Choosing your Sled

Well last night we heard the news...6-12 inches of snow. I knew we had a problem. At the end of the season last year, our plastic sleds were in shambles and my Western Flyer from my childhood has rusted runners and I need to sand it and wax it. Plus with the type of snow we often get here, it is hard to use that Western Flyer.

So off I went to Toys 'R Us. I went in, hurrying while the kids were at Awanas and prepared to ask the first cashier I saw to direct me to the sled, even though I was afraid they may not have any this early in the Virginia Season. However, there was no need to ask. The first thing to catch my eye was a prominent display of hats and gloves just right for winter weather. Then on the wall to the right there I found several types of sleds.

There were tube types like you could use at a ski resort or in a nice backyard, I suppose. There were round types, but they always remind me of Christmas Vacation and they seem a bit unsafe. Then I saw one that was very light. The bottom was slick and the 'sled' was made of styrofoam. I checked the price...24.99 (for styrofoam!) And then I read the warning on the front about how it shouldn't be used on icy situations as it would go to fast and was uncontrollable. Back went that one.

Then there was a nice plastic sled with a rope (easy to pull back up the hill) and it claims it is designed so that the rider can steer it and brake it) 19.99. Okay, that seems a bit more reasonable. At least I feel like I would be getting what I was paying for and it held two people. It even had "runner's" on the bottom, but was shallow, perfect for the ice sledding we get around here. Still...what if we had just a little snow as we often do...I wondered if this would work.

So I looked on the shelf one more time. There was a rolled up piece of heavy plastic. The picture on the side showed a child sitting on the plastic and holding on to two handles on the front. It looked easily controllable and it claimed you could use it on grass, sand and snow. The price was 4.99. This was definitely a must have and it's roll up size means less storage space required!

I purchased the 19.99 sled and two of the rolled up sleds and hoped I was making the right choice. My children (8 and 5) were thrilled when I pulled them out of the trunk last night.

Today, the snow finally started to fall and the 6 inches ended up being less than 2, but we had a blast. Those rolled up pieces of plastic have done better than anything we have used. They go fast enough to thrill the kids, but are easily stopped. And even when they wore the snow down so that the grass was showing, they still went. Tomorrow morning we are going to try the 19.99 sled on the frozen snow. We'll let you know how it goes!

Happy Sledding!

Photo 1910 historical photo from Denver Co