Fun, Frugal, Family March Break!
March 3, 2011
Yup we’re excited! We’re going on a ski holiday in Quebec for March Break! As a skier myself I’ve been itching to take the kids for years, but my eldest daughter never really expressed any interest, now that the boys are 8, 6 & 4 they are excited to learn and she’s ready to give it another try!
We knew we wanted to try and do something fun this March Break as the past few years, we’ve only done a quick weekend trip. So when I was mentioning this to another friend she suggested we head to their cottage in Knowlton, Quebec for the week with them and their son who’s 6. There’s many ski hills surrounding that area and a nice way to disconnect from all of our “screens” after a super long winter here in NB!
So you may be asking how can this be frugal? Skiing isn’t cheap, the price of gas is astronomical right now. It takes some prep, but it can be done! Luckily my friend is super frugal like me and we’ve been planning for a couple of weeks.
Here’s how we’re saving on a few things:
Ski Equipment- browse your local online classifieds like kijiji.ca. It turns out that somehow I ended up donating 3 pairs of our ski boots last year when we lost our storage room. I found replacement boots for myself and one of the kids for a steal. Had I started looking a little earlier I probably could have outfitted everyone. Buying second hand also makes me happy as this is the greener way to go as well!
Outerwear- Finn needed a new snowsuit and he’s at an awkward size, 4 is a bit too small and 6 is too big, most places have an abundance of these sizes, but 5 is harder to come by. I found a beautiful ski suit (pants & matching jacket) for him at Value Village in a size 5! (see photo above) It’s in amazing condition and has lots of cool features including a lift ticket holder that slides in and out, and the inside pocket even has a microfibre cloth for cleaning ski goggles! All for the price of $10. I also picked up a really nice Columbia jacket for myself there that was $20, which is a bit more than I usually would spend, but I knew my nextdoor neighbour had the matching pink pants that I could borrow.
End of Season Sales- They’re everywhere right now! I managed to get each of the kids ski helmets ranging in price from $23-$35. This is something I’d prefer to buy new as you just don’t know the history. I also got some great Head ski gloves at Costco for $6.97 on clearance.
Gas- So how do you save on gas? You drive through Maine! Gas there is still at a high, but not as much as here or Quebec plus with our high Canadian dollar it makes it worth while. We’ll fill up on the US side of the border each way!
Food- Since we’re driving through the US we’ll make a stop at a grocery store with our meal plan in hand, plus it’s pretty fun to grocery shop down there as there’s many unique items you can’t find here. We’ll be planning things that we can easily have leftovers the next day to be able to make sandwiches and wraps to take to the ski hill instead of having to buy everything there! We’re also bringing a couple of slow cookers to make some meals while we’re out skiing. Of course our favourite Memphis Rotisserie-Style Chicken is included!
Skiing- We have already been checking out the deals and one ski hill (Owl’s Head) in the area has $15 lift tickets on Tuesday and Wednesday and another has discounted tickets for the Family Zone of the hill, which is where I’m guessing I’ll be spending the better part of my days!
This will be my first time skiing with kids, so any tips will be welcomed!
