About 10 "non-sponsored sleepovers" have been logged across the world by the Swedish flat-pack furniture giant this year.

Most recently, two 14-year-old girls were caught by Ikea employees after spending the night at the branch in Jonkoping in Sweden.

The craze appears to have been started by two Belgian YouTubers in August.

Their video, which has had 1.7 million views, documents their exploits - including jumping on beds - after they hid in a wardrobe for three hours to avoid detection.

Unlike the 14-year-old girls, however, they were not caught and walked out after spending another few hours in the wardrobes waiting for the store to open.

`How is it fun?`

Ikea has decided not to formally charge the Jonkoping teenagers because of their young age, but two girls who were caught in Malmo, Sweden, in October were not so lucky.

According to Sydsvenskan, the 15-year-olds had been too scared of setting off the alarm to leave the cupboards they were hiding in, and were reported to police for trespassing when they were discovered in the morning.

"We hope that this trend will slow. We do not see what it is that is fun with what they do," Ikea Sweden press officer, Jakob Holmstrom, told Aftonbladet after the latest incident, one of "a handful" in Sweden in the past six months.

An Ikea UK spokesperson told the BBC: "We appreciate that people are interested in Ikea and want to create fun experiences, however the safety and security of our co-workers and customers is our highest priority and that`s why we do not allow sleepovers in our stores."

Ikea owns and operates nearly 400 stores in almost 50 nations.

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