The IKEA Festival

Overview

Maybe it's the massive layout, which everyone traverses from the front door to the checkouts without taking any shortcuts. Perhaps it's all the display-room setups, turning almost every nook and cranny of a huge warehouse into dream homes. It could be the promise of those Swedish meatballs mid-shop, the coveted blue bags, or just knowing that your house will get a makeover when you return after browsing and buying oh-so-much.

Whichever fits, a trip to IKEA isn't an ordinary shopping experience — although that'll prove true in a different way for 16 days between Friday, August 26–Saturday, September 10. That's when The IKEA Festival, aka your latest excuse to hit up the chain's closest store, will host a heap of free activities. Fancy an IKEA-inspired manicure, likely in blue and yellow? Of course you do.

Also on offer across IKEA's Sydney stores: terrarium workshops, interior designer speed-dating sessions, plant-based cooking demonstrations, food tastings, DJs spinning tunes, a van-life installation and talks on sustainability. For renters, the class about maximising your home when it isn't your own should pique your interest.

Can't make it along in-person? There's also an online live shopping event — and, of course, you can also hit up the brand's newly launched As-Is Online marketplace for discontinued, ex-display and pre-loved products.