Ski Gear for 2.5 Year Old

We had a Helly Hansen snowsuit for them, but they are pricey too. Just do layers so that you can add or take stuff off. The snowsuit we had had little loops on the sleeves and the mittens had a plastic hook thingy (I don't know what it is called) but it was so that you can either hook the two gloves together or hook the gloves to the sleeves, which I thought was brilliant.
It may not be worth the money to buy ski equipment for the little one. I would try to get some second hand gear for him. Also, when you do your calculations to figure out if it's worthwile to buy or not, keep in mind that you can probably sell that stuff after you're done with it. I bought my son some ski boots when he was around 2 and he wore them 1x and then they were already too small.

We rent boards and boots for the season (helmet we just use his skate helmet that gets used for everything; bikes, skating, snowboarding, etc. Helmets fit for years and buying a good one is just soooo worth it.) Not a big fan of waiting in line for daily rentals, I like boots on at the car, and the lifts start up before the rental shop opens (riddle me THAT?).

But it really depends on how often you're going. Here, a season rental is only about 150 (full kit) and daily rental is 40. If you're going up 4 times, a season (nov-apr) is worth it (we're up 3x-5x a week). If NOT, then it's a Q of whether not standing in line is worth the extra cash. NO IDEA what daily and season rentals are in your area.

As far as boots and boards or skis go... they outgrow those FAST. We've even had to switch sizes midseason (where we rent, we can change up).

In our area there are a LOT of ski and snowboard "swaps"... where parents bring their kids' used clothes and equipment to sell for rock bottom prices and to buy "new" (aka someone else's used) gear for rock bottom prices. Round here, though, that usually happens in October.

Clothingwise... we spend a lot (I always seem to miss the swaps!!! Someone has the stomach flu, or I'm behind on a paper). The wateproofing on kid gear is practically nonexistant (:P) and that can make or break a day. So we tekwash on our gear all the time (instead of regular detergent; to help maintain the waterproofing and breathability), AND rewaterproof it fairly regularly. As far as brands? Burton, O.R., Northface. None cheap. All great.

Our kids used LLBean snowsuits at that age. We lived in Alaska and if the day was very cold we put them in patagonia long underwear, fleece pants and top, and then the snowsuit. I found online these mittens for young kids where the "arm shaft" went all the way up to their elbows and these were the only ones that ever stayed on. I'm sure you can google that and find it. We had gotten hand me down skis from a friend, but if I were you I would just rent. The wee ski school in Juneau was great - they would give the kids hand warmers for inside their mittens and they would take them in for hot cocoa breaks. :)

REI has an excellent line of outerwear for kids (and adults too!). My son wore them through 2 New England holidays and a Kentucky snowy Thanksgiving and stayed nice and dry.

They have clips for gloves.

Whenever I rent ski's, I rent for a period of time, so I don't have to turn them in every day.

We're thinking of taking our 3 year old skiing this winter, I was lucky and was able to borrow skiis from a friend. Most people tell me they rent for the season as it's much cheaper then always switching sizes.

My son has snow pants from LLBean, (cold buster bibs) I got them for 30% off during one of their sales. They're very waterproof, I know because we had snow a few weeks ago and he was outside rolling around in a puddle, he was completely dry when I took them off. They make a snowsuit that would probably be the best thing.

As for mittens that stay on, try snowstoppers mittens. Google them, my son has a pair and they do not come off but are a little tough to get on...but what mittens aren't on a toddler.