STYLE's guide to a tantrum- and sulk-free winter family holiday. IF YOU HAVE A FAMILY HOLIDAY to organise - and you're dreading it - look on the bright side. Winter is the perfect time to go away. Aside from skiing, there are countless other distractions on offer to keep toddlers from having tantrums and teenagers from sulking: dog-sledging, reindeer-herding, igloo-building and, for the smaller family members, visiting Father Christmas. Scores of tour operators have jumped on to the Father Christmas bandwagon and the quality of holidays they offer varies enormously. Scantours has avoided the commercialism of Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland and the centre of the Father Christmas industry, preferring instead to take its customers to unspoilt villages deep in the forests of Lapland. To visit the great man, log on to www.scanmeridian.co.uk . For a truly authentic - but no less magical - experience, go on a reindeer safari. Visit www.visitfinland.com for plenty of holiday options, from staying on a reindeer farm and listening to herders' tales, to learning how to harness the creature to a sleigh and trekking through the forest. It would be a rare child who didn't enjoy the prospect of sledging with huskies, although because of the speeds and distances involved, some organisers have age restrictions and request that children travel with the tour guide. Alaska Dog Sledding ( www.alaskadogsledding.com ), however, offers a family package. Children can travel with their parents and try their hand at driving the sledge. The highlight of the holiday is helping to feed and look after these amiable animals. Families that enjoy camping could try the winter equivalent and stay in an igloo. Five Stars of Scandinavia ( www.5stars-of-scandinavia.com ) runs a Unique Igloo Escape in northern Lapland. Sleep on reindeer skins in a glass 'igloo' and witness - if it's a clear night - the northern lights, a phenomenon that invokes awe in all who witness it. The holiday also includes a husky safari, a reindeer safari and a snowmobile safari. If the key to a peaceful holiday is keeping your offspring busy from morning to night, then why not go one further and get the children to help build their accommodation before they bed down for the night in it? Churchill Wild ( www.churchillwild.com ) offers a Fire and Ice Adventure in Churchill, Manitoba, which includes igloo-building as well as the chance to see the Hudson Bay Quest, a 400km Inuit dog-sledge race that takes place across tundra each year. The same company also offers polar-bear spotting holidays. Its packages are child-friendly, but not suitable for under-fives. Appreciating that teenagers can be tricky, The Adventure Company ( www.adventurecompany.co.uk ) has divided its packages - which range from Antarctica to Uzbekistan - into Teenage Adventures, Infant Adventures and Family Adventures, thus steering families with similarly aged children towards the same holidays. Along the same lines, every villa and hotel chosen by Ciao Bambino ( www.ciaobambino.com ), a travel company specialising in France, Italy, England and Spain, has been vetted for its suitability for babies, toddlers, four- to 13-year-olds or teenagers. City holidays with teenagers can be problematic. Recognising that your offspring are suddenly too cool to be associated with you, Four Seasons ( www.fourseasons.com ) employs a 'teen concierge' in some of its hotels during most school holidays. He or she will advise young guests on the hippest activities and places to go and your children are bound to listen to them - the concierges are teenagers themselves.