Playdates at home with 2 dc

[SGertie]

Ds is 6.5, dd is 4. When ds has a friend over dd wants to play with the big boys, but they usually don't want to play with her so she gets very upset.
I can see both sides of the argument and don't know how best to handle it. She doesn't want to play with me if there are bigger kids around and I can't always plan to have one of her little friends round at the same time
What do other mums of preschool and school aged dc do?

Mine are 8, 5, and 2. I organise it so the older 2 have a friend at the same time. And then ds2 spends the whole time wailing ...

Sometimes it works to do something special with ds2, like make a cake. Although that usually brings the other 4 down to join in, which wasn't what I had planned.

Some of the friends are really good about letting ds2 join in, they get invited around most!

Definitely 2 friends at the same time or when your DS has a friend over maybe try & wangle an invite for dd at someone else's house (or vica versa)

If all else fails offer her a really girlie film (so the boys won't be interested & popcorn and snuggle up together on the sofa to at least give the older ones an hour or so alone.
LCN