Bean bag chairs. Symbol of the Sixties chill-out vibe. Ridiculously comfortable ways to hang right the heck out, so long as you get the mount and dismount right.
They’re fun, comfortable, and some of the coolest things you’ll ever let into your home.
But which are the best bean bag chairs? You might think it’s a moot point – all bean bag chairs are too cool for school, right?
Well, sure, but there are still some that are better than others, and there are still some that are best. You don’t want a bean bag chair that collapses under you. You don’t want one that wears out or discolors. You don’t want one that’s too small – or too big. When it comes to bean bag chairs, listen to your Inner Goldilocks.
Or, if that all sounds like a heck of a lot of effort before you click a “Buy” button, listen to our Inner Goldilocks. We’ve done the hard work for you, so you can just read one page and click the “Buy” button that most appeals to you, wait for delivery, and then chill out in the bean bag chair of your dreams.
In a hurry? Here’s our top pick.
OUR TOP PICK
We’ve got a little bit of an ulterior motive here. This is our top pick not necessarily because it’s the best for all you sensible grown-ups with your elevated concepts of comfort and style.
The Big Joe Classic Beanbag Smartmax is a bean bag chair sized perfectly for throwing into kids’ rooms, dens, home theaters, and other rooms where there are rugrats in need of slump-seats.
With an easy-clean cover, you can spot the evidence of sticky mini-fingers (Do not. Contemplate. What the stains might be). It’s easily refillable, and is developed in a Zero-Landfill facility.
Best of all though, it’s a great lightweight bean bag chair, so not only can you move it around quickly from room to room as the need arises, but the youngsters can discover the joy of autonomy, moving their own bean bag chairs around as they need to.
Why does that make it the best bean bag chair of all?
Because – just as a for instance – when your kids wake up before the crack of coffee beans on the weekend, they can drag their own quirky comfort-forward chair in front of cartoons. No more “Mommmmm! I need my bean bag chaiiir!”
Result? Extra sleep, extra snuggle time, extra memories of what it’s like to be a human being, rather than just a parent. Sure, the other bean bag chairs on our list are pretty cool, but very few of them are as life-changing and priceless as that.
Pros
- It’s a lightweight bean bag chair so it’s easy to transport from room to room
- It’s produced in a Zero-Landfill facility, to maintain your green credentials
- Your kids can move their own bean bag chair – which gives you extra independence too!
Cons
- The size of this bean bag chair is more aimed at kids than grown adults
EDITORS CHOICE
OK, now that we’ve unlocked the secret of extra grown-up time for you (no charge, you’re welcome), let’s get you the most comfortable bean bag chair we can find.
Are beans essential to your bean bag chair experience?
We’re just asking because instead of the traditional but staggeringly unpredictable beans, the Sofa Stack 3-Feet Bean Bag Chair has memory foam.
Yep. Memory foam. The substance that remembers the imprint of your butt, back, and arms. That gives you a bean bag chair without beans, but with a kind of control and comfort that traditional bean bag chairs can only dream of.
It’s only 3 feet in length, so this is more of a single-seater than any kind of snuggle-chair, but as a TV or home theater chair, it’s hard to beat. Worried it’s too short for you? Until you’re hitting 6 feet, you’re probably fine in this chair.
The cover is suede, so you get a soft surface on top of the memory foam that encourages you to become a bean bag potato. Joyously, given the suede covering, it breathes well, so you never get too hot and sticky in the chair.
It also recommends itself for movie-festing, because unlike most traditional bean bag chairs, the memory foam doesn’t squeak every time you move a muscle. That means you’re not sitting still enough to make your butt fall asleep!
If you’re looking for an unusual bean bag chair that still delivers everything you want and more, the Sofa Sack 3 feet chair might well be the chair you’re looking for.
Pros
- Using memory foam gives you a hugely comfortable chair
- The memory foam also delivers a much more controlled chair than most bean bag chairs
- The suede covering is sumptuous and breathable
Cons
- While it’s more capable than you might think, the 3-feet length might be too short for some people
BEST VALUE
OK, so we love the 3-feet memory foam bean bag chair from Sofa Sack. Keeping that in mind, it won’t surprise you that we love the 5-feet version too.
Yes, there’s the extra 2 feet of leg-room. Think about that like an airplane seat – 3 feet is great, but if you were offered an upgrade to Business Class, you’d take it, right?
Granted, you have to pay for this Business Class upgrade, and the reason the 5-feet version is slightly behind the 3-feet version is that for a lot of people, the additional 2 feet might not feel like it’s worth the extra cash hit.
But as a chair? Oh heck, yeah. All the memory foam, for that same joyous butt-print vibe of sinking into a bean bag chair that feels like it knows you. A microsuede cover gives you comfort and breathability.
And did we mention the extra legroom? That means you get a more enveloping feeling overall, and if you have longer legs, you’re joining the TV or movie-fest in supreme bean bag chair comfort. Welcome! We’ve been waiting for you.
Two things to remember, though. Firstly, this larger bean bag chair is less customizable than the smaller version – where you can refill the 3-feet with extra foam as and when you need to, this 5-feet version can’t be refilled.
And secondly, an issue that doesn’t come with the 3-feet version is a “new couch smell” that weirdly comes with the 5-feet Sofa Sack chair. It will fade over the course of the first week, but when it comes through the door, be prepared for that nose-hair crinkle of newness.
Pros
- This version has a lot more legroom than its smaller cousin
- It still comes with the comfort factor of memory foam and microsuede
- It’s a bigger chair all round, so you can feel more enveloped in it
Cons
- It’s less customizable than some other versions
- There’s a “new sofa smell to the 5-feet version that needs to dissipate
RUNNER UP
You better believe we’re going upward. Let’s talk about 6 whole feet of bean bag chair, from Cozy Sack.
That right there is a party bean bag chair. Two adults, two kids, and all the dogs you can throw a stick for can fit in this thing – it’s like a whole entertainment unit of bean bag chair.
An extra useful component here is that you can unzip and wash the cover, because the foam here is encased in a liner. If you’re going to have sticky-fingered kids and… well, pets of any kind, really – on this bean bag chair, you’ll appreciate the washable element really fast, and on a recurring basis.
If there’s a downside to this whole-family bean bag chair, it’s that size comes with weight. Lots, and lots, of weight. Try 50 pounds of weight. You can try dragging that from room to room, but we can guarantee, that’s going to get old in a big hurry.
So choose the spot for this bean bag chair carefully, and once it’s in position, you’re probably not going to want to move it any time soon. Sure, that’s not a huge issue in itself – front and center in your den for big-style family cuddles in front of all the movies; problem solved.
But think of manhandling that 50 pounds every time you take off – and more importantly, try to put back on – that zippable cover. That’s quite a lot of hardcore struggling attached to what remains a hardcore cool family bean bag chair.
RUNNER UP
Most of our bean bag chairs so far have been… well, chairs. The Cozy Sack 6-feet chair broke that mould to some extent, by being big enough for a family to snuggle on.
The Sofa Sack XL Memory Foam turns that feeling up even further, and gives you the bean bag chair you buy when you’re bored of couches altogether.
At 7.5 feet and weighing in at an almost body-like 92 pounds, you really have to commit to the bean bag lifestyle to bring this behemoth into your home. And it’s also worth noting that at 7.5 feet, you also need a room that’s big enough to take it and still give you room to move.
Above all, when you unbox this bean bag couch, consider doing it in exactly the spot where you imagine it living, because dragging 92 pounds around the room is not particularly fun unless you’re a masochistic bodybuilder, and we’re going to assume you’re not.
So yes, it’s huge, but it’s also insanely comfortable – that will be the effect of the memory foam in its heart, again beating traditional ‘beans’ at their own game.
It’s also especially resilient, able to stand all the tickle-fights, belly flops and hijinks of some hardcore family fun, so if you want a single bean bag for years of use by an active family, the Sofa Sack XL Memory Foam 7.5-feet bean bag chair probably has your name on it.
It’s also potentially addictive. Once you’ve gone the whole hog and committed to 7.5 feet of bean bag memory foam fun in your living room or den, you might begin to question whether you want any old-fashioned fully-structured furniture in your relaxation rooms ever again.
Pros
- Memory foam gives this bean bag chair a luxurious level of comfort
- This bean bag chair is essentially a bean bag couch, big enough for the whole family
- It’s an extremely resilient bean bag chair, unlikely to burst or go out of shape, no matter what you do to it
Cons
- It’s heavier than a dead body, so you’re not going to want to change your mind on where to put it
Best Bean Bag Chair Buying Guide
Bringing a bean bag chair into your home can be a quick decision. If you just want a lightweight version for the kids, your choices are many and varied.
Those lightweight kid bean bag chairs can be a real sanity-saver, letting the kids set themselves up on a weekend morning with Coco Pops and cartoons. That in turn lets you get an extra hour of either parent-sleep or grown-up time, depending on your youth, vigor, and optimism in the face of parental reality.
But while buying a quick kid-distractor is easy, replacing a major piece of furniture with, say, a 7-feet bean bag couch – that’s going to take a little more thought and commitment. Either way, if you’re buying a bean bag chair, there are several things to think about before you click the “Buy” button.
Size
Do you really just want a bean bag your kids can move about on their own? If so, easy – on you go and do that. If you want a bean bag chair for adults or families, the issue of size is important.
Do you want one or two individual bean bag chairs, so you can sit side by side but still enveloped in your own chair? Or are you all about the pile-on and the snuggle-fest?
That will be important, because if you’re going all individual, you can get away with a 3-feet or a 5-feet version – which, per bean bag chair, are pretty economical compared to their solid-framed armchair equivalents.
If you’re going family-style, you need to go larger – 6 feet or more. And that will have an impact not only on your future usage habits (if you get a large bean bag chair, you pretty much have no option but to all use it, every time), and on your bank balance in the short term.
Choose the size of bean bag chair you want, and in the case of the heavier options, make sure which room you want it in, and don’t unbox it till you get it in there.
Bean Or Memory Foam
There are traditional ‘beans’ of foam, and then there are beans of memory foam. Each will give you a very different experience, with memory foam being firmer but also more controllable, moulding more to your contours.
Traditional beans will tend to shift and squeak more under you, but they’ll give you that classic Sixties feel of a seat made out of sand, so if you’re going for retro chic, they’re a definite option.
Washable Covers
If you’re getting a bean bag chair that will either exclusively or partially involve children or pets, you’re going to want to make sure you get one with a washable cover – and then ideally, buy two or more covers, so you can have a fresh one on while you wash the one that’s been used.
This will avoid the permanent effect of sticky fingers and dog-drool, allowing you to keep your bean bag chair fresh year in, year out.
Best Bean Bag Chair - FAQ's
Are Bean Bag Chairs Worth The Money?
That will depend on how you use them. They can be a relatively inexpensive replacement for fixed-frame furniture, and encourage fun and closeness in a family room. Be aware of the potential risks to pets and young children in the event that your bean bag chair bursts or leaks its ‘beans’ or memory foam, as that can be incredibly tempting to eat unless you know better.
Are Memory Foam Bean Bag Chairs Better Than Traditional Ones?
Better is subjective on this point. Memory foam bean bag chairs give more structure and support, and don’t shift under you endlessly when you sit on them, so they have been regarded as being “better” in some regards.
But for the authentic feel of a Sixties bean bag chair, you actually want that looseness of filling, so each kind of filling is “better” for someone – it just depends what you’re aiming to get out of the experience.
Is There Such A Thing As “Too Much Bean Bag Chair”?
Yes and no. There’s such a thing as too much bean bag chair for a room – if you have only a box room, trying to fit a 7-feet bean bag couch in there is going to be trouble. And there’s an argument that once you have a weight of bean bag chair that the available number of people can’t shift its position, then what you have is too much bean bag chair for that household.
But essentially, the answer is “Only if you think there is.” You can fill your home with bean bag chairs and it wouldn’t necessarily be “too much.” But if you feel like it is – then it is.
