bpratt

Poipu beach area in Kauai is a good option. The "main" Poipu beach is well sheltered by a reef, so good for smaller kids with no big wave worries. Its also not very crowded, certainly not by SoCal standards, which at least for me reduces the worry factor with kids enormously And you have a range of condo/hotel/house rental options to choose from. We always rent a condo on the water and walking distance to the beach, since having a real kitchen and washer/dryer is a huge win with kids, but there are some very tempting houses also. Basically, price is driven by size and location, so you can always save money by either moving inland a couple of hundred yards or by choosing a smaller/plainer space.

And there are still some very good restaurants if you do get a sitter for a night or two.

Lots of good options on all the islands, for us the deciding factor is the lack of crowds and mellow atmosphere of Kauai.

Bob