Family road trips. Bring cups.

We are planning another road trip with the family: me, my husband, and our two girls who are 4 1/2 and 3. In early July we will drive from central VA to Norman, OK, which is 19 hours and 40 minutes, according to Google Maps; but, from experience, I know it will be MUCH longer.

So, my tip for family road trips: Bring cups (disposable paper or plastic, one per kid). The purpose of this is to ease the burden of sharing. If you bring a bag of chips or pretzels, everyone gets their cup filled, and you don't have to pass the bag around or argue about who "has more and its not fair!" Cups are also handy for sharing fries, chicken nuggets, or even the occasional milk shake from the drive-thru.

Start out with the cups in the front seat, stacked, and have them returned after each snack. For another road activity, you can bring markers and/or stickers and have the kids label and decorate their travel cups. Use the cups the whole trip (or, until that shared milkshake), then on the way back, get new ones. If you find yourself on the road woefully unprepared without the cups, grab some empty ones from the 7-11; or, if you're going to McDonald's drive-thru, ask for an extra cup or two. You can't go wrong with the one cup per child tip.