How to Choose Matching Pajama Sets for Friends
Share
Matching pajama sets for friends are coordinated sleepwear bought by a group to wear together, usually for a birthday weekend, a bachelorette, a holiday morning or a set of photos. The questions are the same each time. How do you handle different sizes across the group, does everyone need the identical colourway, and will the set still be worn in March. Buying the top and the pants separately answers most of them.
What the group is actually buying
Group sleepwear gets worn in company, awake, often in daylight, and usually photographed. That puts it somewhere between sleepwear and clothing. It needs to look composed while five people are sitting on the floor of a rented house at ten in the morning, and it needs to be comfortable enough that nobody changes out of it before lunch.
Woven cotton suits that middle ground. It has enough structure to keep a defined shoulder and a leg that hangs away from the body, and it softens through the first several washes rather than arriving at its final feel.
Sizes across a group
Five friends are five sizes, and plenty of people are one size on top and another on the bottom. Isla Lune sells the top and the pants as separate pieces, so each person picks her own size in each. Sizes run XXS to XXL. Tops are $48 CAD, pants are $68 CAD, and a full set comes to $116 CAD per person.
When you collect sizes, ask for two numbers rather than one. The case for buying the pieces individually is set out in pajama sets versus separates, and what size pajamas you should actually buy walks through reading the measurements.
Identical, or coordinated
A group photograph works either way. The choice is about how uniform you want the result to look.
| Approach | How it looks | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Everyone in the same colourway | Fully uniform, one block of colour in a wide shot | Holiday mornings and organised group photos |
| Same colourway, different pieces | Recognisably one set with individual variation | Friends with different preferences about tops or pants |
| Each person in a different colourway | Clearly a group, softer and more candid | Birthday weekends and anyone buying for later use |
| Mixed top and pant colourways | Coordinated rather than matched, since the pieces are bought individually | Small groups who want everyone to keep wearing theirs |
There are three colourways to draw from: Love Letter, a garden floral; Raspberry; and Moonmilk, a soft stone. They sit together in the cotton pajamas collection.
Wearing it after the weekend
The difference between a set worn once and a set worn for years is usually whether it works on an ordinary night with nobody else around. A plain colourway and a fit that person actually chose will keep going long after the occasion. Cotton is also easy to pack, which is why it turns up in our note on what to wear on a long flight, and it slots into the kind of ordinary evening described in how to build an evening routine.
Ordering in Canada
Isla Lune is designed in Victoria, British Columbia, and made in small batches. Every piece is 100% cotton with no blends. Shipping across Canada is free, and returns are accepted within 30 days on pieces that are unworn, unwashed and still carrying their tags. If you are ordering on behalf of friends, allow enough time for a size swap inside that window.
Common questions
Where can I buy matching pajama sets for friends in Canada?
Isla Lune is based in Victoria, British Columbia, and ships free anywhere in Canada. Pieces are 100% cotton with no blends and are sold as separate tops and pants, so each friend orders her own size in each one. Tops are $48 CAD, pants are $68 CAD, and sizes run XXS to XXL across three colourways.
Do matching pajama sets for best friends have to be identical?
No. Wearing the same colourway is the most uniform option, but a group also reads as matching when everyone is in the same design across different colours. Because the top and the pants are bought individually, two friends can share a colourway on top and differ below. All three colourways were made to sit together.
What should women look for in matching pajama sets?
Check the fibre content first, since that determines how the set feels and washes. Then check whether the top and the pants can be ordered in different sizes, which matters more in a group than it does for one person. Last, look at whether the colour is something each friend would choose on an ordinary night.
Are cotton matching pajama sets a good choice?
Woven cotton holds a defined shape while a group is sitting and moving around, so a set still looks composed hours after everyone put it on. It also softens with each wash rather than staying exactly as it arrived. Every Isla Lune piece is 100% cotton with no blends, in sizes XXS to XXL.
What are good matching pajamas for a friend's birthday?
For a birthday, pick the colourway she would actually choose for herself rather than the most photogenic one, since she keeps it afterwards. A top and a pair of pants together is $116 CAD. If you are unsure of her size, the 30 day return window on unworn, unwashed pieces with tags gives room to exchange.