I now have a pair of padded shorts designed for skating which are more discreet than the snow boarder crash shorts I bought first. My shorts were from a skating supplier on the internet.
http://www.love2iceskate.com/productdetail.aspx?pid=235They were £40. I think the padding leaves gaps right in the areas where I've landed in falls before so I also got some silicon pads. These are advertised as hip enhancement pads from a seller called TomTop on eBay. They cost £5.35 a pair and come from China so they take about 3 weeks to arrive. I tuck them inside the shorts. I haven't actually fallen since getting any of this kit but a girl at my rink uses these exact gel pads and she says they definitely take the worst of the impact out of the fall. Apparently they will stay put just tucked inside a pair of tights, they seem to stick to skin quite well. They don't show when you are wearing them so you don't look like you've got huge hips!
I also wear knee pads too, I got some described as snow board knee pad gaskets from Anarchy on eBay, £18 including postage. They are more discreet than most knee pads I've seen and I don't notice I'm wearing them after the first 2 or 3 minutes.
The only bit of me that isn't protected now is the most important bit, my head. Since its been so cold I've been skating in a fleecy hat which makes me feel a bit safer as I think it would cushion my head a bit if I were to bash it on the ice.
