(MONEY Magazine) – --SNOWSHOES Hot gear for the cold. With the recent growth of recreational snowshoeing, a wider and more affordable selection of models has arrived on the scene. Today's snowshoes are light, durable and so easy to use that beginners--and even toddlers--can trek the tundra. We like the Tubbs Adventure 25 series of snowshoes, which are cool looking, sturdy and relatively light. Though they usually retail for about $159, we found them for 20% off at Eastern Mountain Sports (www.emsonline.com) in November. And according to Sharon Barbano, editor of FitForAll.com, the women's version of the Adventure 25 is the first snowshoe designed specifically for the female gait. For kids, check out Redfeather's Junior 17 snowshoes (at right), which run about $55 a pair.

--CHAMPAGNE New Year's bubbly picks. We asked Kim Anderson, sommelier at New York City's Windows on the World restaurant, to recommend a sparkling wine for your Y2K celebration. Our criteria? The bubblies had to be good values and widely available nationwide. For those planning to supply a whole party, Anderson likes Roederer Estate Brut Non Vintage, a sparkling wine from California's Anderson Valley that runs about $17 a bottle. If you're looking to splurge--perhaps for a more intimate New Year's gathering--you can't go wrong with Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut Non Vintage Champagne, at about $35 a bottle.

--HAWAII Island discounts. Travel agency Carlson Wagonlit (800-450-3654) offers a seven-night package for travel after Jan. 10 at the Outrigger Kauai Beach hotel for $647 a person, double occupancy. That's about 30% off the usual rate. And a week at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani at Waikiki, on Oahu, is $570 a person. Neither offer includes air fare.

--SKIING Kids go free during the week. Southwest Vacations is offering weekday ski packages to seven Utah resorts that enable kids ages two to 11 to fly, sleep and ski for free. That means round-trip air fare from one of 46 airports, a two-night hotel stay in Salt Lake City and one-day lift tickets at Park City, for example, will cost two adults and two children a total of between $358 and $708--depending on the departure point. Book by Jan. 31 for travel until April 30. Click on www.swavacations.com or call 800-754-8438.

--SOFTWARE PC programs on a Mac. You're pulling your new iMac out of the box when it occurs to you: Do I need to scrap all of my PC software along with my old PC? The answer these days is no. With Virtual PC 3.0 software, made by Connectix, Mac owners can use almost any program that runs on a PC. Earlier versions of the program ran slower than molasses in January, but version 3.0--combined with Apple's powerful G3 and G4 processors--changed that. There are negatives: Games and graphics will likely run slower using Virtual PC. You need 520MB of free hard-drive space and 64MB of RAM to run it efficiently. Then there's price: The best we found for the Windows 98 version was $160 (after a $20 rebate) at www.warehouse.com. But if it lets you salvage hundreds of dollars worth of software, that may seem like a virtual bargain.

PRICE ALERT SAS has lowered fares to Europe by 10% to 60%. Round-trip tickets from Newark to Amsterdam, Brussels, Geneva, London, Milan, Paris or Zurich are $349 if you travel between Dec. 26 and Jan. 9. Flights are $369 from Chicago and $399 out of Seattle. Call 800-437-5804.

Reported by Brian L. Clark, Judy Feldman and Natasha Rafi