‘We went to Lapland and saved £19k with one easy trick — this is how’

A mum managed to save £19k on a once of a lifetime family trip to Lapland by being more frugal than Scrooge — but still lapped up all the joy of the frozen paradise. Emily McColgan-Upfold, 31, saw other families online visiting the festive region and wondered if she’d be able to do it for a fraction of the price. Emily says most families pay a wapping £20k for the experience. She managed to do it for just £1.7k. Savings included eating dinner at McDonald’s and only McDonald’s and only bringing hand luggage.

After spending the bulk of the budget on flights, Emily splashed out £422 on the rest of the weekend on activities, accommodation and food for her and her husband, Stephen, 32, a business development director, and their son Finn, five. She says she was able to save money by packing light, bringing snacks and eating evening meals in McDonald’s.

Despite doing it on a shoestring budget, the family was still able to see reindeer, meet Santa Claus and play in the “crisp, white” snow. Emily, a phonics teacher, from Bangor, Northern Ireland, said: “It was really nice to make memories as a family and this goes to show you don’t need to spend £20k to do it.

“Lapland just kept coming up on my ( TikTok ) ‘for you’ page — it looked awe-inspiring. My son is also at the age where he’s really starting to believe in Santa.

“I booked it so last-minute, I had a very tight budget of £2,000.” Emily decided to book the holiday in October 2023, after hearing about Stephen’s friends going, and getting “FOMO” (fear of missing out). She booked the flights, accommodation and activities for the following month.

The family’s return flights from Dublin to Rovaniemi, Finland, cost £900 in total — so the family wore the majority of their winter clothes to the airport. “We paid for our seats, which included hand luggage, and travel insurance,” she said.

“We wore our big, thick layers to the airport; our ski trousers, winter socks and snow boots, so we could fit everything else into hand luggage.” Emily’s flight landed in Rovaniemi at 12pm on the Saturday — and the family immediately went exploring in the city centre.

They saw a light show for free, and played carnival games at a “mini Winter Wonderland” event for under £10 in total.

Stephen and Finn wanted to try the McDonald’s menu, so they ate fast food for £37 in total. “They really wanted to try the northernmost McDonald’s,” Emily said. “So we were able to eat for relatively cheap. I tried Finland’s version of mulled wine, called glögi.” The following couple of days saw the family travel to Santa’s village. They decided against doing the more expensive, longer excursions like snow safaris, Arctic Circle hiking and various tours.

But Emily and Stephen were still able to take Finn to meet Father Christmas and hand him a letter. She added: “It was free to see Santa — we didn’t pay £40 to get a photo. That was really amazing – even I was like ‘is this real?’. Finn hand-delivered a letter to him, it was so sweet.”

Emily then took the family to the husky park – which cost £110 total. They were able to feed the dogs, and Finn even bonded with a hound named Batman. Their itinerary then took them to the ‘elf’s farmyard’ to pet some reindeer, as well as a snow school, where Finn learnt a Christmas dance.

They finished at ‘Mrs Claus’ House’ — where Finn got to meet the woman herself.

Price breakdown:

• Return flights from Dublin Airport: £900
• Accommodation: £371 inc. breakfast for two nights
• McDonald’s meals: £37
• Angry Birds theme park: £100
• Meeting Santa: Free
• Husky park: £110 for three people
• The elf’s farmyard: £50 for three people
• Lunch: £30 total
• Snow school: £106 for three people
• Meeting Mrs Claus: £5 per person
• Four letters posted from Santa’s Post Office: £11
• Total: £1,720

For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.