Gaiam Premium Yoga Mat, 6mm Thick Print Mat (Sublime Sky)

Why it's worth it

A 6mm printed mat with enough padding for beginner knees and enough style that it doesn't look like rental equipment. It's what you buy when you want to hand someone a real yoga gift without spending much.

Beginners hurt in the knees and wrists first, and a thin mat makes that worse. This one is 6mm, which is generous, and the padding is what new practitioners notice on day one. Good Housekeeping's lab picked a Gaiam Premium mat as their best budget option for that reason, and the cushioning holds its own against mats that cost several times as much.

The prints are the real reason to give this one. Gaiam sells this mat in dozens of designs, so you can pick something that looks like the person you're giving it to instead of handing over a black rectangle. It's a small thing, but it makes an inexpensive gift feel chosen rather than grabbed on the way out.

From our review of 8 gifts for yoga lovers

What we like

• +Beginners hurt in the knees and wrists first, and a thin mat makes that worse
• +The prints are the real reason to give this one
• +It weighs about three pounds and rolls up without a fight, so it travels to class easily

What to know

• –It gets slippery once hands start sweating
• –It also smells when it's new