Las Vegas ski resort giving helmets to kids

If your children don't find the ski helmets they are hoping for under the Christmas tree, don't lose heart.

It seems that Santa may have decided he will leave them at the Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort this year.

The resort is teaming with Centennial Hills Hospital to provide free helmets for children every Saturday in January, in conjunction with the Lids for Kids.

The first giveaway will be from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Jan. 7 at the ski resort, 6725 Lee Canyon Road on Mount Charleston. Helmets will be given away at the same time on Jan. 14, 21 and 28.

A ski resort statement said 300 ski and snowboard helmets were given away last year and about 800 helmets have been distributed during the resort's four years as part of Lids for Kids, a national ski and snowboard safety education program.

Volunteers will fit toddlers through preteens for a helmet. Before heading to the lift, children and parents will participate in a short education program on skier and snowboarder safety and responsibility.

A lift pass will be required to ski or snowboard.

The U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission published a study in 1999 that reported children are more likely than any other age group to suffer head injuries while skiing and snowboarding. The study said use of a helmet could reduce the number of head injuries in children under the age of 15 by 53 percent.