Dinosaur Bedding: A Buyer's Guide to Our 8 Duvet Covers, Sized to Your Mattress

Buying dinosaur bedding online is mostly a sizing problem wearing a fun print. The design is the easy part; your kid will point at one in about four seconds. The hard parts are which size fits the bed, what actually arrives in the box, and whether the thing they love at five will embarrass them at eleven. This guide answers those, for all eight dinosaur duvet covers we make.

Every price, measurement and shipping time below comes from the product listings.

The short version

Duvet cover vs. comforter vs. bed set

A lot of people searching for dinosaur bedding have a dinosaur comforter in mind: one quilted piece, print and all. What we make is a duvet cover, and for a kid's bed it's usually the better buy.

• A comforter is the filling and the print sewn together. When it gets juice on it (it will), the whole thing goes in the machine, and a twin comforter is a tight fit in many home washers. When your kid outgrows the print, you replace all of it.
• A duvet cover is just the printed case. The plain insert stays on the bed for years; the cover comes off and washes like a big pillowcase. Change the theme later and you're buying a cover, not a whole new comforter.
• A bed set bundles a comforter or cover with sheets and pillowcases. We don't sell sets. Our covers are sold on their own, so pair one with plain sheets in a color pulled from the print.

If the bed already has a plain comforter, you can often zip that straight inside, which makes the cover the cheapest way to turn an ordinary bed into a dinosaur bed.

Which size dinosaur bedding fits your mattress

Duvet sizes and mattress sizes aren't the same numbers, which is where most mix-ups happen. Here is how each of our covers sits on a standard US mattress. Overhang is how far the cover falls past the mattress edge on each side, before the depth of the mattress itself.

The listings allow for up to 3″ either way on every size.

Three things that table settles:

• There is no Full size, and you don't need one. Our Queen is listed as fitting Full and Queen. On a Full it hangs a little longer at the sides, which on a kid's bed pushed against a wall is no bad thing.
• Twin XL is for dorm beds and some bunk beds. It's the same width as the Twin but 4″ longer. If you're not sure, measure the mattress length: 75″ is a Twin, 80″ is a Twin XL.
• Toddler beds and cribs aren't on the list. A Twin cover will swamp a toddler mattress, so for now we'd keep it for the move to a big-kid bed.

What insert to put inside

The cover needs something to cover. Two rules:

1. Match the size. A Twin cover wants a twin insert; a Queen cover wants a full/queen insert. Look for an insert listed at roughly the cover's measurements. One an inch or two smaller slides in more easily than one that's oversized.
2. Pick the weight for the room, not the season. The cover itself is lightweight microfiber, so all the warmth comes from the insert. A kid who runs hot does better with a light insert and a throw at the foot of the bed for cold nights.

There are no corner ties listed on our covers, so if the insert shifts, shake it into the corners before you zip it shut. Doing it with the cover inside out, then flipping it over the insert, is the fastest way we know.

Dinosaur bedding by age and room: all eight designs

Same fabric, same sizes, same price on every one. The only real choice is the print, so here they are by who they suit.

For little kids (about 3–8)

• Dino Dreams. A teal T-rex, an orange triceratops, a blue stegosaurus, a purple brachiosaurus, a green ankylosaurus and a red pteranodon under a navy night sky of stars, moons and planets. Bright but bedtime-friendly, and the dark background hides a lot of life.
• Colorful Dinosaurs. Hand-inked dinosaurs in mint, teal, orange, violet and coral on warm cream. A retro natural-history look that works in boys' rooms, girls' rooms and shared rooms, and it grows with them past preschool.
• Pastel Dinos. Smiling baby dinosaurs in mint, lavender, peach and sky blue, with hatching eggs, hearts and moons on blush pink. The softest of the eight, and a gentle choice for a first big-kid bed.

For a room that has to last

• Sage Triceratops. One fine, engraving-style triceratops repeated in deep forest green on soft sage. It reads as a texture from across the room. This is the one we'd choose if you want dinosaur bedding a ten-year-old won't ask you to replace, or a dinosaur theme in a grown-up room.

For tweens, teens and adult dinosaur fans

• Museum Dinosaurs. Realistic dinosaurs in earthy tones (T-rex, triceratops, brachiosaurus, stegosaurus, raptors) with ammonites, ginkgo leaves and ferns on deep charcoal. It looks right on a Queen in a teen room, dorm or guest room. It matches our Museum Dinosaurs sherpa blanket, so the throw at the foot of the bed can be the same print.
• Dino Nuggies. Crispy dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, some with a bite out, with ketchup and dipping sauce on sky blue. The joke bed. Funny at six, funnier in a college dorm.

For December

• Cozy Christmas Dinos. A Santa-hat T-rex, a scarf-wrapped stegosaurus, a triceratops, a brontosaurus and a baby dino hatching, among gifts, holly and snowflakes on deep evergreen.
• Gingerbread Dinosaurs. Gingerbread cookie dinosaurs piped with icing, a T-rex in an ugly Christmas sweater among them, on midnight navy with gold and cream dots.

A Christmas cover is a nice trick with a duvet: zip it on after Thanksgiving, zip the everyday one back on in January, and store the spare flat in a drawer. It's the whole holiday look for a bed without buying a second comforter.

Washing and living with it

From the care label: machine wash cold, no hotter than 90°F (30°C), and don't bleach, iron, dry clean or tumble dry with heat. In practice that means a cold wash and a low or no-heat dry, or a line. Zip it closed before it goes in the machine so the zipper doesn't catch on anything else.

The back is plain white. Fold the top third of the duvet down and you get a crisp white band across the bed, which quiets a busy print and looks deliberately made.

When to order dinosaur bedding for Christmas

Every cover is printed when you order it. The listing estimates 2–5 business days to make and 4–6 business days to ship, so plan on up to 11 business days door to door. Working back from that (and skipping Thanksgiving):

Those are estimates, not guarantees, and December carriers run late. A week of slack is the kinder plan.

Dinosaur bedding FAQ

Is this a dinosaur comforter? No. It's a duvet cover, the printed case that goes over a comforter or duvet insert. Put a plain comforter inside and it works the same way, with the bonus that the cover comes off to wash.

Do you sell a dinosaur bed set with sheets and pillowcases? No. Each cover is sold on its own, and pillowcases, sheets and inserts aren't included. Plain sheets in one of the print's colors look better than a second dinosaur pattern anyway.

What size do I need for a full bed? The Queen. It's listed as fitting Full and Queen and hangs about 17″ past each side of a full mattress.

Is it warm enough for winter? The cover is lightweight microfiber, so warmth depends on the insert you put inside. Add a throw for cold rooms. We make a dozen in our dinosaur blankets collection.

Will it fit a toddler bed or crib? No. The smallest size is a Twin (67″×88″), which is too big for a toddler mattress.

Is the print on both sides? The print is on the front. The back is white.

Which one is best for a boy and a girl sharing a room? Colorful Dinosaurs. It mixes every color on warm cream, so neither bed reads as "the boy's" or "the girl's", and the two beds match.

If you're theming the whole room, our dinosaur room decor guide builds out from the bed with rugs, wall art and pillows. To choose your cover, all eight designs in every size are in the dinosaur bedding collection.