On a ski trip with friends, the questions before you leave are what decide it: who's definitely coming, who pays for what, who cooks? Sort those out first, and on Saturday night you'll have time for the thing everyone came for.
Last updated: 12 September 2026
What is a self-catered chalet weekend?
A weekend, usually Friday to Sunday, when a group rents a chalet together – in winter often a self-catered chalet near a ski resort. The shopping, cooking and partying are done together, and the group splits the costs.
💡 By the way: for Saturday night there's our Party Bundle L (Hausparty) – a Shotski with six spots, an ice luge and twelve shot glasses in one box.
Ski trip with friends: five things that keep it relaxed
Five things decide whether the weekend runs smoothly or ends in arguments:
- Book early: good group chalets for the winter are often gone six to nine months ahead.
- Get a firm yes: with a deposit, before the chalet is booked – a thumbs-up in the group chat isn't enough.
- One kitty: one person collects the money and pays the bills, everyone else transfers their share.
- Cooking teams: every meal has a team, every day has a washing-up team.
- One planned Saturday night: the one fixed point in an otherwise free weekend.
Choosing the chalet: self-catered or catered
For a group of friends in winter, a self-catered chalet is usually the best choice: your own kitchen, your own living room, your own rules. A catered chalet takes the cooking off your hands, but you eat at set times and fit in with the chalet's schedule.
When you compare chalets, four things count: enough proper beds without extra ones squeezed in, an approach road that still works in snow, a kitchen where two people can cook at the same time – and the freezer compartment. Ask about it when you book. A small one above the fridge is enough for the ice luge from the Party Bundle L – as long as it isn't packed to the top with ice cubes.
At half-term and Christmas, many chalets only let by the week, Saturday to Saturday. If you really only want a weekend, look outside the school holidays or for chalets that explicitly offer two nights.
Commitment, deposit, rooms: the awkward questions first
Most chalet weekends start to wobble because of people who haven't committed, rarely because of the weather. So before you book, sort out:
- A yes comes with a deposit: anyone who's coming transfers their share of the deposit before the chalet is booked – owners often ask for a large part of the price at the time of booking. Anyone who drops out later finds a replacement or pays their share.
- Share out the rooms fairly: couples and early risers first, then draw lots. Whoever wants the single room pays a little more into the kitty.
- One group chat, one list with everything: dates, address, rooms, cooking teams and who's bringing what – in one place, not scattered across a hundred messages.
What each person packs in their own bag is in our ski holiday packing list.
The shared kitty: splitting costs fairly
One person runs the holiday kitty, ideally with a cost-splitting app where everyone logs what they spend. Fixed costs like the chalet and the end-of-stay cleaning are split between everyone, the food shopping between those who eat. A rough example for ten people and two nights:
| Item | Group total (range) |
|---|---|
| Self-catered chalet, two nights outside the school holidays | €600–1,200 |
| End-of-stay cleaning (sometimes included) | €80–250 |
| Firewood (often included) | €20–60 |
| Tourist tax, bed linen, electricity | €50–200 |
| Food and drink | €300–500 |
| Security deposit (refunded) | €200–500 |
These are rough ranges for the 2025/26 season; in ski resorts and during the holidays the chalet costs considerably more. Bigger purchases go through the kitty and stay with the group: split ten ways, the Party Bundle costs less per head than a day's lift pass in a major Alpine resort, and it comes along every year with whoever books the chalet.
Food: cooking teams, not chaos
Nobody enjoys cooking for ten on their own. So give each meal to a team of two or three, who also plan the shopping for it. Dishes from a big pot or an oven dish have proved their worth – chilli, tartiflette, goulash – plus a raclette night. What else fits in the big pot is in our guide to apres ski food.
Mulled wine can go straight into the ski boot glass – the glass and the POM binding can take the heat. The only rule: nothing hot goes down the ice luge. The luge's silicone mould can go in the oven on Sunday: the breakfast team bakes a simple cake in it while the bags are being packed upstairs. The day's washing-up team puts the glasses in the dishwasher, and the Shotski's wooden parts get a wipe with a damp cloth.
Friday to Sunday: how the weekend runs
- Friday: arrive by early evening, settle into the rooms, simple dinner. If you've brought the ice luge, put it in the freezer that same evening.
- Saturday: skiing, sledging or walking, whatever people fancy. In the afternoon a sauna or a break, in the evening the big dinner and the night together.
- Sunday: lie-in, big breakfast, tidy up by the list, leave before the traffic builds.
In between, leave room to breathe. For a Friday night with no plan, there are our apres ski party games.
The night everyone remembers: Shotski and ice luge
One planned evening is enough for the highlight of the weekend. The ice luge needs a head start for it:
- Friday, 8 pm: fill the mould with tap water, put the lid on, place it in the freezer compartment.
- Saturday morning: overnight, so after about eight hours, the ice is frozen through. It stays in the freezer until the evening.
- Saturday, 8 pm: ease the block out of the silicone – the mould can take a firm pull – turn the lid into the base, put two glasses under the spouts, pour slowly.
- Afterwards: after a good half hour the block has had it; the luge keeps pouring without the chill, and the meltwater collects in the mould.
Six people stand side by side at the Shotski, 25 cm per spot, which makes one and a half metres of wood. With twelve people you do two rounds; for eight at once, add another extension set. It can be extended as far as you like, and we recommend up to eight modules – there's more on length in our Shotski guide. If more than twelve want to go at the same time, the larger bundle variant with two skis is the right one; what comes in which size is explained in our guide to choosing an apres ski party set.
The cooking-team round gives the evening some structure: two spouts, two people from the cooking team – whoever cooked that night gets the first two glasses from the luge, then it carries on in pairs, room by room. At the Shotski, the day's washing-up team gives the countdown. What goes in the glass is up to each person, and whoever sits out a round pours for the others. The kitty also pays for the elderflower cordial, diluted with still water, because only still, cold drinks go down the ice luge. If cordial on its own gets boring, mix one of the non-alcoholic shots from our collection. The photo that gets dug out first when you plan next year's trip is taken right here.
House rules and the drive home
A few rules, agreed quickly on the first evening, save any argument on Sunday:
- Sunday's drivers are decided on Friday, not at midnight on Saturday. They stick to the elderflower cordial on Saturday and get the first coffee on Sunday in return. The body only clears alcohol slowly, roughly one unit an hour – sleep and coffee don't change that. And the drive home starts in the Alps: France, Austria and Italy allow 0.5 g of alcohol per litre of blood (50 mg per 100 ml), less than the 80 mg per 100 ml in England and Wales. In France, drivers in their first three years (on a permis probatoire) are allowed just 0.2 g/l.
- Quiet from a time everyone agrees on – early risers want to sleep, night owls stay in the living room.
- Whoever cooks doesn't wash up. The washing-up team is a different one.
- Rubbish gets sorted the same evening, not in the Sunday rush.
- Sledges and skis are done for the day: anyone who still wants to go sledging or skiing after the evening in the chalet does it tomorrow morning.
Countdown: from booking to departure
- When you book: collect commitments and deposits, and only then sign.
- Eight weeks before: allocate the rooms, collect the remaining balances – the final payment to the owner is often due four weeks before arrival.
- Four weeks before: fix the cooking teams and menu, sort out travel and car shares.
- Two weeks before: numbers are final. If a thirteenth person says yes, add four ski boot shot glasses with bindings – in their bindings they stand securely on the living-room table, even without the ski.
- One week before: hand out the shopping list, pack the group box, check the weather and road conditions.
And whoever organised the chalet gets one of these sets on Sunday as a thank-you.
Frequently asked questions
How do you plan a ski trip with friends?
Book early, collect commitments with deposits before you book, run a shared kitty and assign cooking teams. Add one fixed Saturday night – the rest of the weekend stays free.
How do you split the costs fairly?
Fixed costs like the chalet and end-of-stay cleaning between everyone, food shopping between those who eat. One person runs the holiday kitty, most easily with a cost-splitting app.
What goes on the shopping list for a chalet weekend?
Ingredients for the cooking teams' dishes, breakfast, snacks, drinks, coffee and basics like salt, oil and dishwasher tablets – many chalets don't have them.
How big should the group be?
Six to twelve people is ideal: big enough for a good atmosphere, small enough for one kitchen and one table. Beyond that, a second chalet or a larger group house is worth it.
How far ahead should you book the chalet?
For weekends in peak season often six to nine months ahead, but at least three months. At half-term and Christmas many chalets only let by the week, Saturday to Saturday; a weekend is then easier to get outside the school holidays, and there you can also book at shorter notice.
What are good things to do in the evening on a ski trip with friends?
Whether you call it a chalet weekend or a cabin trip with friends: cook together, play cards, hit the sauna. For Saturday night a fixed highlight is worth planning, such as a round at the Shotski and the ice luge – with or without alcohol, however each person likes.
Sources: day pass prices for the 2025/26 season from bergwelten.com (Austria) and the Val Thorens tariff sheet (valthorens.com); booking lead times, minimum stays and final payments from gruppenurlaub-holland.de and berghuetten.com; extra costs of self-catered chalets from mondial-reisen.com, rabensteiner-huette.de and lodgify.com (tourist tax in Austria 2026); alcohol units from nhs.uk; drink-drive limits from gov.uk (England and Wales), securite-routiere.gouv.fr (France) and etsc.eu (Austria, Italy). As of: September 2026.