There are two approaches in our house, and both cats have different ones they prefer.
The Tinks announces his ariival int heb edroom in the wee small hours either by:
Wailey-wailey-wailey at the top of his voice (Hi Mum - am back!)
or
leaping up on to the bed, and throwing himself bodily against my legs whilst purring noisily. The action is designed to wake me up gently, so that I then participate in the game of belly rub (gently) and this is the only time Tinks feels confident enough to engage in "me time" - he's a bit of a shy bairn.
Moray on the other hand also has two tactics.
In the first, we usually hear a very quiet and muffled "meh" - which generally means he's carrying a mouse in his mouth, which might be dead - but then again might not.
That generally involves either getting out of bed to dispose of a corpse
, or alternatively remembering come daylight that you've shoved a live mouse in the bedside chest of drawers. Always an exciting start to the day that last one.
His second method is to leap over OH's sleeping head (you can always rely on Mum to wake up first), and shove his way under the duvet, which is my invitation to heft my knees up so the duvet effectively makes a little "tent". He then proceeds to lick any uncovered skin gently and to treadle my stomach far less gently (think Thai massage with blades).
Depending on my mood, I may make genuine sounds of pain and prod OH significantly so he gets some aggro too; alternatively, I just quietly wince and stroke me laddo's little paws until he slows pace and falls asleep.
Wouldnt swap either of them for the world.