Ski Clothes for Kids
You had this great idea to take your kids skiing and now you realize that they need a full wardrobe of kids ski clothes. I honestly didn’t think it would be so much work to figure out what to bring on a ski trip for my daughter, but boy was I wrong. Living in Miami, Florida, there isn’t a whole lot of winter options in stores locally, so I had to do most of our shopping online. We ended up buying a whole bunch of options on Amazon and returning everything that didn’t work. If figuring out kids ski clothes has you stressed out, you’ve come to the right place. I complied a list of what to bring to a ski trip for your kids on my Amazon Storefront and it includes everything I bought for my daughter on our trip. This is basically your packing for ski trip list. In this post I will show you here everything I selected and explain why. Every photo below is clickable. It’ll take you directly to the Amazon page to purchase it. I wish I had access to this when I was trying to figure it all out.
My husband and I love annual ski trips (actually snowboarding) and went together every single year for a very long time. That is until we became parents. The last ski trip before this one, my daughter was 9 months old. She’s 6 now. We always said we would have her learning young so that she would learn easily. Well, we took her with us at 9 months and obviously she was too young to learn and it was hard to take a little one to that weather if you’re not used to it. Every year since then we say this is the year and then for one reason or another we don’t do it. It was usually because we worried about the huge expense for a ski trip and lessons. What if she didn’t like it and quit her lessons the first day? We would have to sacrifice everything we spent. So we usually ended up deciding on something else that we knew she would love.
Fast forward to this year and we knew she needed to learn already. We booked a trip to Park City, Utah, signed her up for 2 full day kids classes and prayed for the best. I snowboard (not that well), so I decided it was the perfect opportunity to sign myself up a ski class so that I could learn something new and be near her during her lesson.
Let me tell you, I wish I hadn’t waited so long. We had an incredible time on the trip and all of the work before it was 100% worthwhile.The kids classes are incredible and they truly know how to entertain the children while teaching them how to ski. My daughter absolutely loved it! The conditions were far from ideal on our trip. It was super cold (like single digits Fahrenheit), windy to the point that the lifts couldn’t open most mornings and snowing a ton, but that didn’t stop my daughter. The week we were there, the base got 71 inches of snow! Even with all of that, she absolutely loved her ski lessons. She says it was one of her favorite trips ever and cannot wait to go skiing again. So if you’re putting off a ski trip for the same reason, please don’t! They’re going to love it.
KIDS SKI CLOTHES YOU’LL NEED
Now for the clothes. Winter trips are all about the layers and this is especially true for a ski trip. So let’s start with the base layers and work our way out to keep your kids warm during your ski trip. Consider this your ski trip packing checklist for kids. If you got all of this, just add in a few cute outfits for evening, some pajamas and toiletries, then you’re ready to go!
The most important layer is always the base layer. Good thermals are crucial for keeping you warm on a ski trip. They can be pricey, but it’s worth investing in a good pair or two to keep warm. We wore thermals under every single outfit the whole trip because it was really cold out. Hot Chillys are very well recognized but they are quite expensive. I have 2 sets, but I’ve using them for years. Kids grow so I wasn’t as excited to buy them for her. I bought my daughter 1 set of Hot Chillys and went with a less expensive dupe for the 2nd set. She wore both sets and seemed fine. I saved the Hot Chillys for the colder days that we would be outside longer hours and used the dupes otherwise. The Hot Chillys are sold by piece. The dupes I found come in a set. Just click on the image below and it’ll take you directly to Amazon to purchase it.
Next up is a layering sweater. This can be anything. I chose a zip up fleece sweater to keep her warm and comfortable, but any sweater would do. I only brought one like this and it was so convenient that she wore it nonstop. I ended up looking for another one during the trip and buying it for her for the last day since she had worn the other one so much.
Socks are another super important layer. If it’s cold out, good socks make all the difference. You want to go with wool socks to keep your feet warm. I got some shorter cute ones for the non ski time to under her boots and some thicker and much longer ones for skiing. These we put on after her thermals. It is easier to put on before your ski pants, as the pants will go over the socks.
The next item you’re putting on them is a bib or ski pants. I chose bibs (for those of you that aren’t familiar- they’re the ones that look like overalls) because of my own experience on the mountain. I’ve always gotten snow in my pants when I sit down or fall down on the slopes. The higher sides on the bibs keeps you from having snow in your butt. I figured she would be more comfortable in a bib (except for bathroom breaks), but it was worth the trade off. I ended up getting myself ski bibs too and loved them. I definitely prefer it over regular ski pants.
The last piece of clothing for a ski day is the ski jacket. This is obviously a very important layer. Pick something thick and waterproof. I ordered a lot for her to try on and ended up keeping two that were warm and cute. Here are the ones I selected (the first 2) and a couple more options I loved.
When it comes time for skiing there’s a lot more accessories you will need. It was freezing when we were there (think 5-10 degrees Fahrenheit) so I ended up buying my daughter a full face mask that helped keep her face warm. It wasn’t the cutest but it did the job. Otherwise, I would have gone with a headband or beanie under her helmet just to keep her ears warm. Here’s her headbands that she wore out almost every day and a face mask I wish I had bought her. The only kids size one I found available on the mountain was a blue on with skeletons on its and that’s what she wore. I’ll be ordering her this cute kitty one for the next trip. When it comes to this, there’s various options that could work depending on your circumstance and preference. I usually do a headband if its not that cold because it keeps my hair back and my ears warm. If it’s too cold, a face mask is wonderful.
Gloves are another super important one. I like to do liners and then the waterproof gloves. It’s an added layer of warmth, and the perfect place to add some Hot Hands (the hand warmers) if it’s really cold out. I like to use them between the liners and the thicker gloves. Same as the foot ones, I put them outside the sock. I bought this 4 pack of gloves that she wore at night or for any quick outings. They also worked as liners under her thick waterproof gloves for any snow activities.
When getting ready to hit the slopes, the only other thing we added were her goggles. We went with pink because she loves pink, but they come in many colors. Here’s the black option too, but if you click on it you’ll see the other choices available. The blue and green are really nice.
After all that gear we just added some normal boots to walk over to the mountain where we rented my daughters skis, ski boots and helmet. I don’t have those items listed here as they were not ours. This is our “look” before putting on our boots to head to the mountain.
I know I told you she loved her ski lessons, but this will show you. Look at her face of excitement at the end. One of the days the lifts didn’t open til late because of the extremely high wind, so they improvised for the kids classes at the base. They grabbed shovels and created a little jump for the more advanced children. My daughter (not in the advanced group) was convinced that she’s a pro and went for it. Her confidence is amazing! You can see in her face how much fun she’s having.
ITEMS FOR OTHER ACTIVITIES ON A SKI TRIP
That’s everything you need for a ski day, but its certainly not everything you need for a ski trip. I did buy her a bunch more as we did other activities that required other gear, so let’s add them in here.
We went tubing and for this I chose to go with water resistant leggings (over thermals) instead of the ski bib, just so she would be more comfortable. It’s the first of the 3 images below and you can click on it to shop. Remember they’re not completely waterproof so you can’t be rolling around in the snow, but since the tube has a bottom, they were perfect for tubing. They look like leggings but they’re thicker and water resistant. I also got her some thick fleece lined leggings for regular outings. These were extra cozy and warm, which was perfect for our trip (the last 2 photos here).
Let’s not forget to talk about boots! I bought her cute boots that worked out fine, but I wish I had bought her better snow boots for tubing and things like that since there was such a crazy amount of snow when we went. Here’s what I bought (first ones) and in retrospect what I would have also taken had I known better. The thicker boots would have been more comfortable in so much snow and definitely much warmer for her.
I also bought her a nicer coat for the evenings (first photo) when we dressed up a little more for dinner. It wasn’t the warmest for such extreme weather, but at night we were usually only outside for a few minutes at a time walking to and from restaurants. It was inexpensive and did the job, while looking really cute one her. Here’s two more she’s had in the past that’ are also great options, but I only brought 1 evening coat on this trip for her so I wouldn’t overpack.
For a little extra warmth, Hot Hands and Hot Feet are amazing. Imagine tiny heating pads that are heat activated and last up to 10 hours. You can adhere them to your socks (they bring adhesive) and put the hand ones inside your gloves. My daughter loved them and asked for them daily.
That rounds up everything I bought for my daughter, beyond some cute evening outfits that were just winter-ish, but nothing special for the snow. I know it’s a lot, but buy it a little bigger and plan another ski trip for the following year so you get some use out of it. Start them skiing young… you won’t regret it! Honestly I wish we had taken her sooner.
SKI TRIP RECAP
We ended up having an incredible trip that we will never forget. I always make myself a little video of our experience to save for myself. I usually don’t share them because they’re a few minutes long. I ended up posting this one on my TikTok. If you want to see more of our adventure, check it out…
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