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Clothing for family of beginners

Christy

Angel Diva
"Sweatpants" I believe is the Transatlantic term.

There's a great thread on Reddit for the Most Australian Sentence Ever, I quite like: I was looking for my thongs but they weren't double pluggas and were cactus. So I cadged some durries from Bazza and we reckoned we'd go on a Macca's run. But there was a bingle on the Broady 'cause some dropkick was hooning his ute outside the servo so we spat the dummy and picked up a slab from the bottle-o then spent the arvo getting maggoted.

I can assure you this makes perfect sense to an Australian :becky::becky:
I literally have no idea what any of this means.

Thread drift but it makes me laugh that sweatpants have been rebranded as "joggers." If there's an unfashionable item, just call it something else! It appears to have worked.
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
I’m imagining many things for “hooning his ute”. Need to call my friend with the Australian husband!
 

Eera

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
haha to get back on topic (sorry, mods). Husband does the same as me and normally wears some thermals or even thermal tights under snow pants; the polypropylene stuff dries super fast and we would do a quick hand wash with it in the hotel bathroom every few days, we'd have three pairs each or so. I find that with most wicking base layers - they dry so fast that we simply don't need to do big washes all the time - maybe once a week to stop them going totally feral. Having those layers against the skin tends to preserve the other layers somewhat: or we just stink and no one has told us.
Kids make do with their *ahem* sweatpants.
 

scandium

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Welcome!

Firstly, my advice for not-that-cold is that you need to stay dry as well as warm, as wet will mean cold very quickly. You don't need to go all-out with down jackets, etc. for adults especially if you are likely to need to help your children up, carry their gear etc. but you will want water-resistant or even waterproof outer clothing.

Check what you own already - and DO NOT wear cotton. My top recommendations for things to purchase for even the newest skiiers are: helmet and goggles, warm mittens, and ski-specific socks (ideally merino, unless you are allergic, as merino socks are so much less stinky and can often be worn and aired out alternate days)
Most people own synthetic thermals, fleece layers, sports clothing etc. so look through what you can repurpose for skiing. Land's End often has good sales on their skiwear as well.

When outfitting children it's most important to keep hands and feet warm and dry otherwise they turn into balls of misery. This is also true for adults, but we have more control over when we go inside to dry things. So packing extra gloves/mittens and considering hand warmers as a back up is important.

Regarding washing/not washing/how much to pack, I have done a week-long ski trip (hiring boots/skis) with just carry on luggage. Clothing wise I took my ski jacket + pants (worn on the plane), mittens, balaclava, two pairs of leggings (so I could rotate and air them out), 3 pairs of ski socks, 3 pairs of casual socks, three thermals that I could layer, a fleece, and ski jacket/pants, and underwear for each day but rotated between 3 sports bras. I run cold though and tend to liberally apply antiperspirant to my feet to avoid the dreaded "slightly warm and sweaty feet indoors and then frozen on the lift + slopes) so you could probably get away with one less thermal layer. I didn't do any laundry until I got home.
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
I literally have no idea what any of this means.

Thread drift but it makes me laugh that sweatpants have been rebranded as "joggers." If there's an unfashionable item, just call it something else! It appears to have worked.
Like fanny packs of yesterday are now hip packs.... much cooler.
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
As an instructor I've too often seen kids with inadequate hand coverings. When their fingers get soaked and it's 30-45º outside, they are miserable and can't pay attention to anything else. Fun disappears and tears flow.

Get your kids water-proof mittens or gloves made for skiing.
 

SarahXC

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Probably won’t work for really small kids but at 11 and 13 my kids hands are close to my same size. I have a collection of family mittens and gloves we all three can use (of course everyone has their favorites!) I don’t feel bad buying nice gloves/mittens bc I know I can wear them too!
 

socalgal

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I’m in my local Costco right now. Kids snow pants for $17, base layers on sale, gloves, all kinds of good basic stuff
Yup, second this. Their 32 degrees base layers work great; I just picked up a couple since DD won't stop growing. They are on sale right now till the weekend I think. The gerry snow pants and jackets are effective. And the prices can't be beat. Gloves. Helmets. You can get outfitted decently at costco.

Layers are key. We always bring extra gloves/Mittens and change out if needed .
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
^^ And while you're there buy a box of toe warmers, and if you use mittens, buy a box of hand warmers. No more cold feet and hands!

Stick the toe warmers to the TOP of your socks, up at the front of the toe. Do not stick them to the bottom of the sock.
I just stuff the hand warmers into my mittens so they sit against the top of my fingers, contacting the skin. My fingers get cold on 45º days. No gloves for me; just mittens.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
^^ And while you're there buy a box of toe warmers, and if you use mittens, buy a box of hand warmers. No more cold feet and hands!

Stick the toe warmers to the TOP of your socks, up at the front of the toe. Do not stick them to the bottom of the sock.
I just stuff the hand warmers into my mittens so they sit against the top of my fingers, contacting the skin. My fingers get cold on 45º days. No gloves for me; just mittens.
Great ideas for families in New England.

OP is taking her family to June Mountain for an early season trip in Dec. May not be worth buying an entire box of hand or feet warmers just yet.

I have had trouble using up a box of hand warmers bought at Costco. Turned out that neither my daughter or I needed them that much. Since the packets expire, I may only end up using half of the box so not really much of a bargain.
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
What's nice about the warmers is that you can stick 'em to your body, too. When we were in Banff, I had made sure to bring some body warmers and there was nothing better than leaning back on the chair lift and getting a burst of warmth from pressing the warmer up against me.
 

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