Inspired by the “playing out” thread, which is totally alien to me as we live in a busy city, my DC never play out nor do we have a house full of kids, ever!
DC 7 and 4, Y3 and YR. DS1 has two close friends who he sees in school and at sports clubs one weekend day and one week day. He goes to other sports clubs most weekdays so only has one weeknight to chill. We don’t often have play dates, once every few weeks or once a half term at a push. It’s only ever really the 2 friends. My DS would have one or both friends over every weekend if we let him, but we often try and make plans as a family and it’s difficult when he’s got friends round as DS2 wants to get involved and gets upset. Plus his friends are noisy and wild so it’s certainly not a relaxing weekend!
Youngest doesn’t have any play dates, appreciate he’s a bit young being only 4. We have met up with new school friends in the park once or twice for an hour but that’s the breadth of his social life. He also does a couple of sports clubs on the weekend where he sees classmates but I wouldn’t call it socialising at this age!