We are always looking for a nice way to spend a winter evening. Our three boys get pretty stir crazy being in the house all the time, so we decided to try ice skating. If you totalled up the number of times we’ve been, it would add to less than ten. In fact, Mom and our youngest have never been on ice skates at all!
Our rink of choice was the Peaks Ice Arena in Provo, which was an Olympic Venue in 2002. We chose this rink for the family night price. We paid $25 for a family pass, which included skate rentals. We also rented an “ice skater trainer” for our youngest for an additional $5. This is the equivalent of one of those walkers old people use so they don’t fall down, but it is used on the ice.
Our boys loved ice skating, and though it was busy, the ice was nice. Mom took to skating like a pro, probably because she is an old rollerblade fanatic. Our oldest (age 11) picked it up pretty fast, too. The eight year-old took some serious falls, but luckily he had excellent padding. The youngest (age 5) used the walker, but he didn’t like ice skating much. He said it was too difficult.
There was a nice “Ice Monitor” who was trying to help everyone who was struggling on the ice. He stopped to help our younger kids quite a few times. We watched him skate around the rink, picking people up, and trying to give them a few tips on how to skate.
Peaks Ice Arena has a few different public skate times. Monday nights are family nights for $25 for up to 6 people, and for our family of 5, this is the best deal we found. The prices are a little higher if you go a different night. Check the calendar to see what times they are open before you go.
There are a lot of places to skate around Utah, some indoors, like the Provo Peaks Arena, and some outdoors. We might need to try them all!
Tips for Families
- Arrive early. We arrived at 6:45 and we were able to pay, and get our skates on, so we were ready to go right at 7:00 pm. The line was really long at 7:00 because a bunch of college students arrived, so we were glad we came early.
- Bring water and snacks. Our boys were dying of thirst after skating around. It is an aerobic activity. We wished we had brought some water bottles. You can bring in water and snacks.
- Wear double socks. We always wear two pairs of socks. That way the skates don’t rub on our ankles or toes and give us blisters.
- Wear gloves. Especially the kids! Whenever you fall, you touch the ice, so you will want gloves covering those fingers.
- Wear a light jacket. It is a little chilly on the ice, but not freezing since you are inside. We wore coats, and we were sweating by the end. We recommend a light jacket or sweatshirt.
- Have kids wear a hat. We were glad our kids had hats on since they keep falling, so we hoped the hats would at least give them a little softer fall if their head every did hit the ice. Mom and Dad had hats on at first, but we took ours off half way through since we were getting hot!
