Brits up and down the country have travelled far and wide to be with their loved ones this Christmas, setting aside life’s ordinary responsibilities for a bit of festive fun.
But with an excitable dog, a distant cousin’s new baby and old Aunt Joan all needing to fit under one roof, people are having to get creative with their sleeping arrangements.
And in an annual tradition, bemused revellers are taking to social media to share hilarious pictures of their makeshift homes for the night, all under one hashtag.
The event known as #duvetknowitschristmas has become somewhat of a Christmas Eve institution since it was started by Rhodri Marsden some 15 years ago.
For a long time, posters used X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their hysterical snaps, before moving to BlueSky last year after Elon Musk took over the platform.
Not only is it a welcome opportunity for users to have a bit of fun, the initiative – punnily named for the famous 1985 Band Aid festive hit – also raises money for charity Centrepoint, which supports young homeless people.
The campaign, which only became a fundraising endeavour six years ago, has raised an estimated £200,000 for the organisation to date, including £28,000 last year.
And within fewer than 24 hours of the start of this year’s 15th anniversary event, nearly £10,000 has already been donated, via the dedicated GoFundMe page.
Users are sharing hilarious snaps of their bizarre festive sleeping arrangements on social media – and this image, of a cave-like attic room likened to a ‘meth den’, has proved the most amusing online
Another popular submission (pictured) is a narrow mattress in an Antarctic research station
In the fundraiser’s description, Mr Marsden explained the premise of the initiative: ‘Unbelievably, it’s the 15th year of this thing. What is it?
‘Improbably, the night before Christmas, people send me photos of their domestic sleeping arrangements, which are usually highly compromised by there being Too Many People At The Inn And Not Enough Beds (etc).
‘These pictures range of dangerously chaotic to hilariously austere, and it has become a form of Christmas entertainment that’s right up there with Morecambe & Wise or Die Hard.’
He continued: ‘The point is that many people’s Xmas sleeping arrangements are far, far worse than ours.
‘Centrepoint estimate that nearly 25,000 young people will face homelessness this winter in England alone.
‘To that end, maybe you can spare them a donation, to help provide housing and support.’
This year’s offerings include an array of humorous delights, including a cave-like attic room likened to a ‘meth den’ – and a narrow mattress in an Antarctic research station.
The former appears to be the most popular snap shared online this year, with users baffled by the somewhat creepy set-up.
One unlucky lad is set to sleep, for several nights, wedged in next to a corner desk, with an inexplicable number of monitors sat atop it (pictured)
Other submissions were also notable for the number of unusual objects – like skulls (pictured) or tiny plushy dinosaurs – populating the room
One visitor’s room (pictured) looked as if he might be turfed out of it at any moment, with cardboard removal boxes stacked up to the rafters
A picture shows a mattress on top of cardboard boxes in a dimly lit unrenovated attic, strewn with the various articles of teenage boyhood.
The caption reads: ‘I’m entering The Teenager as potential winner of #duvetknowitschristmas.
‘He’s had to move from his bedroom to the unconverted attic. Cardboard floor & headboard is a nice touch which I’m sure he appreciates.
‘He think it looks like he’s living in a meth den.’
Mr Marsden himself applauded the post, writing: ‘I’ve got to be honest, we may as well call it a night.’
Another popular submission was sent in from a narrow bed in the Wasa Research Station in Antarctica, set up by Sweden in 1989.
‘And it looks like the very soft and high quality bed linen has been there since basically then,’ joked Ruth Mottram, who shared the post.
‘Here is my sleeping bunk. Tak Sverige! [meaning “thank you Sweden”].’
Another’s, contained in an annexe (pictured), was a bizarre dumping ground for gym equipment, several large industrial freezers, a model shark – and some neatly lined up pumpkins
‘What the hell is going on with the pumpkin summoning charm on the other side of the room? And who needs five freezers?,’ the user wrote. Pictured: Their bizarre room
In several cases, the bedding itself was a source of amusement, having been pulled from the depths of the airing cupboard out of sheer desperation. Pictured: The bed of a user in their forties, made up with their childhood linen
Another was taking a trip down memory lane for their visit back home (pictured): ‘Bedspread is from my law school days 30 years ago’
Even Downing Street’s resident cat Larry could not resist joining in on the fun, posting to BlueSky in delight upon spotting a fellow feline in one of the snaps.
The caption read: ‘Always good to see a fellow cat appear on #DuvetKnowItsChristmas – for any of my friends that haven’t seen it before, it’s shepherded by @rhodri.biz and sees people sharing pictures of their temporary sleeping arrangements while visiting family or friends on Christmas Eve. It’s a delight x.’
One unlucky lad is set to sleep, for several nights, wedged in next to a corner desk, with an inexplicable number of monitors sat atop it.
‘I’ve been using this hashtag to frame my poor nephew’s looming experience as a lovely tradition as we set him up here for the next four nights,’ the user wrote.
‘It’s nice to keep to the simple traditions, like a lamp that you can’t quite reach without getting up and a blind that’s really awkward to open or shut.’
And as for the computers? ‘Don’t panic, there are two more out of sight,’ he added.
Other submissions were also notable for the number of unusual objects – like skulls or tiny plushy dinosaurs – populating the room.
One visitor’s room looked as if he might be turfed out of it at any moment, with cardboard removal boxes stacked up to the rafters.
A newly minted vicar also shared her rudimentary set-up (pictured) in her empty vicarage, as she prepares to lead midnight mass and an early morning service on Christmas Day
Meanwhile, one long-married couple found themselves kept staunchly apart by their hosts in two twin beds (pictured)
One user created a bingo card (pictured) to keep track of all the recurring weird and wacky features of submissions to the hashtag
And another’s, contained in an annexe, was a bizarre dumping ground for gym equipment, several large industrial freezers, a model shark – and some neatly lined up pumpkins.
‘This year we’ve been upgraded to “The Annexe of Estrangement”,’ the guest wrote.
‘Apart from a model shark on the bed and an excess of gym equipment, all is looking good.
‘But what the hell is going on with the pumpkin summoning charm on the other side of the room? And who needs five freezers?’
In several cases, the bedding itself was a source of amusement, having been pulled from the depths of the airing cupboard out of sheer desperation.
One user wrote: ‘In #TheMotherLand, under my childhood duvet, paired with a random pillowcase (because we think the matching one has disintegrated due to old age), & whilst it’s not quite the first duvet sighting of 2025, it is my contribution to this year’s #DuvetKnowItsChristmas. Mid forties & still sofa surfing!’
Another was taking a trip down memory lane for their visit back home: ‘Sofabed in parents’ spare room, have slept here for 16 years, every time I visit them. Bedspread is from my law school days 30 years ago.’
A newly minted vicar also shared her rudimentary set-up in her empty vicarage, as she prepares to lead midnight mass and an early morning service on Christmas Day.
Meanwhile, one long-married couple found themselves kept staunchly apart by their hosts in two twin beds.
‘The Peach Room of Doom awaits, with a bonus clothes dryer, his and hers towels, and after 24 years of marriage the Formica Stool of Chastity guarantees a hanky panky-free night,’ they wrote online.
One user created a bingo card to keep track of all the recurring weird and wacky features of submissions to the hashtag.
Hilarious squares to be ticked off included ‘exercise bike (as clothes horse)’, ‘definitely dead houseplant’ and ‘”curtains” that aren’t curtains’.
