Snow (but cheaper than Lapland)

[Roseyposeypie]

We’d love to go away one winter to find some proper snow. Our kids our older now (next year they’ll be 12 and 15) and aren’t interested in Santa so we’d like to avoid the expense of Lapland. We’re also not looking for proper downhill skiing but more things like dogsledding, snowmobiles, snowball fights, cosy fires and hot chocolate. Does anyone have suggestions of where we could go? Somewhere off the beaten track that has these things but is more affordable than the well known options.

I haven't been but Bulgaria is the cheap destination for snow I believe.

Bulgaria is shit. Don't do it.

You can still go to Finland without doing the Santa thing. There are lots of reasonably priced packages. That's where I would go for snowy fun if I didn't need a huge range of downhill skiing.

Ruka/ kuusamo in Finland has all the things you describe. Crystal ski used to fly to Kuusamo airport There's also the Lapland stuff but it's mainly a ski resort. Ruka is a village with a few restaurants, bars & shops.
There's a snow park nearby where you can do tobogganing etc
We booked our own trips - huskies, snowmobile safari looking for the northern lights, etc locally once we arrived, there's a travel office in the centre of the village, some I booked online or via Facebook.

Lapland/Finland - the Santa premium wears off after December.

There are various other places that will have snow for cheaper but they won’t have activities like dog sledding and snowmobiles, northern lights hunting etc.