Finland: Christmas for Thanksgiving

Everything about Rovaniemi, Finland, is magical. It’s the only word for it. This short three-day trip was worth every penny for us. When you step off the plane and enter the airport to collect your bags, there is a Santa sled and eight tiny reindeer overhead. Luckily, we were there over Thanksgiving break in 2017. I was just a few months pregnant with our baby girl – big enough to not fit in the snow pants I had just bought, but luckily not big enough to not fit into my husband’s snow pants. My poor husband ended up wearing two pairs of sweatpants for the rest of the trip to keep his pregnant wife happy, warm, and dry. But I digress – the reason we were so lucky is that our friends went around Thanksgiving in a year there was no snow. For us, there was ALL the snow. And it. was. magical.

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We had decided to take this trip in 2017 because we knew our boys would be at a great age for it. They were 5, 6, and 8. Our oldest was just barely still a believer – while we don’t actively tell any Santa lies, we don’t discourage it either. I am a Christmas baby (for real, it’s my birthday) and I love all things Christmas. So for us, going to Rovaniemi just seemed like a really obvious choice. The boys had not seen snow in quite some time, so they were captivated from the time we landed in Finland.

We stayed in Santa’s Holiday village; in the cottages that are divided into two sides. We had both sides because there were five of us, and there was plenty of space of for us to spread out. This also meant we had access to two saunas – which seemed like a really great idea until I was pregnant. As much as I mourned missing out on an in-house sauna, it was handy for drying things and warming the kids briefly after snow time. The cottages also come with drying closets; I really think every wintery climate should get on board with the drying closets. It made the wet snow clothes so much less of an inconvenience. Santa’s village also provides small sleds FOR FREE, so you can basically just pull your kids around everywhere you go. The boys were totally thrilled about this, as you can see.

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We ended up choosing just a few adventures since we were only there for three days: we went with the reindeer sled ride, the Artic crossing ceremony, and a Santa visit. You can wait and book those on site, but I would recommend doing it beforehand if you have strong feelings about which experiences you want. The resort will give you Artic-friendly snow gear for these adventures, but you’ll still probably need standard snow gear to get around. We outfitted the whole family with snow gear for our trip at Decathlon for less than 500 euros. The reindeer sled ride was easily our favorite outing. The boys got to pet the reindeer and the sleds were big enough to accomodate the two littler boys and I, Bob and our oldest were in another sled. The reindeer sled guide noted our sons’ snow boots probably weren’t high enough for the weather, but it all worked out okay. During the reindeer ride, we also got blankets in the sled. At the end of the ride, you go into the lodge for a toasty fire and some hot tea – fruity and delicious.

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If we had it to do over again, we might have skipped the crossing ceremony. You can buy the certificates at the Post Office (which we did not know ahead of time), but the boys did get to hear some interesting legends. Also, be sure to stop in the Post Office to send some postcards from the North Pole. We brought one home and also mailed a few, including one to ourselves. The stamp is totally worth the price of postage.

Our visit with Santa was also quite wonderful. He spoke excellent English, and even quizzed our boys on their German. We got a very expensive photo that didn’t turn out super well (in my opinion) – but it’s all part of the magical experience. The gift shop in Santa’s office was easily the best place on the resort to buy souvenirs so definitely don’t miss that.

There are other activities to choose that we didn’t partake in because of the number of our children and their ages. I didn’t hear great things about the sled dog ride from the others we met who had done that but have no first-hand experience to offer. You can also do a northern lights tour, but the middle of the night wasn’t when we wanted to be out with the kids and the nights really weren’t clear. The best time of the year to chase the northern lights is September, so keep that in mind if it is what interests you. The resort is incredibly well lit, so even the long hours of darkness were never an issue for us.

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If you stay at the village, you get breakfast – it’s timed entrance to avoid an overload and served buffet style. For us, that meant the kids had lots of friendly choices and we could choose to try some Finnish breakfast items as well. There were also made-to-order omelets, which were extremely delicious. There are a quite a few choices for places to eat in the village. We did a couple sit down meals at the Three Elves and one at the Christmas House. We each tried the reindeer burger, but the boys opted for chicken fingers. To each their own…. We also enjoyed lots of treats from the stores in the village. There are a range of local handicrafts and Finnish products available from the mall-like structure that sits on the village grounds. Once it gets dark, the area outside the mall is lit up like a festival, and is an excellent place for the kids to sled or hang out.

Although we were there for only 3 days, this was the boys’ favorite trip until we went to Bali. They talked about it for months afterward, which is definitely a sign that we got things right. Although I’m sure it’s fun to go with older kids too, there’s something magical about your little kids being face-to-face with Santa. And, of course, there’s all that snow…..