Our Winter Staycation at Montage Deer Valley

my sweater + coat + jeans + boots + beanie  ||  houston coat + pants + boots  ||  harper coat + boots + beanie

The holiday season is of course one of my very favorites! It is full of so many fun traditions and special family time, I just can’t get enough!! This year, we started what we plan to make a new tradition of taking a little winter staycation up at Montage Deer Valley. I shared all of the fun family things we did over on Instagram, and couldn’t believe all the questions we got! With how much we loved it and can’t wait to go back, I had to share all of our favorite things with you and answer all your questions! Believe me, you are gonna want to schedule your family trip asap once you hear all that they have for families!

my sweater + jeans + hat + coat + boots  ||  hunter tee + jeans + jacket + boots + beanie
hudson similar jacket + jeans  ||  harper headband + boots  ||  houston boots  ||  luggage

… THE RESORT …

If you have heard about The Montage at Deer Valley, you know how dreamy it is. Imagine your dream cozy resort tucked away in the perfect winter scene, and that is Montage. We had never been there and I always thought “oh that looks so dreamy for joe + I”…but never thought it was family friendly. I’m here to tell you  I was so wrong! I’m not sure we have ever stayed somewhere so accommodating to families!

From the second we pulled up, I was blown away. Joe had to join us the next day, so you can imagine how crazy I looked with 5 littles + all our luggage in tow. From the sweet guy that helped us with our bags, to the check in desk, to the hotel concierge, every single person was so accommodating and friendly. We have stayed places before where they act like we are such a hassle and this was the complete opposite. They instantly got down on my kids level and treated them like the most important people in the world. If you are a parent, you know how that instantly puts your mind at ease. It can completely change the outlook of your trip.

The resort itself is incredible. It has 5 on site restaurants, indoor and outdoor pools, a bowling alley (yes you read that right), and the coziest rooms. The rooms themselves were one of my favorite things, because they were so flexible to meet your families needs. Having 5 little people, it is hard for us to squeeze into one room, but we never really feel comfortable having the kids in a whole different room. We didn’t have to worry about that at all! Our room had a King Bed + pull out bed and then connected to our room through a door you could leave open or closed, was a second room that had to beds for the kids. It was PERFECT! I love that they give you the option to expand the rooms and join them together to meet the needs for your family size.

my pajama top + bottoms + beanie  ||  kids matching pajamas  ||  harpers beanie  ||  hunters beanie

. . .

… FAMILY FRIENDLY ACTIVITIES …

You guys, I feel like I could write an entire post just on all the family friendly activities Montage has to offer. My kids were seriously in heaven and have been begging to go back! We could’ve stayed for another week and never had to leave the resort because there was that much to do! I’ve outlined our very favorites below!

hunter swim + beanie  ||  harper swim + beanie  ||  hudson swim  ||  houston swim  ||  my swim top + bottom + beanie  ||  hayden swim + beanie

THE POOL :

This place was seriously like it was straight out of a movie. Imagine swimming in the warmest water, surrounded by the most freezing cold snow covered mountain. It was so dreamy and the kids could not get enough. We spent pretty much every spare second we had here because it was just so fun. Montage has an Indoor Pool as well, but we loved the atmosphere and fun of swimming in the snow so much we didn’t even make it in there! And don’t even get me started on those matching mini robes!! Could they be any cuter?! The kids were obsessed and wanted to wear them the whole time, but they were so great to have to keep warm in to and from the pool.

.  .  .

PAINTBOX :

If you plan on heading up as a family, this is something you are going to die over!! Paintbox is an on site kids area for anyone age 5-12. I hate to even say “daycare” because the set up is as far from daycare style as you can get, but that is the basic idea. Your kids get to do crafts, play Just Dance, go sledding, have snowball fights, watch movies…everything they could dream of.

Let’s say you and your husband or big kids want to go out skiing. You can drop your kids off at Paintbox all day while you are out. And believe me, they won’t miss you for a second! I came to pick my kids up 3 different times and they didn’t want to leave yet. Hunter who is 12, was a little hesitant it was going to be too babyish, but she loved it so much too! It was one of their very favorite things we did.

.  .  .

SKIING :

Being in the beautiful Utah Mountains, skiing is for sure something you’ll want to take advantage of up at Montage. The views and area are breathtaking. Instead of having to wait in lines for gear once you get to the resort, you are able to get all your gear on site. And then take the resort shuttle straight to the lift. The 3 big kids went out for their first ski lesson with Joe and loved it! Everyone that helped them is so friendly and really made it so fun all their nerves to learn were instantly gone.

.  .  .

BOWLING :

As I mentioned above, Montage has a bowling alley ON SITE. We were so stoked and it made for the funnest night! It is connected to one of the restaurants so it was perfect to be able to eat and keep the little people entertained at the same time. While we definitely need some practice, we had a lot of laughs and so so much fun.

MONTAGE MERITS :

If your kids are competitive or motivated by prizes like mine, you will love the Montage Merits program. Kind of like scouting with Merit badges, your kids can earn badges for completing different things around the resort and surrounding area. Things like bowling a strike, skiing a certain run, tubing, or riding the alpine slide all earn them one of the fun animal themed badges.

Along with the animal friendly theme, they have an on site “ambassador” named Monty that my people DIED over. He was the cutest dog and so so good with kids. They thought it was the best to give him a high five and shake his hand.  Pretty sure the babies wanted to bring him home!

.  .  .

… DINING …

One of our favorite things about Montage was that they have so many on site KID FRIENDLY dining options. I feel like most hotel restaurants are on the fancier end, and definitely don’t cater their menus to kids. The Montage dining options are completely the opposite. We ate every meal at the resort and loved them all! It was so nice to never have to load up the babies and drive into Park City. We loved being able to feel like we really got away.

As you probably noticed on Instagram, second maybe only to the pool, the kids favorite thing was the marshmallow roasting! Every evening between 4:30-5:30 they have guest marshmallow roasting around their fire pits. When I say marshmallow roasting, I’m not talking about your basic bag of marshmallows. I’m saying like 10 different kids of HOMEMADE amazing marshmallows to choose from. The kids LOVED this and I think they would’ve done this for dinner every night if we let them! It was connected to a little hot chocolate bar with all the toppings you could imagine. It really makes things feel so much more cozy and festive for the holidays

Whether you are local to Utah and can make this a staycation, or have to travel and make it a full on vacation, the Montage Deer Valley gets our whole families vote! It’s location and atmosphere truly gives you the ability to step back from all the hustle and really enjoy what is most important this time of year. The family time we got to soak in and all the fun memories will be something we cherish forever.