Winter Gear for DS

Columbia...http://www.columbiasportswear.com

ebay - you can get North Face, Columbia, Xtreme and more for reasonable prices...and yes...on ebay you can get things that are new with tags...(NWT)

Layers are really important as well as extra gloves...bring newspapers with you to shove into the wet gloves at night to help them dry out....

Waterproof boots...bibs...extra socks....

DO NOT buy ski boots for him...he will outgrow them...rent them

I would call the resort you are going to and ask for their sports shop and find out how much rentals are.

You live in NY, right? So dress like you would for NYC - layers. Thermals are always a nice option. Plenty of socks. He might get blisters his first time out so make sure you have band aids and Tylenol as he will be using muscles he hasn't used before.

Have fun!

I would check a sporting goods store that rents skiis & ask about their
clothing rentals.
Key items are ski pants so when they fall they don't get wet & a ski
jacket.
THEN dress them in layers with hopefully the first layer being either a
wet wick material (keeps wetness away from the body) or a short sleeve
shirt with a thermal over it.
And DEFINITELY wool socks. They keep your feet warm which is the 1st
thing besides fingers (so ski gloves, too) to get cold. Cold feet & fingers
make you miserable.
Beanie.

So warm socks & gloves, dress in layers, winter outer gear for snow (pants & jacket).

Remember the sunblock for faces. If it's sunny it reflects off the snow &
you can get a nasty sunburn.

Get handwarmers for pockets. They have mini ones @ sporting goods
stores like Big 5 etc.

Take 2 big thermoses of hot cocoa.

Bring some blankets, bars for snacks, water jugs in case God forbid you
break down. Have a fun, safe trip!

LLBean is doing 20 % off on kids winter gear right now. Just ordered my son a new ski jacket and snow pants. Their quality and customer service is very good. I usually get 2 years out of winter jackets for my kids, luckily everything my oldest grows out of my youngest is able to wear. I also bought my kid's ski helmets at Llbean, they're GIRO brand. I use the LLbean visa and get free shipping both ways, if something doesn't fit it's so easy to ship back.

Lands End also have very good jackets but I went with Llbean because I wanted a jacket with a powder cuff- so snow doesn't go up inside their coat when they slide down the mountain.

Any of your sporting stores should have all the gear he needs. If he is sitting idle, he will get cold, if he is skiing or boarding, he will be warm.

I am not sure of your temperatures and amount of sunshine. Here we can get lucky and ski/board with the sun shinning, in which case, the kids will board in shorts and a pull over.

On a cold day, I wear silk type long johns, board pants, a shirt, a pull over, and a jacket. There are specific ski socks which are warmer than regular socks. No need to double the socks. There are neck gators that I also wear on a cold day. I can pull that around my neck and up over my chin & mouth. Then one of the most important things is keeping the head warm. You want to be sure he has a good fitting beanie. And of course the gloves. He will need ski gloves. The mitten type are warmer because the warmth of the fingers touching each other is better than separating the fingers. One more thing he will need is a pair of goggles if it snows and just sun glasses if the day is nice.

You should be able to find this stuff at Big 5, Sports Authority, Sports Chalet, or any other local store. We have plenty of ski gear even though we only have one mountain and it is about 20 miles from the last neighboring area.

Welcome to winter! What a fun trip planned:). Many people like many different brands. When my son was young, we had good luck with Target brand bib snowwpants with layers underneath. He didn't like long underwear (I suggest duofold) so I put him in flannel lounge pants with sweatpants for the bottoms. Jackets were different with the zippers breaking. We had good luck with Columbia (outlets store/online clearance), L.L. Bean or Spyder. Check out Dick's Sporting Good Store or Sierra Trading Post. Wool socks-a must. Hat-anything, however if you are having him wear a helmet, make sure the hat is a flat one to get a good fit for the helmet. Cold/wet hands were the worst. I think the company is called Hesta, who even has wrist cuffs to keep them attached to your kid. Otherwise Burton gloves. Sometimes my son would just wear mittens from Target with a those cheap thin gloves inside the mitten. He would also wear a bandana across his face when it was really cold out. Just some ideas....Safe travels.

Sometimes sporting goods stores will rent them, call around to the different ones in your town or city.

We only took the kids skiing once or twice a year so I always hit the consignment shops first. But we have a few very nice ones, with really high end, barely used stuff, do you not have anything like that? Otherwise I would hit a local outdoor/sporting goods store, like REI, Big 5, Sports Authority, whatever you have there. I wouldn't buy ski stuff online, you really need to see how it fits. I always bought their ski bibs (pants) and jackets on the big side, so they could wear them for a few winters. Goggles ARE essential, as are warm, well fitting gloves and a beanie cap. My kids just wore their regular clothes under their ski stuff, we never bought anything special there, and we always rented ski boots & skis at the resort (it was usually included in the lesson price.) Have fun!

target has some off brand underarmor long johns that are pretty good.. I would have him wear the snow pants he normally wears.. probably some nice thick socks..

1 set of clothing should be fine..

Our town's parent group sponsors a ski exchange. It's for equipment primarily but it would include goggles and mittens and ski pants too. Kids outgrow stuff before they wear it out. Look around and see if there's anything similar. I'm not sure why you say second hand is "out of the question" - is that because you have no resale shops near you, or because your family won't consider it? Also, around here, resale shops often have new items (with tags still attached) because someone bought something or received something as a gift that they never used.

If you are putting 4-6 year olds in full day ski school, be prepared that they need to get out of all those clothes periodically to go to the bathroom as well as eat lunch, so the clothes need to be easy to remove and well labeled. So you need some "spare parts" because kids will lose their goggles & mittens, and the instructors don't know the kids well enough to keep track of their stuff.

Layers are usually the best way to go to prepare for a variety of weather conditions. If weather is really foul, I doubt that kids that age are going to be so amenable to being on the slopes for long periods of time. Can you find out if they have dryers available during the lunch break?

I wouldn't break the bank on this until you know for sure that your kid is really going to enjoy this sport as much as you hope. It's an expensive sport, as you know, with lessons and lift tickets and resort/mountain fees, even before you add in the skis and the clothing.