How to Tell Your Children They Are Going to Lapland: Reveal Ideas Families Love

There are two kinds of Lapland families: the ones who tell the children the moment the booking confirmation lands, and the ones who keep the secret all the way to the departure gate. Both are wonderful. They are also two completely different holidays for the months in between.

Our reservations team has been planning family winters for over three decades, and the reveal comes up in almost every phone call. So here is our honest guide to when to tell them, how to make the moment land, and what to do with all that energy once the secret is out.

Telling them early: anticipation is half the holiday

For children, looking forward to something is not the boring bit before the fun. It is fun. The countdown rituals, the library books about the Arctic, the increasingly technical questions about how exactly reindeer sleep: all of that becomes part of what they remember. A child who has spent six weeks preparing for Lapland steps off the plane already halfway inside the story.

Telling early tends to work best from around school age, when December is a real thing a child can hold in their head and pace themselves towards. It also unlocks one of our favourite traditions: writing the letter to Santa before you travel, knowing you are about to visit the place where letters like that are taken extremely seriously.

The airport surprise: short fuse, big bang

For younger children, time works differently. Tell a three year old in September and you have signed up for a hundred consecutive mornings of "is it Lapland today?". For toddlers and preschoolers, a few days' notice, or even the morning itself, often lands far better: all of the joy, none of the attrition.

The airport reveal is also the one that produces the videos families treasure. Just be honest with yourselves about who the surprise is really for. A two year old will be delighted but slightly unclear on the concept; the grandparents watching the video will not be. That is a perfectly good reason to do it anyway.

Reveal ideas families love

• The letter from the elves. A short letter announcing that Santa is expecting your family this December, written by you, posted through your own letterbox with a suspiciously snowy stamp. Pairs beautifully with starting their own letter back.
• The advent door. For December departures, hide the news behind the right door of the advent calendar and let them discover it themselves.
• The wrapped mittens. Wrap new thermal gloves or a woolly hat with a gift tag that says "you will need these where we are going", and let them puzzle it out.
• The departure board. For older children: say nothing, walk into Gatwick, stand under the board and ask them to find your flight. Watch their face when they reach the row that says Kittila.
• The treasure hunt. Half a dozen clues around the house, each one slightly more Arctic than the last, ending at a packed suitcase with the booking confirmation on top.

Match the timing to the age

Ages 2 to 4: days, not weeks. Keep it simple and concrete: snow, huskies, Santa. Ages 5 to 8: a few weeks of countdown is the sweet spot, long enough to savour, short enough not to wear through. This is peak paper-chain territory. Ages 9 to 12: tell them early and involve them in the planning itself. On our 4-night breaks there is room for optional extra activities, and letting an older child help choose is a lovely way to make the trip partly theirs.

Once the secret is out

Channel it. Write the letter to Santa together at the kitchen table. Learn three facts about huskies and three about the northern lights. Let them pack their own hand luggage against our Arctic packing list and negotiate hard about which soft toy gets the window seat. The weeks of anticipation are not a waiting room before the holiday; handled well, they are the first chapter of it.

Frequently asked questions

Should we book before or after telling the children?

Book first, every time. Departures are limited and some 2026 dates are already fully booked, so secure the trip quietly, then choose your moment with the confirmation safely in hand.

What if they find out early?

Nothing is ruined. Swap the big reveal for a big countdown: mark the calendar together that evening and give them a job, like chief packing officer or head of reindeer research. The energy goes to the same place.

Is a surprise worth it for a two year old?

Truthfully, the moment itself will mostly wash over them, and that is fine. Do the reveal for the video and the grandparents, then focus the real magic on the trip itself, where a two year old needs no explanation at all.

Ready to have something worth revealing? Have a look at our 2026 departures, or request a quote and we will build the trip around your family before anyone breathes a word.