We have a 10 year old, my in laws are in their 70s. They're active, arty, and sunburn easily. They like a mix of doing their own thing and spending time with us. The 10 year old will be in hog heaven between the beach, the pool, moreTV than at home, and putt putt.

I haven’t stayed there, but am assuming most places you go have grocery stores with basic standard items. Packing meat and produce for a week of meals is a PITA! We did it once during the pandemic because we were renting a house that wasn’t near any good grocery stores, and we had to buy a huge cooler to take.

I always meal plan for vacations with other families, and we usually will split responsibility for meals. Last beach trip with my brother and his family we each got a date night where the other family cooked and fed all kids, and we each did one group wide shared meal, plus one big breakfast each. We were on our own for breakfast and lunch, but anyone could ask to eat other food they saw. It worked well, but we had too many leftovers and still threw some away. We also ate out as a group one night (my brother and niece have celiac so eating out as a group is challenging!) and ate out individual families one night.

With the meal planning, I plan to bring any of the specific spices I need, salt and pepper, and snacks, but I buy all the ingredients aside from that at the beach. I try to reuse things or skip out on ingredients where you have to buy a lot but won’t use much (ie a half cup of chicken stock I might just use water instead). Beach stores usually have small sizes of things like butter, olive oil, etc, and you can always wait and see what the house you are renting has before heading out. I’ve stayed some places with a full complement of pantry staples and some with nothing.

We like to do a seafood boil at the beach, and then do easy things like burgers, pasta, tacos, stir fries, etc., where it’s easy to feed a lot of people. I also will buy like one 1/2-1 gallon of milk and then use Horizon individual cartons because I hate ending the week with a half gallon of milk to toss! We also bring alcohol like liquor (for specific cocktails planned), local/favorite beer, good wine, because pickings are usually slim/expensive and we fancy about our alcohol.

Are there kids with you?

https://artleagueofoceancity.org/

Berlin is a cute town with shops

Indoor putt putt

Bowling

https://ourharvestde.com/

Fenwick has a “hooked” restaurant… I hear the one in OC is better, it’s probably not much further from you.

Harpoon Hanna’s is a little loud for me but people love it.

My teens love grab and go tacos.

Crab bag for classic blue crab dinner

We're renting a house for a week in Fenwick Island (just north of Ocean City). Do you bring much food with you or go grocery shopping once you get there? What are some easy meals that don't have many ingredients? Good places for take out or outdoor seating?

My in laws are staying with us but both need other things to do in addition to the beach. Is there anywhere to hike with shade that's not too far? What about indoor activities if the weather is bad? My in laws like art--I assume they could drive up to Rehoboth and visit art galleries for a day? Any other recommendations for things theymight like that would give them a break from the sun? Thanks!