You won this time Ikea but I’ll get you next time and you meddling kids!

We thought we were intelligent people. We thought we were organized. We thought we had a plan. We thought everyone else was just being dramatic. But, as we left tired, disheveled, over budget, grovelling messes… we realized we brought a plastic spork to a knife fight.

Ikea must be respected.

Your first trip to Ikea is not to be trivialized.

Tips for your first Ikea trip

If you are planning your first trip to Ikea any time soon, let me give you some tips that no one else will give you… they would much rather point and laugh at the new kids.

Do your research and know what you are looking for. Your brain will fall out of your head after the first corner, so have a list to revert back to.

Bring your smartphone and take photos of the tags on the items you are going to purchase. You need to know the item number and where the item is in the warehouse section. (Thank you Melissa for this one!)

Speaking of the warehouse section, you WILL be responsible for picking out your own items at the warehouse. Getting big items? Bring a big strong person with you. I think Ikea is staffed by Oompa Loompas – no one will be around to help you.

Bring bags. Ikea doesn’t have shopping bags, unless you want to buy them at checkout.

The downstairs ‘marketplace’ is the equivalent of the largest candy aisle at a supermarket. You probably do not need any of those things. Keep your wits about you.

Do not ever go on a Saturday afternoon.

Make a day of it… this is not a quick trip. We grossly underestimated how long our trip would take. We are VERY fortunate to have wonderful friends who were able to watch Otto for twice as long as they expected (Thank you AGAIN Melissa, Andrew and Dante).

Make a day of it… this is not a quick trip. We grossly underestimated how long our trip would take. We are VERY fortunate to have wonderful friends who were able to watch Otto for twice as long as they expected (Thank you AGAIN Melissa, Andrew and Dante). Know your partner. I saw more couples arguing in Ikea than I do at last call in the Old Port on a Saturday night. Ikea is a stressful situation and I could easily see marriages falling apart in there. Remember that you love eachother and it is just a home products store. Your marriage is more important.

In the end, we did survive and so did our marriage (I did have a meltdown in the curtains section but I am only human). We got the things we went for, we think – we will see when we drag some of this stuff out of the boxes. We got more than what we went for, but apparently that is quite normal. We also learned a lot and will be much better prepared for next time… if we can muster up the courage for a ‘next time’.