![]() My understanding is that they limit the number of kids based on the number of staff working in the space. Well it seemed that on this busy Saturday afternoon there were quite a few other families with the same idea as ours because when we got to Smålandthere was a big sign stating that it was full. It didn’t take me long to find the dining chairs I wanted, so I headed back to gather up the kids and get them downstairs and checked into Småland. I was on the hunt for new dining room chairs and just needed to find them in the showroom and get their location information so that I could pick them up in the warehouse downstairs. ![]() We ate our food and then my kids watched a little TV with my husband (Frozen was playing) while I quickly went to look for the items I wanted to get during our visit. They’ve actually made a few changes to the eating area since my last visit and the previous play area in the space is now gone and they have a new eating and TV watching space for the little ones. You can, however, sign up for IKEA Family and extend that time to 45 minutes or an hour.ĭuring our recent visit, we started off with lunch in the café. Use of the service is FREE and the standard time allotment is 30 minutes. These two requirements usually mean that the kids using the space are between the ages of 3 and 6, but of course it depends. Here is the deal: Kids have to be between the height of 37″ and 54″ to use this area. You can drop your little for 30 minutes to an hour (more details on that in a second) and then get some of your shopping done kid-free. Smålandis a FREE supervised play are for kids. Well it might just be a little piece of heaven in the lives of busy parents. But there is one family friendly feature that I’ve been waiting to try – Småland. We usually let the kids explore the play areas located throughout the store, get some food in the cafe, and then purchase the items we need for our latest house project. On previous visits I’ve taken advantage of some of the great family offerings found at IKEA New Haven: family friendly parking, meal discounts, play areas, and more. It is a destination that we both visit often and I’ve come to realize that it can be more than just a shopping trip, it can be an entertaining family outing. I’ve written about how family friendly the store is and Shawna’s written about how she likes to combine an IKEA trip with some other fun activities in the New Haven area. If you’ve been reading our site for a while, you know that both Shawna and I are big fans of IKEA. Please check their website for the most current information, especially about things like schedules and pricing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go build all this crap I just bought.PLEASE NOTE: This post was written in 2015, and while it should still give you a good overview of the experience, it is also possible that it may contain some outdated information. ![]() And spent $100 more than I’ll make for writing this story. The answers: bookcases, and she hadn’t even realized we were gone. Our conversation always returned to one of two questions: “What else should we buy?” and “Is our daughter OK?” We filled our cart with frames, lamps, and rugs before stopping by the restaurant for lunch. My wife and I were free! We could do anything for one whole hour! And by “anything,” I mean buy things from Ikea!Īnd so we did. We thought our daughter might have a problem being left on her own, but she flew to the ball pit. ![]() Twenty-five-cent meatballs and Flysta modular bookshelves would have to do. Not that the thought crossed our minds (it totally did). Then we noticed Småland’s one-hour time limit, which meant we couldn’t leave and go to a bar. And they’re not playing: “If you need to use the restroom, it’s the second door on the right,” the caregiver soberly told our daughter, as if that would mean anything to a toddler. Fortunately, she did - and she also met the “must be potty trained” rule. Please, no, I thought, terrified that our petite 3-year-old wouldn’t meet the 37-inch minimum. Ikea’s daycare is called Småland, which I think is Swedish for “leave your kids with strangers.” When we walked in, I noticed Småland had height restrictions. Could my version of hell actually be the site of an easy, practical date night? I wanted to order everything online, but then I heard an interesting fact: Every Ikea has free childcare. Before walking into the maze-like social experiment that some refer to as a store, I posted a photo of Ikea’s exterior with the caption “Welcome to Hell.”īut two years is a long time, and we needed more ready-to-assemble furniture. The last time I set foot inside one was two years ago with my wife to pick out furniture for our then 1-year-old daughter’s bedroom.
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