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Children’s Ski Clothing Guide – how to keep the costs down.

Children’s ski clothing, where do you start. You’ve survived the shock of paying for your accommodation and flights and now you’ve got to kit out the kids.

Firstly you don’t need to pay premium prices. You can also use most of the clothing throughout the winter for outside adventures or just going to school.

The key things are:

  • Will it keep them warm
  • Will it keep them dry
  • Will it help them enjoy the holiday.

Children’s Ski Clothing – What you need

Whether you are skiing at Christmas or Easter, you still need the same clothing. Just more or less layers.

  • Jacket
  • Salopettes or skipants
  • Gloves
  • Ski socks
  • Thermals
  • Hats
  • Helmet
  • Goggles
  • Sunglasses

Extras, that make the holiday more enjoyable

  • Snowboots
  • Fleeces

Brands

Brands and manufacturers have really upped their game in recent years, with companies like Decathlon, Mountain Warehouse, Dare2Be and Trespass making good quality equipment at reasonable prices.

I’ve featured a variety of brands, but most of my Children’s Ski Clothing tends to be from Decathlon. Personally I don’t think you can go wrong with the price and the quality.

Children’s Ski Jackets

A ski jacket needs to keep your kids warm and dry. It’s also handy to go for bright colours too, so that they are easier to spot on the ski slopes.

Key Features to look for are:

  • Snowproof, waterproof if possible
  • Make sure the jacket is big enough to fit a fleece under
  • An inner snow skirt – an elasticated trim inside the bottom of the jacket that will keep snow out when they inevitably dive into the snow or fall over.
  • A pocket on the sleeve for their skipass. Though this isn’t necessary it’s handy for scanning though turnstiles and means the valuable pass is not in a pocket they are going to fiddle with or empty out.

Such as the WED’ZE CHILDREN SKI JACKET 500 from Decathlon

Tresspass still have some sale jackets, such as:

  • For girls, the Olivvia Jacket, which is fully waterproof for £49.99
  • For boys, the Debunk Jacket, which is also fully waterproof for £19.99

Salopettes or skipants

Basically the same thing, but salopettes have shoulder straps and skipants don’t, practically this means:

  • Salopettes will keep the snow out better and keep your kids warmer.
  • Skipants are easier to get off when they need the toilet and they can get them on and off themselves more easily.

Features to look for are:

  • Lined
  • Snowproof, waterproof if possible
  • A snowskirt at the bottom of each leg – I’ve never found a pair without them, but you never know. As for jackets it will stop the snow getting in
  • Adjustable waist

Living in the North East my kids have had salopettes every winter and they’ve been used and abused in snow, mud and sand.

The tried and tested brands we’ve used have been Mountain Warehouse and Decathlon. Such as:

Gloves/ Mittens

Firstly always go for mittens, they’re warmer and easier to get on.

This is also one area where I would pay slightly more than the basic models. They need to be waterproof and we’ve found that a gauntlet shape is better. Your kids will be pulling them on and off all the time, so you don’t want to have to faff with tucking them into their jacket all the time.

Features to look for are:

  • Waterproof
  • Gauntlet shape (so the glove goes over the jacket cuff
  • An elasticated wrist retention strap – a separate wrist band attached to the gloves by a strap so that when they take the mittens off they’ll just hang off their wrists and not fall to the ground.

The best gloves we’ve found are WEDZE CHILDREN’S SKIING MITTENS 500 and at £15 for a fully waterproof glove they are a steal.

The only down side is they only cone in navy, to save confusion we colour the logos with different coloured Sharpies. The colour easily lasts for the week’s holiday and also means they can easily be handed down.

Helmet

You can rent helmets in resort, for about € 15 a week or you can buy a helmet from £10 from Decathlon

Features to look for are:

  • It meets the current European standard, EN 1077:2007, some labels may just say “meets 1077”.
  • It has air vents
  • It has a clip at the back to prevent their goggles slipping off
  • It’s handy where possible to try on the helmet and goggle at the same time to ensure there’s a good fit.

Have a look at Decathlon’s Ski Helmet range, my kid’s have worn the H100 (£10) for the last two years:

  • They are comfortable
  • Goggles fit well on them
  • Should last them at least another season
  • A bargain at £10

Goggles

Now that, thankfully, helmets are the norm, goggles are not just worn on snowy days.

Features to look for are:

  • A lens that gives 100% UV protection, UV3
  • A vented double screen or dual lens, to prevent fogging. You’ll pay around £10 more, but it will pay dividends.
  • Yellow or orange which are designed for days with poor visibility, with the lens improving the definition.
  • Go for a lens that is meant for Good Weather or All Conditions, these are perfect for sunny or cloudy days. Though they won’t be as good in poor visibility as a yellow lens they’ll do the job and save having to pack your kids off with two pairs of goggles.
  • Adjustment – one buckle is fine, two is better

Decathlon goggle selection

Ski socks

Hiking socks or welly socks unfortunately won’t work and will cause sore feet due to the fit and seams. It’s well worth investing in ski socks and as they tend to cover a range of foot sizes they last two or three years.

  • Warm and fit you childs feet.
  • If you can buy different colours it will save a lot of time getting kitted up each morning.

For quality and price you don’t need to spend £15 for a pair of ski socks. The Decathlon kids ski sock range is amazing. My kids have used and abused both the 50 range, £1.99 a pair, and tried the 300 range, £5.99 a pair. Both performed brilliantly and come in a range of colours.

Thermals

They just need to fit and tend to come in blue or black, for a week you’ll probably need three tops and three bottoms

Sunglasses

An absolute must in the mountains. Also probably the item of clothing that is most likely to be lost or broken!

I’d recommend that your kids wear goggles for skiing, but they’ll need sunglasses for the rest of the time they are outside in the snow.

You can get 100% UV glasses for between £4 and £10. As this is half the price you’ll pay in resort I’d take two or three pairs with you.

The best value I’ve found are from Mountain Warehouse.

Hats

Just a plain old wooly hat or beanie, but take two or three as they are bound to get wet from playing in the snow.

Snow boots

Though you don’t strictly need them for skiing, you’ll hopefully be playing and walking in the snow. This is when snow boots are invaluable.

  • Trainers – get wet
  • Wellies – won’t keep their feet warm.
  • Hiking boots – won’t keep their feet as warm and the soles don’t provide the best grip.

Again snow boots are something you can use throughout the winter in the UK as well.

The key thing is to make sure they are waterproof, as many boots just have a rubber lower and the fabric upper is untreated.

Again my recommendation would be to get the Decathlon boots.

How much will my children’s ski clothing cost?

Based on the above advice, it breaks down as follows:

  • £35 – Jacket
  • £20 – Salopettes or skipants
  • £15 – Gloves
  • £6 – 3 pairs of Ski socks
  • £15 – Thermals (Tops – 3 x £2.50, Bottoms 3 x £2.50)
  • £5 – Hat
  • £10 – Helmet
  • £30 – Goggles – some are still on sale with up to 50% off
  • £6 – Sunglasses

Total £142

That may seem a lot, but once you’ve made your first big purchase of Children’s Ski Clothing, the following years you’ll probably just need to replace a few things.

You’ve also be probably paying £3000 or more for your family ski holiday. You don’t want it ruining because you’re kids are cold, wet or both.