What if you could return to your childhood for $40? Not the part where you cried after getting a shot at the doctor's office, but the cold winter night where you snuggled into your footy pajamas before going to bed.

Remember that feeling of security? It's back in the form of footed pajamas that may surpass the Snuggie -- the big blanket rage that has swept the nation in keeping people warm. Mark my words. Seven months from now everyone will have footed pajamas and those Snuggies will be in the trash.

Valerie Johnson's Big Feet Pajama Co. is one of the many companies focusing on adults footy pajamas. Her company expects $2.5 million in sales this year, mostly from strong orders for net winter's holiday season. The drive to push the Snuggie and the Slanket out the door is on.

There's also PajamaCity.com, Snugasabug.com, which has all kinds of fun patterns, and ThePajamaCompany.com, whose foot pads on the bottom look exactly like the non-skid ones I had as a kid.

We all remember the warmth and comfort of footed-pajamas from our childhoods. In a recession, less than $40 can buy that feeling again, a decent price for something that became hot after being included in celebrity gift baskets at the 2007 Oscars.

"Fleece and flannel mean comfort and security," Johnson told CNNMoney.com. "My pajamas are a small, practical indulgence when all the fun has been squeezed out of the family budget."

She started the company four years ago in the basement of her Las Vegas home. Revenues hit $2 million last year.

Big Feet Pajama doesn't make pajamas for children, but its pajamas do have a feature I've never seen in the kid version -- drop seats. Those would have come in handy on winter nights when my diaper-wearing daughter needed to go to the bathroom.

The cotton flannel pajamas are $39, as are the jersey knit, and micro-polar fleece are $45. The most expensive are the $120 cashmere. Even in a recession, footed cashmere pajamas don't sound too far out of line.

Aaron Crowe is an unemployed journalist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Read about his job search at www.AaronCrowe.net