hi! we are going to levi on 4th dec for 7 nights and taking our two young children, one will be 4 in january and our youngest is only 15 months. My husband and i went to ruka last december and didn%26#39;t find it as cold as expected, we enjoyed every second of it and couldn%26#39;t wait to go back, this time with the kids so we chose a more family friendly resort this year. We have done as much research as possible and have bought all the appropriate gear for the kids and also have car hire so we can go places in our own time to fit in with their needs, i even found a website that does %26#39;baby friendly%26#39; trips to lapland so i wasn%26#39;t to worried about the little one. However, recently i have read some things on various forums about it being far to cold for young children and not suitible, now i%26#39;m panicking instead of looking forward to it! any advice and tips about taking babies to lapland would be appreciated. thanks!
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Hi,
I believe that temperatures in Lapland can range between about -7 and -35 during this period. Having lived in Finland for a while and taken my two 3 year old twin sons there last January I would personally say go ahead and enjoy the trip. You could also be lucky and get temperatures at the upper end of this scale.
However a few practical pointers:
* Lots of thin layers are good
* Silk balaclavas (for inner headwear) and silk goves (for inner gloves) are good
* Thermal underwear for little ones can be bought on line and are excellent.
* Be guided by your children and how they feel - don%26#39;t build up your hopes of going on long treks on a snow mobile or whatever. I believe they will simply find it too cold to be outdoors for long periods.
* Sturdy footwear, although expensive, is an absolute necessity.
* Don%26#39;t let their nose run, it freezes!
* Talk about how different it will be and how they might experience ice on their eyelashes etc. In this way they can be a little prepared for different feelings.
* Plan shorter trips out that still capture the magic but give your children periods indoors to warm up.
* If they really find it too cold don%26#39;t force it, be prepared to spend time indoors with them. One day they will be older and more hardy!
Lapland is friendly, fun and very different from the UK (or Macao where I am now!) People welcome you and your children. I love it!
I hope this helps and enjoy your trip!!
Rachel
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Thankyou for taking the time to reply Rachel, the points you raised were really useful, especially the one about wiping their nose - i hadn%26#39;t thought of that!
I can%26#39;t wait to go now i think i%26#39;m more excited than my 3-year-old daughter!
kim.
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Hi, we took our two boys, aged 6.5 and 4 yrs old last year - the temp fell to -27. Points to note the 4 year old gave us NO warning of cold fingers and toes until they were very cold, and he got chilblains on his hands. Keep a really good check on fingers and toes, as even with gloves and mittens, they get cold very quickly. We found the best thing for the hands were the enourmous adult fur lined mittens, worn over their own gloves. You could try the hand warmer sachets that skiers use, but put them between glove layers, not against the skin or they will burn them. Take at least two balaclavas for each child, as they get damp and iced up when you breathe through them.Best way around the cold is to take them outside for short bursts only for a quick play in the snow. I have been to Lapland 5 times and it is totally fabulous!! Enjoy!! Rgds Val
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Thanks Val! we didn%26#39;t have any balaclavas so i%26#39;ve just ordered them now! We have plenty of hand warmers though, i think we emptied our local outdoor shop of them!
cheers again! Kim.
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Hi, I see you are back from your lapland holiday. We are due to go to Ruka in 2 weeks, how did you find it? we are taking a 3 year old and I am having trouble finding thermals etc. What about shoes I was thinking of just taking our thermal moon boots? what do you think?
Nicky
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Hi!
We had a wonderful time, the kids were fine, our 3-year-old was very whingey the first day because it was unlike anything she had experienced before, but after this she had great fun! The only other time she complained, was one day when temperatures dropped below -20, so we didn%26#39;t keep them out for long on that day. The average temerature when we were there was around
-11 our 3-year-old wore on most days, thermal underwear including longjohns, a thin long sleeved top, then a t-shirt, then a fleece-jacket and fleece jogging bottoms and last of all an all-in-one ski suit and of course gloves, we put two pairs on her, a thin pair of inner gloves and then thick ones on top, she also had a balaclava, and wore two pairs of thermal socks with snow boots.
Here are the websites that we bought our kids stuff from -
www.raindrops.co.uk
we got their thermal underwear, inner gloves, snowsuit and hats from here.
www.littletrekkers.co.uk
bought outer gloves, fleece-jacket and fleece jogging bottoms from here.
www.snowandrock.com
this is where we got their thermal socks, balaclavas and snow boots.
Hope this has been of some help, please ask if you need to know anything else. We went to Ruka last year (without kids) and it was fantastic! you will have a wonderful time!!
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Hi again!
sorry forgot to answer your question on the Moon Boots! yeah these should be fine with thermal socks underneath!
Regards, Kim.
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Fantastic
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I am just looking into disposable hand and foot warmers so she should be fine.
thank you
Nik
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Thanks for your advice on lapland we are going to Levi and staying in the Immel Mokit log cabins my kids are 9 %26amp; 12. Could you give us any advice on the trips available? My son who is 12 is quite a keen skier, do you know wether we could hire skis %26amp; boots when we get there as opposed to booking the ski package with our tour operator? which is quite costly and I dont think we will benefit from a full weeks ski package apart from the cost
Your advice on the clothing was great!
%26quot;MANY THANKS%26quot;
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Hi Kim
Thanks for your reply. Your advice is most welcome and reassuring. When you stayed in the immel mokit cabins were you self catering then? we have been offered a half board option at the K5 hotel through Inghams we just go along to the hotel for our breakfast and evening meal so I%26#39;m sure this will be fine from what you have said. Did you find the cabins quite warm? Did you have some fun making the fire?
Thanks again Kim
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