what to WEAR to Big Bear? snow?

Good luck with this...

The most important layers are what you wear closest to your skin. You need leggings, which you can just wear under a regular pair of jeans. It makes a huge difference. Also, you should always wear a cami or tight fighting tank top - one that has spandex in it - under all your shirts. This tight-fitting first layer will help you retain your body heat better. After that, just layer clothing. Wear a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, and then a winter jacket. I know winter jackets are expensive, but this is the one winter clothing item you can't skimp on. Can you borrow someone else's? You can make do without anything else as long as you have a winter jacket.

I personally can't survive without my scarf but it's up to you. If you think you need one (I'd buy one to be on the safe side), just go to Old Navy or Gap. They sell pretty warm scarves, and since they are clearing their inventories to make way for spring clothes, the scarves/winter accessories are on sale. I don't use mittens. I just keep my hands in my jacket pockets, and it works out pretty well. But, again, Old Navy and Gap have gloves on sale right now.

Most important is a change of clothes, including socks and shoes. Dress in layers. You're not going to the north pole so the whole-body snow coverings is optional. Just went sledding in Flagstaff and wore: Long-johns, sweats, jeans as my layers. I also wore my high-top hiking boots... not an expensive pair either - they cost about $40 at Wal-Mart, and some basic gloves. For the baby, be sure to use muffs if they'll stay on, or a wool-style cap with ear flaps that you can tie under the chin. Also, a good lip balm with sunblock because though it's cold you can easily get sun burned. Mary Kay's brand of lip balm is awesome. By the way, Wal-Mart sells great sleds with hard plastic bottoms. They're shaped like peanuts. Very fast -- watch out for the trees! Have fun - Your kids will love it.

Big Bear Clothing

If you don't mind using second hand clothing, there's a lot of 2nd hand clothing stores around Los Angeles and Burbank area. it's the wisest thing everybody should do. I found quite a few in Goodwill stores and out of the closet. Burbank in particular, studios always unloads assortment of clothing used in sets.

Whatever you feel the most comfortable in would let him notice that you're laid back and self-confident, and that is clearly a turn on for guys

It really depends upon the weather for me. Within the fall I like to wear longer skirts and in the wintertime I wear longer ones with my boots, but in the spring and summer I favor to wear short summer dresses.

When my husband and I first moved to Chicago we were broke and trying to get good winter clothing so we splurged and spent about $250 each on winter stuff. You don't need to do this despite what anyone tells you. Basically, since you don't live in a cold climate you won't want to spend more than probably $50 to get some warm winter clothes. Yes, this means you will probably have to skimp on the 'style' (like hot pink or some other 90s styles) but there is no reason you will need to skimp on the functionality. Especially for only 4 days. Here's the basics of what you need, all of which can EASILY be found at a second hand store (especially Salvation Army stores). This is a great time of year to go looking for these as well because people are cleaning out their closets. Sometimes you can even find stuff with the tags still on them.

You will need (to be comfortable):

long underwear - these you should buy new or in the original packaging from Ebay for cheap. If you've got leggings and a long shirt you can subsititue so long as they are thin enough to go under your jeans.

pants - jeans work just fine unless you're 5 and planning on rolling around in the snow or going skiing. since you're broke you probably won't be doing either, so just use what you've got already.

boots - if you've got hiking boots, you'll be fine. Actually, if you bring extra pairs of tennis shoes to wear when you get them soaked you'll probably be OK with whatever you would normally wear. Just double-layer your socks. For a short term trip boots are not a necessary investment.

Scarf - if you've got anything like this, it will work. If not, have everyone going pitch in to buy a yard of flannel/felt (about $3 at JoAnn Fabric) and cut it into scarves. it's important to have something, but not horribly important what.

Mittens - go to Big Lots and get some gloves there for like $5. If you were moving to Big Bear, it'd be worth investing, but since not just get whatever fits. Alternatively you can sometimes find these at Goodwill or Salvation Army although not usually (they loose their mates). Gloves are better than mittens, which are only really necessary when skiing or doing winter sports that are extreamly cold.

Jacket - this is very important, but here's what you can do to make it better: buy or use your winter coat you would use in your normal climate. Under that wear a hooded sweatshirt over your shirt over your long underwear. Once again, unless you're planning on spending hours doing winter sports you should be just fine. My hubby is very prone to cold and was able to survive with this.

Big Bear is a fun place. make sure to check out all the things to do there at http://www.kango.com/things_to_do/big_bear_lake_ca...

Happy Trip!

-Kango Traveler

http://www.kango.com/