E.J.
We just got home from exactly that. We're not skiers at all and my 7 yr old had never seen snow so we took our boys (7, 4 and 9 mos) to Donner for an overnight. Soda Springs is great for the kids--check out their website. They have a whole kids area with a tube carousel in the snow, smaller hills to sled, practice snow boarding and skiing included in the price, and big open areas to play in the snow. We did that one day, spend the night at Donner Lake, had dinner in Truckee which is so cute and has skating, and then the next morning drove just 15 minutes to Sugar Bowl where the kids had a 2 hour lesson together. It was great and so easy. Feel free to email me if you have any questions about it.
Also, the place we stayed wasn't fancy, but was clean and super convenient and inexpensive--Donner Lake Village - http://www.donnerlakevillage.com/. We live in Marin and it took only 2 1/2 hours door to door.