and let that begin to influence your final decision.
Is this light more for you to know your kids will be safe from the perils of navigating a dark space in the middle of the night?
Is this light more for you to know your kids will be safe from the perils of navigating a dark space in the middle of the night? If that's the case, something simple is the way to go.
Are your little ones petrified when the lights go out, and you've found that a nightlight is the only way to get them down for the night without the fear of monsters in the closet, under the bed, etc.? Well, you might benefit from using one of the more reassuring models, like the adorable owls or the lit up glow balls that kids can keep with them in their beds.
Maybe your kids have nothing to do with the purchase. Maybe you don't even have kids. Maybe you're just afraid of the dark. It's not as uncommon among adults as you think. We're not here to judge; we're here to advise.
The Himalayan crystal lamp and the Ocean Wave are probably the best options for adults on the list, as they provide a gentle ambiance without anything that seems overtly childish.
Whatever your needs, once you know what they are, you'll find the perfect light right here.
Are You Afraid Of The Dark?
When I was growing up, there was an insanely popular show on Nickelodeon called Are You Afraid Of The Dark. It was an episodic show that dramatized scary stories told around the campfire by a group of teens who called themselves The Midnight Society.
So, whether it's monsters, global warming, or your electric bills that keep you up at night, these modern lights will let you rest easy.
Looking back, not only does The Midnight Society sound like something out of Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, it also occurs to me that these 12-15 year old kids were presumably meeting in the woods at midnight around an unsanctioned fire on which they repeatedly threw an accelerant. That would never get past today's television standards.
What that show capitalized on, though–our fear of the dark–is an evolutionary trait in humans that persists millennia after we developed lighting and shelter technologies that protect us from the things that go bump in the night.
Nightlights used to be a little more hazardous, mind you. After all, they used to be candles or torches, and fire has this funny way of burning things.
Once electricity came along, having a little light at night got a lot safer, and with advancements in incandescent bulbs, and, eventually, with the advent of CFL and LED technology, lighting up the night has gotten safer and more environmentally efficient.
So, whether it's monsters, global warming, or your electric bills that keep you up at night, these modern lights will let you rest easy.
Karen Bennett lives in Chicago with her family, and when she’s not writing, she can usually be found practicing yoga or cheering on her kids at soccer games. She holds a master’s degree in journalism and a bachelor’s in English, and her writing has been published in various local newspapers, as well as “The Cheat Sheet,” “Illinois Legal Times,” and “USA Today.” She has also written search engine news page headlines and worked as a product manager for a digital marketing company. Her expertise is in literature, nonfiction, textbooks, home products, kids' games and toys, hardware, teaching accessories, and art materials.