Ikea deals

MoneySavers wait for this one every year as it's a tree-mendous way to make a big Christmas saving. If you buy a £25 real Christmas tree from your nearest Ikea, you'll be given a £20 voucher to spend at any participating store between Mon 14 Jan and Sun 3 Mar next year.

Officially, it's on till Mon 24 Dec, but in previous years the trees have sold out before this - so check to see if your local Ikea has them in stock here and go quick if you want one. Don't forget to check out our MoneySaving Ikea Hacks blog before you go.

If you got the Ikea advent calendar that came with £10+ vouchers, Ikea’s confirmed to us that you can use your vouchers towards buying a Christmas tree. Unfortunately the Advent calendars are no longer available to buy – we’ve left full calendar info intact for reference.

The only stores not participating are the collection point at Westfield in Stratford and the planning studio store in Tottenham Court Road, London. You can get the offer at the Norwich and Aberdeen collection points. For full voucher T&Cs, see 'more info' below.

The trees are all of the same variety (Abies Nordmanniana) and they're typically about 170cm (5ft 7in) tall, but do vary in size. There's no delivery option, so think about how you'll get it home.

Though it varies depending on the store you visit, the trees are usually found in the car park - you'll generally pay inside the store then take your receipt to collect a tree outside.

When you shop in store at Ikea (find your nearest), you can get a free cup of tea or filter coffee when you swipe an Ikea Family card at the in-store restaurant. Ikea Family is just the name of its free loyalty card scheme. You can sign up online or in store.

You can get it anytime Monday to Friday, but not at weekends, and Ikea says you'll only need one Ikea Family card to get free drinks for everyone you're with. But of course, staff may raise an eyebrow if you turn up with a coach-load all wanting the freebie.

There's also the option to upgrade to a cappuccino or latte for 40p.

Visit any Ikea store with a restaurant (find your nearest) and on weekdays till 11am you can get a cooked breakfast for £1.75 when you show an Ikea Family card at the till. If you don't have its free loyalty card, you can sign up online or in store.

You can mix and match any six breakfast items - including sausages, bacon, hash browns, tomatoes and baked beans - but you'll need to pay more for any extras you've chosen to add.

Without an Ikea Family card the same breakfast costs £2.50, so it's a 75p saving each time. And don't forget, Ikea Family members can also get a free cup of tea or coffee to wash it down - or upgrade to a cappuccino or latte for 50p. 

If you're an Ikea Family card member, check your email around your birthday to see if you've a coupon for £5 off with no minimum spend, valid for 28 days. The subject line may be something like 'A £5 Birthday treat from Ikea Family'.

How do I get the coupon?

The email will tell you if a coupon has been added to your account, but you’ll need to go in store to actually print it out from a machine.

We can’t say for sure if every Ikea Family member will get the birthday offer, so think of it as a bonus rather than guaranteed. See Ikea's website for full coupon T&Cs.

If you drive an electric car, when you visit an Ikea store (find your nearest) you can make use of free electric vehicle charging facilities while you shop. There are multiple charging stations found in the car park of each of its UK stores.

Ikea reckons its 'rapid-charging' units can recharge an electric vehicle, such as a Nissan Leaf or Mitsubishi Outlander, from empty to full within half an hour. It's totally free to use - just drive up to any available charger and plug in.

If you sign up for a free Ikea Family card you'll get extra discounts, offers and freebies in store.

What are the main benefits of signing up?

• Reduced prices on selected 'Family' lines
• Free product insurance
• Extra 10% discount on sale items
• Monthly restaurant offers

Ikea doesn't usually offer discount codes, and most of its deals are specific to each store, but you can check what offers your local store is running when you visit the Swedish retailer's site.

Find your nearest Ikea in the list below and click through to see current deals:

Aberdeen
Belfast
Birmingham Central
Birmingham (Wednesbury)
Bristol
Cardiff
Coventry
Croydon
Edinburgh
Gateshead
Glasgow
Lakeside (Thurrock)
Leeds
Manchester (Ashton)
Milton Keynes
Nottingham
Norwich
Reading
Southampton
Tottenham (Edmonton)
Warrington
Wembley (Brent Park)
Westfield Stratford City

MSE Update, Fri 16 Nov at 9.38am: Ikea has told us it's decided to withdraw the advent calendar from its stores "due to a packaging production issue". It says that anyone who bought a calendar will be unaffected and will still be able to use the vouchers in store from 1 Dec to 31 Jan. We've kept the original information below for reference.

If you pop in to any UK Ikea store (not online and excluding the small order and collection points) you can pick up its £2.95 advent calendar, while stock lasts. Of course, it contains a milk chocolate piece behind each of the 24 doors, but that's not why we're excited about this calendar – you'll also get two vouchers to spend in store worth at least £10, up to £105.

For more ways to save money (and time) at Ikea including store shortcuts, free tea or coffee, and a free £5 voucher on your birthday, see our MoneySaving Ikea hacks.

How do I get the vouchers?

There are two parts to getting your vouchers:

(1) When buying your advent calendar, staff should give you one £5 voucher at the checkout – make sure they do.

(2) Your second voucher is inside the calendar – open it at the top and the voucher's hidden down the back. It will be worth between £5 and £100, though few will be lucky enough to bag the highest value. Of the 75,000 advent calendars available...

• 50,000 calendars contain a £5 voucher (so you get £10 in total) – 66.6% of calendars.
• 20,000 contain a £15 voucher (£20 in total) – 26.6% of calendars.
• 4,990 contain a £25 voucher (£30 in total) – 6.6% of calendars.
• 10 contain a £100 voucher (£105 in total) – 0.01% of calendars.
  
  

Each member of the MSE Deals team picked up a calendar and out of the 10 calendars we got, all 10 contained a £5 voucher (£10 total).

Although we didn't find any of the higher value vouchers, each of us are still £7.05 up – so if you're an Ikea shopper, then this calendar is a no-brainer, as you're guaranteed to get vouchers to spend in store that are worth more than the calendar itself – potentially a lot more. Ikea says it’s only one calendar per person.

What can I spend the vouchers on?

You can spend each voucher in any Ikea store, excluding order and collection points, between Sat 1 Dec and Thu 31 Jan.

There's no minimum spend, but it excludes online purchases, remote ordering, Swedish Food Market, Bistro (so no hotdogs), gift cards and services such as home delivery, installation and kitchen planning. It also can't be used with any other promotion or discount.

You can use one voucher at a time, or both together, but you can only use a voucher once, so if your spend is below the voucher amount, you'll lose the rest of its value.