How to avoid spending a lot of money on kids gear

I’ll get straight to the point: we don’t believe you need a lot of fancy, expensive, new gear to adventure in the outdoors with kids. If you have been playing in the outdoors yourself for many years, you’ve probably splurged on some good quality clothing or the lightest pack available, but your intention was most likely to use it for the next 10-20 years. For example, I still have the Whisperlite stove I used hiking the Appalachian Trail over 20 years ago, and it still works great. But kids grow quickly and (unless you have a teenager) the gear probably won’t fit them in a few years, so it’s usually not worth it to buy them expensive gear.

Our recommendation is to use hand-me-downs and second-hand gear whenever possible or find deals at end of season sales or discount websites. This is why it is our philosophy on this website to share the types of things to look for in gear for kids rather than the exact brand name because you can’t predict what your friend will give you or what you’ll find at a discount. If you understand what characteristics matter to you, then you can decide which characteristics to compromise on and if the discount gear will work for you.

We believe in saving your money to buy new stuff in cases where you can’t find a used item, where the item is specialized or a safety item, when you know you’ll use it a lot and pass it on to your other kids, or when you know that a certain feature is really important for your family.

Examples of new items we’ve bought:

• Helmets (safety items)
• Good quality mittens that cinched onto kids wrists well, after we got one amazing hand-me-down pair that was better than anything we’d had before, and since we ski so much
• Snow pants one winter when we didn’t have anything used in that size

Here are some tips on where to get used or discount items (and I’ll keep adding to this list as I get more suggestions):

• Skiing:
  • Look for places that do season ski leases, like Any Mountain or Sports Basement
  • If you’re on a team, find out where the team goes (for example Granite Chief in Truckee outfits many of the teams there with season leases)
  • Used gear websites like Sideline Swap
• Clothing:
  • Look for discount websites like Sierra Trading Post
  • Used clothing stores – if you don’t live in a mountain town, consider visiting a shop in a mountain town
• General:
  • Craigslist – great for expensive gear that people often only use for a year or two (like Burley trailers or Piccolos)
  • Look for discounts at the end of the season
  • Remember that certain companies have annual sales (such as REI’s 20% off one item at the anniversary sale in May) and make bigger purchases, like sleeping bags then.
  • If you’re a member of the American Alpine Club there are great gear and clothing discounts, including Patagonia
  • Give the special gear for birthday or holiday presents
  • Pass down your good stuff to friends – share the gear!

Go have fun out there with your kids, and don’t spend a lot of money doing it!

Helmet: used race helmet from a friend so we know the history of it
Goggles: new (we usually wear them until they fall apart)
Jacket: hand-me-down
Pants: hand-me-down
Poles: new (cheap)
Gloves: hand-me-down
​Skis/boots: Any Mountain season rental

Photo credit: R. Murphy

Thanks to RM, TM, and KR for the hand-me-downs!