Design a Wonderful Toy at IKEA, Have It Made & Sold in 2017, and Support The Royal Hospital for Sick Children

A new collection of soft toys, designed by children from around the world has gone on sale as part of an important campaign at IKEA Belfast.

IMG_0719.JPG

​The 10 SAGOSKATT toys, part of the “Let’s Play for Change” Campaign, are made up of everything from a red monster to a “horsaurus”, designed by children aged between 5 and 9 years old.

IMG_0712.JPG
IMG_0713.JPG

​And now, children in Northern Ireland can unleash their creative imagination and try their hand at designing the 2017 collection during the store’s drawing competition between 20 – 27 November.

​The new campaign aims to highlight the importance of play, and that every child has a right to learn, develop and play. For every children’s book and toy sold between 20 November – 24 December, the IKEA Foundation will make a donation of €1 to projects in some of the poorest communities in the world, supporting children’s development and learning, equal participation, sports and of course, play.

IMG_0714.JPG

 

 

 

 

Locally, IKEA Belfast will also donate toys to The Royal Hospital for Sick Children thanks to the campaign’s “Give Twice” mechanic; shoppers will have the opportunity to pick up an extra toy or book at checkouts, which they can place in the donation bank for the hospital, whilst donating again to the charity partners.

Christie Gregg, store manager at IKEA Belfast said; “All of our toys and books encourage play, and our new family of soft toys show the power of play in its purest form; what children’s imaginations can create when encouraged, and we’re delighted they will help other children around the world develop their right to play.

 

 

IMG_0715.JPG

 “We hope to see plenty of entries for next year’s collection of soft toys from kids in Northern Ireland during next week’s (20 – 27 November) drawing competition in the children’s department.”

To learn more about the campaign, visit ikeafoundation.org, and for more information on IKEA Belfast, visit ikea.co.uk/belfast.

FullSizeRender.jpg
FullSizeRender.jpg

The IKEA Flat-pack Lunch #MakeMoreThanJustFood

image.jpg

We just received this wonderfully kitsch IKEA flat-pack, self-assembly lunch! The Kings of DIY furniture have just released their 2017 catalogue, and as with other years, they have a theme that ties the showcase of products together. 

image.jpg

This time around the theme is 'Make More Than Just Food', a celebration of growing, cooking and sharing food with family and friends. From memories made making buns with your toddler, to relationships blooming at dinner parties with friends.

They sent us the flat-pack lunch, complete with instructions! The food shop part of IKEA Belfast is possible my favourite part of the whole store. There's elk sausage, mild cheese and crispbread to 'self-assemble'.

So watch for the 2017 IKEA catalogue hitting stores and coming through letterboxes very soon.

image.jpg
image.jpg

IKEA's Crayfish Party Evening- Thurs 4th August, Plus a Summer Filled with Free Kids' Activites

image.jpg

​It’s about that time of year again when IKEA Belfast holds the hugely popular Swedish Crayfish Party in the customer restaurant, which has just undergone a refurb of its own.

Kicking off at 5.30pm, you’ll be treated to a bumper Swedish buffet, including the Crayfish guests of honour, and complimentary cocktails. Then you can dance the indulgence away with ABBA tribute act, The Bjorn Identity.

image.jpg
image.jpg

The store is also hosting workshops and activities for kids all summer long. 

 Details here of when, what and where. They are all globally themed and best of all FREE!

image.jpg

Eyeballs, Flamingoes & Mermaids: Fashion Meets Home at IKEA Belfast Tomorrow.

image.jpg

Last minute shout out about a handy little event running at IKEA Belfast tomorrow, just in case we have another washout of a day.

image.jpg

This Saturday 2nd April, the fashion and interiors industries will convene during an exclusive, one-off event, a live fashion installation with local stylist Sara O'Neill and photographer Khara Pringle. They are celebrating the launch of GILTIG, a new, limited edition collection of homewares designed in collaboration with London menswear designer Katie Eary.

image.jpg

What is truly unique about the installationis that Sara will be using only products from the collection – including tablecloths,coasters, napkins, lampshades and bowls - to create the unique look on model Kirsten, from 10am-12 noon. An IKEA hack you can wear? Sounds cool to me.

Sara O'Neill

Sara O'Neill

Sara is a professional stylist from the North Coast of NI, sort of a Rachel Zoe of the Giant's Causeway. If you haven't heard of her, and her glorious Éadach silk fashion collection, then Sara's Instagram account is a beautiful place to start. Her eye for natural colouring & love for her surroundings is addictive and inspiring. I'm excited to see her collaboration with IKEA, she's definitely the best woman for this job!

GILTIG is the first of three fashion-inspired collections that will be launched by IKEA from April to September that will allow customers to furnish with fashion. It is an eclectic range of soft furnishings and dinnerware with fish, cat and eyeball prints at the forefront of the design aesthetic.

image.jpg
image.jpg

The Limited Edition collections focus on re-invigorating interior design, and push the boundaries of what can be achieved through large-scale production in the home furnishing sphere.

The GILTIG collection is on sale now, with GLӦDANDE following in June and SVÄRTAN in September.

image.jpg
My must-buy

My must-buy

image.jpg

The Power of Play, IKEA Ideas Festival : Smix Brix's Mysterious Delivery

image.jpg

IKEA  Ideas Festival is this month, encouraging families to 'play everyday'. One of the fun events is the Toy Design Competition. Kids can enter by drawing their dream soft toy and the winning designs are made into real toys to be sold in IKEA stores nationwide.

image.jpg

Here are last year's winners. For every soft toy sold, IKEA donates €1 to Save the Children.

image.jpg

One of last year's toys made its way to Smix in a mysterious parcel, his first time receiving cool things to vlog about on his YouTube channel, I'm a proud first generation blogger! 

Check out his video to see what awesome items he was sent. Thank you, IKEA Belfast! 

image.jpg

IKEA's #PolitePlacemats : Apple Genuis? Or Are Your Manners Too Far Gone?

This is the IKEA Sittning placemat, and it could be the answer to anti-social dining. 

image.jpg

It's £1.50 and its clever feature is its little phone pouch. I'm as guilty as anyone of Instagramming the heck out of a good 50% of my meals, but this pocket has a place specifically for my anti-social device, to stop me placing it on the table and checking it constantly throughout the meal for those precious 'likes'. 

image.jpg

The thing is, I think it might make me EVEN worse. I usually pop my phone in my pocket and maybe take it out when I've finished eating to check, but if it's sitting inside its little placemat sleeping bag, where I can SEE if it lights up with a notification- surely I'm more likely to use it? 

Anyway, it's a cheap and cheerful IKEA design, and if you don't think the pocket would work well for phones, then it could be a neat way of setting the table with your cutlery tucked in there, or a nice napkin- IKEA napkin designs are always epic. 

What do you think? Give me a tweet #politeplacemats and have your say. I could do with one with a bigger pouch for a certain small someone's Kindle Fire HD!