Teenagers and electric blankets

[OnTheRanDan]

I've caved and bought the teens an electric blanket each. They both spend a long time in their rooms on their beds and so my thinking was that when the weather turns cold they could have the blankets on.
At the moment they have hot water bottles if they feel the need.
So, my worries are if they keep them on all the time, if they forget to turn then off when they go to school, that it'll be horrifically expensive and that finally that they'll electrocute themselves.
Anyone else have teens with on the bed, under the sheet electric blankets reassure me on any or all of those points before I take the things out of hiding and hand them over.

We have our electric blankets attached to smart plugs so set them on a timer and can also check whether they are on via an App or Alexa

Attach to smart plugs as pp said. But how would they electrocute themselves?

Interesting. I'm anticipating my kids having them on at odd times like during the day at the weekends and school holidays. Also we don't have Alexa. Will investigate smart plugs

Just by being slightly bonkers teenagers with drinks in bed or something. I haven't had an electric blanket in years are they difficult to make lethal?

Mine has a setting where it turns off after an hour or different time of my choosing. You are not supposed to use it on the high setting when actually in bed although there is a lower setting where you can. It heats up before I get in then is off. Check the instructions. I had one as a teenager and it was fine but if you want something for chilling in their rooms, a heated throw might be better.

Good question. I'm considering whether an electric blanket or throw is better. He spends a lot of time on his bed and loves keeping cosy.

You can was them normally, so yes, really difficult to electrocute yourself. If you've got modern electrics then the circuit board would trip if necessary too. It's best not to fold them up tightly in case the wires get very bent but if you just check that they seem in good repair when you was them, they should be fine.

Already bought the electric blankets in Lidl this morning as £20 each. Smart plugs it seems will increase the upfront cost a fair bit as I'd need two.

I have an electric blanket and it turns itself off after a few hours so you need to turn the slider off then on again to restart it. It's also washable and I think it would be pretty hard to electrocute yourself with it - much harder than just sticking your fingers in a socket for example!

Ok I'm reassured. Thanks.

We have electric blanket, it doesn’t turn itself off. It’s mainly used to heat up bed in the evening then out so far. A few times DD was in using it in bed over weekend, she switched it off but I’ve checked tbh. It’s not a teen issue, I left electric blanket on a few days ago, luckily realised when we were still on the drive.

I've been concerned about this too, OP as my 16 year old DD is a nightmare for knocking drinks over . Surely that is a hazard ?

Mine automatically switched off after a time. It's also machine washable.