2.5yr old will never just go to bed!

[Gingerninja01]

As the title says! My 2.5yr old will never go to bed without a massive performance, this can take anything from an hour to two. Invariably I end up getting cross and then spend the rest of the night upset that I have got cross with her/she has gone to sleep being told off.
She has dinner early, then the usual bath, stories, teeth brushing etc and lots of cuddles - why wont she just go to sleep?!
She didn't sleep through until she was over 2, and bedtime has always been quite a battle.
Any advice appreciated! Thanks!

My dd has always been like your dd. She's an absolute night owl. I ended up trying a few different strategies until I found what worked for her. For us: 3 bedtime stories, a drink bottle of water beside the bed, later dinner because she complained she was hungry, a sleep CD of relaxing music she likes (we have a small selection of sleep CDs), a cuddle where I lay down next to her, sometimes she chats to me so I limit it to 10 minutes otherwise she'll stay awake talking, she cuddles a toy or my old maternity pillow, then I say goodnight and leave the room. We also have a diffuser that gently lights up and changes colour. Most nights she'll call me in for an extra cuddle and I give her quick cuddle and remind her it's sleep time. It's taken time and consistency for my dd to finally cooperate and go to bed and stay in bed. Believe me I had my moments of utter exhaustion and frustration too. And yes I did get cross with her too. It's hard work with some kids.

DD also has a cheeky smile when she sees her shouting/jumping off the sofa etc has got my attention

I would suggest you haven't made it clear enough you don't want her to do this and at some point have also laughed at her doing it so she thinks it's ok to do it again