After an unusually temperate fall, winter just snuck up on us, bringing with it lots of snow much earlier in the season than years past. I’ve always winged it when it came to snow gear for the kids because it was easy to do activities indoors when we just had Charlie. Last year it was easy to stick Olive in a snowsuit bunting like this when she was still crawling. Since it covered her hands and feet, I didn’t even need gloves or snow boots.

But now that we have two kids that love playing in the snow, and we recently moved close to a park where we can sled, it was time to get serious about winter gear for them. We’ve already had a number of snowfalls, and they haven’t been able to play in the snow for very long because they didn’t have waterproof gloves. But now we’re all set to play in the cold weather!


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1) Hat – When you wear a puffy jacket for 6 months out of the year, a colorful hat is one of the few ways to make outfits a little more fun. I buy them everywhere from street vendors to Target to Old Navy. Old Navy really has a great selection every year! I also like to buy one special hat, and this year I got these animal hat scarves from the holiday markets in Union Square (they were much more affordable there than they are online). You can see Charlie and Olive wearing them here. I got Charlie the wolf and Olive the panda, but I should have gotten Olive something in a darker color because it’s already dirty! You can use the arms as a scarf, and the ends have built-in paw mittens! They’re also available without the scarf/mittens. For a more affordable alternative, Amazon carries this polar bear hat for $7. It’s not knitted like the ones in the guide, but it’s still super cute!

2) Infinity scarf/snood – I’ve found these much easier to keep on the kids than a regular scarf. Zara usually carries them, and you can find adorable hand knitted ones on Etsy.

3) Wool socks – Charlie had been complaining that his legs were cold on our walks to school. I didn’t want to put him in thermal underwear because it’s very warm inside the school, and it makes it harder to go to the bathroom to have to deal with an additional layer. So I bought him some long wool socks that come up to his knees. Since Olive’s pants are a lot more fitted, I got her some legwarmers to wear over her pants.

4) Puffy Jacket – A puffy jacket is the warmest jacket and something we wear for 6 months out of the year. We usually have two per kid so that one is available when one is in the wash.

5) Hand warmers – Even when you wear waterproof gloves, your hands get cold pretty quickly when you’re playing in the snow. I got a pack of these hand warmers so Charlie and Olive’s hands can stay toasty while they’re building snowmen.

6) Winter pants – These lined cargo pants are great winter-weight pants. They are extra thick, there are no buttons or zippers to deal with at the waist, and they have zippers at the ankles so you can fit them over snow boots, rain boots, uggs.

7) Snow pants – I got these super inexpensive snow pants from Old Navy for the kids to play in the snow.

8) Waterproof gloves – Snowstoppers seemed to be popular, but they also had mixed reviews about being difficult to put on. So I went with Dakine gloves for Olive and these N’ice gloves for Charlie.

9) Snow Boots – Snow boots are a must when playing in the snow because you have to keep your feet dry to stay warm. I bought these Sorel boots for Charlie off ebay one size large so that he can hopefully wear it for 2 years and then pass it down to Olive for 2 years. Snow boots don’t get a ton of use so they’re easy to buy in great used condition. I bought practically new Kamiks for Olive off my local parenting listserv.

10) Mittens – Waterproof mittens don’t allow a lot of mobility, so for daily use I like mittens. These bear hand mittens are adorable!

11) Thermal underwear – Since we have two active kids, we pretty much have to go outside every day no matter how cold it is. Thermal underwear is great for those extra cold days and for days when they play in the snow.

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Check out a previous winter gear guide here.

What are some of your winter gear essentials for your little ones?