When and where to get kitted out for winter snow holiday?

[Wiifitmama]

Seems ridiculous asking this now in hot weather, but I know that shops don't actually look at current weather and I don't want to miss out!

We are going on a week's snow holiday to Austria in early January. I need to kit out myself, dh and 3 boys aged 5,9, and 12 in winter clothes and boots. I want to pay as little as possible but good quality!

I hear that TK Max is good for ski stuff but when? Does Aldi ever do it? When I was a teen (thousands of years ago!) we used to get ours at C&A Oxford Street!

So prepare me- when and where and what?

Ok, should I take the hint that it is too hot to answer this question? :)

Decathlon either online or at canary wharf. It is decent quality and not outrageous. From October usually

Yy to tk maxx - usually in just after Christmas iirc. Aldi do do skiwear. It's fine, but I'd rather pay a bit more for better quality (and better looking!) stuff.

Aldi do a fantastic skiwear special in late autumn/early winter, but you have to keep your eyes peeled and shop on the day the clothes come into the store. They do everything from base layers to boots in adult and children's sizes. The children's skisuit cost £10 last winter.

You'll need a specialist for boots - neither aldi nor tk sell them.

SportPursuit often do very cheap ski gear - in fact right now they're selling off a load. It's a Zulily-style thing (a bit like Groupon) - I haven't actually ever ordered from them but DH has with no problems. By all accounts from what I have read on forums, they're great with things like returns too.

I would recommend renting boots rather than buying cheap ones. Custom boots from a specialist are another matter but they ain't cheap. If cheap boots don't fit properly (and you can't always tell until you've skiied in them for a morning or more) it's far easier to swap in resort than be stuck with them for the rest of the holiday and not be able to exchange them when you get back as they're used.

Thanks. We don't need ski boots as we are not skiing.m it's just snow boots I was after. But I discovered that the sales are me for winter stuff right now so ordered bargain boots and jackets last night!

What about hiring it all? Kids stuff particularly as they grow out of it not cheap.

Failing that Columbia ski gear is great for kids (and you), good value - you can get it online.

boots you need to try on, snow and rock maybe? at this time of year you should get a good deal!

I ordered all the boots from snow and rock but they don't do them in store right now. Wrong season. Their online stuff from last year is so cheap right now. It would be better to try them on, but if they are out right I can return them to store.

I don't want to rent stuff. As I have three boys, I can pass stuff down through them all so it works out good value in the end I think.

I hope Aldi brings their stuff in time for us. We leave Jan 4th so it would need to be pre Christmas.

Tk max can have really good stuff, usually comes in around November IIRC In January it's likely to be seriously cold if you're at altitude so make sure to get a few layers of thermal underclothes for the kids particularly. Merino if you can stretch to it - asda also do semi decent stuff in the winter for kids (long johns etc) and get each kid 2 pairs if cheaper gloves rather than 1 more expensive pair - if they get really wet in the morning they'll need a spare pair.