Tips for Lapland clothing

[purplepandas]

Hi

If anyone has been to Lapland, would you mind please letting me know what kind of clothing works? We are not winter sports people do not keen to spend lots of stuff we won't wear again but clearly don't want to freeze! I am clueless and grateful for any tips.

PP

It can be -20 so base layers are a good idea. A proper coat and something like a fleece so you have 3 breathable layers. It’s obviously really warm in hotels so you want to be able to pull things off when you go in. Hats and gloves. And walking boots or sensible footwear for walking in snow. Ice grippers for shoes are really useful for walking in icy car parks etc. Have a great time.

If you have a Decathlon nearby, they're good for base layers at reasonable cost.
If you are doing a Santa trip then it's likely the company will provide you with a snowsuit and boots, and possibly wool socks?
Take thin gloves as an inner layer. Also recommend a balaclava style hat, and the one thing we didn't have which we wished we did was goggles! It was a bit blizzardy when we were on a husky ride and it would have been nice to be able to cover our eyes.

I'd also recommend a distinctive hat for the kids, as when there are lots of children running around in dim light, in identical snow suits it isn't always easy to identify your own 😁

Assuming your trip organisers are providing a snow suit and boots which they normally do you just need lots of layers. Thermal base layers are fantastic you can get them in sports shops. Thick socks, jogging bottoms and fleecy jumpers. Waterproof gloves rather than wooly gloves. A warm hat and a scarf or snood type thing to plug the gap around your neck. We have been twice once was -17 and once was -22 but we didn't feel the cold either time the snow suits are amazing!

I would recommend wrist warmers as well as gloves for the children. We also bought neck warmers (thin snoods) and funky balaclava hats! You can get them with animals etc. Ours were very toasty :-) enjoy it's amazing

Take waterproof boots, cold soggy feet sucks if you have a really thick waterproof winter jacket take that otherwise you can probably make do with a thin waterproof jacket and more layers underneath. Scarfs, hat and gloves also. I would recommend getting 1 pair of thermal trousers and 1 thermal top just in case, doesn't need to be expensive fancy ones

We did a day trip many years ago and for provided with snow suits and boots! We didn't even go outside between plane and suiting and booting!
So leggings, t shirt and fleece were perfect and comfortable.
Hats and gloves with head band and wrist covers are best for keeping ears warm and stopping snow going up inside when sledging and snowball fighting.

Second decatahlon as a good place to look

It was -20 when we went. C&A was about and picked up kids ski clothing cheap. I didn't wear any special clothing but snow boots and lots and lots of layers for everyone. The snow is different there, it's not wet because it's so cold (it's powdery, making a snowman is difficult bizarrely) lots of good sallopette deals on eBay. Enjoy!! It's magical.

A belated thanks for all the comments and ideas. I am off to look on ebay and search for decanthahlon!

We stocked up at Decathlon. Gloves absolutely must be waterproof.

We wore base layers, another thin layer, a fleece, thermal leggings, over trousers or leggings, thin gloves, waterproof gloves, thermal hat, snood, thin socks and thermal socks. That is quite a list, but you can never underestimate just how cold it is.

I also took my down coat which is very warm, and my own snow boots which I had anyway. Snow suits and boots were provided, but we needed all those layers.

Depending on the time of year, if there is any chance of sunny daylight don't forget sunglasses.

We went with Thomson so a snowsuit and snowboots and gloves were provided which was perfect. Snowboots you can get cheaply off ebay. We didn't need anything else. Our hotel was massively heated as was everywhere else we went, it was either 30 degrees inside or about -27 outside. So you needed light clothes as well though layers is a good way to go. Thermals can be useful as even with the snowsuit it was cold when out for 2 hours.