I fly from a controlled airfield with several approaches available (ILS and VOR/DME each end). When arriving home from a convenient direction vs. runway in use (so a practice IFR approach would not add significant flying time) I tend to contact either TWR or APP early and kindly request a practice IFR approach. Given enough heads-up time they are typically able to work me in four out of five cases. The backup plan is the regular VFR approach, obviously.
I've even been able to get a practice IFR approach towards the wrong end, with a circle-to-land at the end. But that screws up the regular IFR departures and approaches, and barges straight through the visual circuit. So that's only possible when it's really, really quiet.