Holiday for 6 - ds and dd2 have skiied before and we're rubbish!

[goingmadinthecountry]

Our children will be 18. 16, 15 and 7 next winter. Ds and dd2 have both been on school ski trips and dh and I haven't really tried properly. We're keen to do a family ski holiday next winter but have never done package holidays before - is this the time to change? Probably Europe but no preconceptions. Just want some family fun. Chalet? Hotel? As long as it doesn't have too much hassle for 1st timers. Thanks!

It depends on your budget. Catered chalets are really the preserve of the Brits and unless you get a last minute deal, they will cost you an awful lot of money. Hotels could be expensive too. Self-catering (doesn't mean you have to cater for yourselves, you can eat out!) apartments / chalets are going to be much more affordable. Talking of France in particular. You might want to research lift pass costs with 4 children. We go to the Chamonix valley simply because it's the same price for a family of 2 adults and 1 child as it is for 2 adults and 4 children - but that's only valid for children up to 15 years of age.

If you live in the south of England, it might be worth driving, the northern French resorts are nearest to Dover. Or if you live near an airport that does budget flights with Easyjet for example to Geneva, worth considering resorts within an hour of the airport with cheap transfers, Grenoble has budget flights into it too. Or there is the option of train travel, several French valleys have good access from train lines.

Finally, timing makes a big difference to price. The 6 or so weeks of French half term generally doubles accommodation prices and sometimes the sizes of the queues too.

Christmas/New Year and Easter are far cheaper school holiday weeks, with the added risk of poor ski conditions.

i think you might find andorra or italy suit you well - france can be expensive. andorra is great if the kids are over 6, and is well thought of for beginners. again the half term is expensive but less so than the big frech/swiss resorts.
also (from what i understand) andorra has good nightlife (at least the big resorts do) and therefore that may be good for your older kids (but maybe not from your perspective!)
hotels often to half board and are no less hassle than chalets so pick the one you can afford/like.
italy can also be lovely for beginners , with good nightlife, and great food. i am thinking of maybe sauze d'oux here (it has good nightlife) livigno is cheap (duty free) and courmayer is nice but might be a bit fuddyduddy for you elder kids.
Austria tends to have a good rep for apres-ski (again depends on what you want the kids to have access to) and somewhere like mayrhofen might suit.
if the kids were younger i would suggest somewhere quiet and small, but the teenagers might well be bored stiff by that.
if you are rich then the french resorts may well suit you - courcheval, la plagne, meribel or maybe verbier in switzerland (a fab resort with lots for everyone but rather expensive, especially if you're beginners and won't use a lot of it. the nightlife is fab but lots of posh people).
i'd use any of the tour operators brochures (crystal, thomson, inghams, neilson etc) and see what you can find. there are more specialised smaller operators whic may well suit you fine but they tend to be in one or two resorts.

also i would suggest taking all of you for ski/snowboarding lessons at your local uk slope (indoor or outdoor) to see if you all like it before you commit. if you do like it you will have more of a clue when you go, and if you don't you haven't wasted a holiday.

www.france-montagnes.com/
France varies from very cheap to mega expensive. The big UK Tour Operators do tend to focus on the more expensive resorts. If you look on the above website, you can choose a resort according to many different criteria.