Mad Dog Ski: Ski Resort guidebooks for Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Italy and Switzerland

Kitting out the kids

Children - Meribel tourist officeSkiing is an expensive sport and even if you’ve managed to get a cheap holiday deal, once you’ve bought all those essential extras such as lift passes, insurance and ski hire, the bank balance doesn’t look quite so rosy. And when you also have to clothe your children each time you go skiing, because they’ve already grown out of last year’s, ski trips can become prohibitively pricey.

Unless you’re a kids’ designer clothing sort of parent, there are plenty of ways to reduce the cost of kitting out the kids each year. Children don’t need to be dressed up in Oakley and Burton (save that for yourselves) and so by buying lesser known labels at these shops or even by hiring the clothes each year, you can save some pennies to hire a nanny.

Bicester Shopping Village

There are discount shopping villages all over the UK but this one in Oxfordshire is a favourite for many parents. With major discounts on a whole range of ski brands from Helly Hansen to The North Face to Fat Face, you can afford for your kids to look good.

TK Maxx

A perennial favourite of ours, TK Maxx stores are now all over the UK and sell big name and lesser known brands at large discounts. With children's jackets from £12.99 and trousers from £9.99, choose from brands such as Rip Curl and Rossignol or for some good budget brands, Trespass and Dare2be.

Edge to Edge

Instead of shelling out each year for clothing you know will be outgrown by next year, you could hire your children’s clothes. This company have pick up points at their shop in Crawley as well as at the more convenient Gatwick and Heathrow airports. 6-12 day hire for a child’s jacket is £18 or £24 when hired with ski pants.

LD Mountain Centre

A canny way to get yourself and the kids prepared for your next foray to the slopes is to buy as much as possible in the sales. Unlike the normal fashion-world, ski shop sales often start around February and last until the new stock for next season comes in. One of our favourite ski shop sales is in the LD Mountain Centre in Newcastle.  Based on Dean Street, this outdoor sports shop sells brands such as The North Face, Burton and Salomon at dirt cheap prices.