List of what first time skiers need and top tips please

[YouSpinmeRound]

Hi,
First time skiing with kids during the pre christmas week.
What top tips do you have for things to take?
Do the children have to have a specialist ski jacket or will their gap down jackets suffice for example. Where should we shop for stuff?

TIA

I've just bought some ski trousers for DS (a tall 15, so adult size) which were massively reduced in TK Maxx. Will a good quality water proof walking jacket with detachable fleece be ok, or is it essential to have a ski jacket? Apologies for the hijack!

Argggh.. I was reading that again and again trying to get it to make sense!

Thanks we settled on the esprit place because of its ease in the mornings with lessons/ski in out rather than having to trek with ski boots to some gondola somewhere.

Anyone know if anything exists to dry boots overnight or tips on this? (our pre-child trips always had heated boot rooms where you put the boots on heated pole things)

I think cotton on kids is best avoided as they don't regulated their heat. We were told in no uncertain terms to avoid it in Finland, but it was a bit more extreme (-20 ish).

We went to Italy pre Christmas last year with 10 and 6 year olds. Do you have chance to have ski lessons before you go? This really helped and meant we had fun skiing (reds) as a family pretty much from day 1.

Would reiterate what everyone else said - layers (aldi / mountain warehouse) and good neck snoods type things. Aldi did fan furry lined leggings and Merino leggings too. We also got thin inner gloves from Decathlon for inside the children's ski gloves. We also borrowed helmet covers (one like a panda and one like a bear) which made them easy to track in the slopes!

We ended up taking lots of layers off the first day as we were too hot but better to be safe than sorry.

Great Location for the hotel, especially for with children - we go to 3 valleys often and I still love skiing Courchevel more than the other valleys.

Depends on what level skiers you are - and whether one of you will pick the kids up whilst the other goes over the valleys as to what level pass you will need. It isn't much more for a 3 valleys pass, and upgrading for a couple of days is just about as expensive as buying a full 3V pass in the first place. The children will be told what pass they need for the ski school - if not just ask.

In Courchevel 1550, and easily accessible by bus from 1850 there is a ridiculously expensive swimming pool www.aquamotion-courchevel.com/en/ which is actually pretty cool with a few slides and an outdoor pool/dive pit etc. Worth it if you have a water baby/something to do in the afternoon as a treat. I was unsure given the price (comparable to a couple of hours ski pass... sneaky!) but would go back.

Lift passes are all done electronically so even if they do need a photo (I don't think they do for weekly passes) they do it from their machine. Lift pass never needs to leave the pocket!

The hotel has a boot room - it may well have heated things - they often do, especially in Courchevel. Otherwise you can buy portable boot dryers to take with you - or use handwarmers maybe?

Oh, and if the kids get their ski legs by the Wednesday there is often a night ski in Courchevel on the Verdons green slope which is quite entertaining. Often not that packed it can be quite fun.

www.courchnet.com/events/calendar/verdons-by-night