AIBU to think IKEA is a top parenting hack?

[Wallasey123]

DS2 is 3 and we went to IKEA yesterday not because we needed anything but just to get out of the house (and tbh I couldn’t face soft play).

He ran around loads, looked at all the rooms, climbed on the sofas and beds and I didn’t need to be on red alert every second like I am at the park.

I don’t know why I’d never considered it as a day out before! I think when it’s too busy it’s prob not great but we went at opening time and it was great. Also obvs helps that there’s something in it for me - I get to mooch, get ideas and pretend I’m being productive.

Ofc ended up buying a few bits and pieces and hotdogs in the end but I feel like I’ve provided an enriching outing, even though I mostly just walked in circles looking at storage 😅

Any other unexpected places that are actually fun for kids AND adults (and don’t cost the earth) that I might not have considered?

We drove to IKEA once which is about 1 hr 15 mins away. My 5 year old thought it was the worst day of his life! If we ever say let’s go to IKEA he literally cries lol! Shame as I enjoyed it, we’ve driven a lot further but he thought it was the longest drive in the world!

@Wallasey123 leave them at the crèche. Go and have whatever freebie drink you can with you IKEA Family membership. Pick them up. Return to restaurant. Have whatever meal feels most appropriate for the time of day. Soft play in restaurant. Shop for flannels, felt pens, socktopus, house plants. Check out. Buy squeeze it yourself ice cream. Outdoor playground. That’s a day done.

OP I swear the level of vitriol you're getting on this thread is why I don't like to post on here 😂

TBF as an adult I am the same 😂😂

@ridl14 ,despite it probably likely to be full of out-of-control children I fancy a trip there now.
I went to Sea Life (not in the NW) and enjoyed it but it wasn't with DC in tow.

DD went to a party at IKEA! IKEA did not realise that a party was taking place in their premises! They ran around, played hide and seek, cuddled the soft toys then decamped to to café for yummy IKEA meatballs. Great fun was had by all!

It’s quite hilarious tbh. Going into 2026 like the Elmo gif (with lots of IKEA trips)

WHAT! This is incredible. IKEA should 100% do kids parties

DD was quite old as well, possibly even secondary school age! One of the best parties she’d been to apparently, and cheap! Many posters on her probably hate me now 😂

I agree with your views on this. I went yesterday, and faced so many small children running around, with parents just letting them run riot. It’s really annoying for those trying to shop and obviously dangerous for the children. I’m sure the parents would be furious if I had knocked one over with my trolley.

Ikea is a shop, not a children’s play park. Either pay for the soft play, put your child in a trolley, or hold onto them.

Didnt realise it was a thing to let your children run feral in there by letting them climb and jump on furnishings? Just because someone doesn’t come up and tell you to control your children, doesn’t mean it’s acceptable….

Ha ha we live near one and used to go in the evenings when it was quiet and like a giant hoe to tire out a toddler space. See also the outdoor sheds in garden centres and the displays of Christmas toys, the outdoor space in Band Q and reclamation yards for the curious preteen who liked to see stuff. I do have some strange momentous of theses visits but what teen doesn’t have a snuff container and a whale bone?

Another China memory- we held our monthly book club meeting in an IKEA room display and we had drinks and snacks. Happy days!

I did have some good trips when the kids were little! There was also a small window when they could both go to Smaland, which was amazing, but I think it was only about a year - it was a lifesaver once when we had to return something which meant an inevitable hour-long wait and we did not want to have to do that with a 3 and a 6 year old (or was it 2 and 5, I can't recall!)

Some people are taking this thread so seriously 🤣
A few teens "playing" at being domestic.
I was being slightly tongue in cheek about the having their own flat.

I’m sorry, WHAT! 😂 This is amazing! IKEA needs to start hiring out the rooms for bdays / events or wfh (but not your real home)

On reflection while I am sure mine do remember zoo days out it’s Ikea, the shed place with a fort and the gargoyles and giant fish at the posh garden centre which they have the best memories of.

Thats why I dont go to IKEA. Last time I went a tiny child was tearing round. Looking at any minute they would be falling over and getting injured. And the child noise and chaos was deafening. Saturday morning.

Also, once my kids had a whale of a time in the B&Q kitchen and bathroom section #badparent 😂

Our DC are adult now but they have fond memories of the mouse holes in the children’s furniture area and the slide but I think they may have removed all that. Finished off with a 50p hot dog. Win win!

And I used to take DS to look at building sites. Sadly you can’t play on them anymore like I used to do as a kid in the 1970s, now THAT was fun!

When i was little, a trip into town was capped by being able to press one of the display doorbells in the basement of Heelas and then going to the cafe in the Gas Showrooms to share a slice of cake. Ikea would have blown my mind.

Never ever ever go to IKEA on a Saturday morning if you don’t have kids. What on earth were you thinking???

YANBU!!
our local ikea has a free soft play. You can leave kids over 4 In there for a timed slot.
restaurant also has spaces you can sit and work with free WiFi. So I can also leave DH in restaurant!!!

I used to be an interior designer for ikea Europe in a past life and used to think long and hard about how to make life easy for people with kids 😁

It’s a shop not a soft play - I hate parents taking their kids in their for a day out and letting them run around and be feral (yes I do have kids if my own) TBH I find it entitled and actually a bit chavvy