The $22 IKEA Gem I’m Buying for My Next Beach Day (It’s on Sale!)

When the hot weather rolls in, there are certain things you simply must cross off your summer bucket list: Get your favorite ice cream, mix up a pitcher of lemonade, and, of course, set out for a day at the beach. As much as I relish relaxing under the sun and listening to the therapeutic soundtrack of the waves, I don’t always love baking in the rays like a potato for hours on end. And in those cases, this pop-up sun shelter from IKEA is just the thing I’ve been missing. 

After seeing the STRANDÖN beach tent pop up on my TikTok feed a few times, I finally went to the IKEA website to track it down, and couldn’t have been more pleased to see it was on sale for just $22 (it’s $35 at full price). It’s pretty easy to use, too: The shelter folds into itself, so all you have to carry to the beach is a lightweight polyester disk. Then, find your perfect spot, unfold it, and fill the four bags at the sides of the tent with sand, to keep it from blowing away. 

Once it’s all set up, you can stash your beach essentials in the two mesh pockets on either side of the interior (think: your book, sunscreen, speaker, sunglasses, and whatever else you want to keep out of the sand but close at hand). 

Reviews on the IKEA site say that people have also used it for their dog as a sun/wind shelter at the beach or park, or to protect their babies from too much sun exposure. One review notes that this is best used as a tent for one adult. “For more than one person (even an adult and a child), I recommend choosing the SOMMARVIND,” they say, which is a slightly larger pop-up tent that goes for $40. If you can’t make it to an IKEA, Amazon has a three-person beach tent currently on sale for $40, too. 

After reading the comments on this TikTok featuring the IKEA shelter, my only concern is folding the tent up at the end of the beach day. “My ex and I almost broke up trying to close that thing back in 2020,” one comment says. 

“I’ve had this for over 6 years now and that first beach trip of the season we struggle to close it!” says another. It sounds like practice really is the key there, so if I have to go to the beach every weekend until I get it right? Okay, fine!