Do you arrange play dates in school holidays ?

[olyolyolyoly]

My daughter is 7, going into year 3 in September. Has 2-3 good friends in her class, plus another 4-5 that she mentions, but no best friend. I'm not from here so don't have a wide network of family/friends, so school is her main source of friends.

Throughout the holiday she is always asking to meet up with friends or have them over. If I suggest a day at the beach/park/cinema with her sibling she asks to invite a friend and to be honest I just don't have the energy to look after another kid. They're at the age when parents don't stay but they're still a bit overexcited to have play dates so it's hard work. To be fair I don't like hosting play days anytime, but especially in the holidays, when I do have some annual leave I just wanted to hang out with our family.
Is this bad? Do others have playdates? I want her to enjoy her holidays and not miss out on building friendships? Perhaps if I was from here and knew the other mums better this would happen more organically but it feels awkward to text someone for a playdate, especially one of the kids she is not as close to.
There has been a birthday party and she's been to holiday club too, so she has had social interaction.
I work 4 days/week and have another younger child. I have two weeks off work this school holiday plus a few other half days. We've done some days out, gone away to visit family, music festival etc, so kids have had a mix of days out and been at home too.
Next week i have a couple days off and I know she will be asking for playdates and will get upset if I say no. Things are difficult enough with juggling work so this is an extra stress.

Just enough that everyone feels that aspect is ticked off and I always have 1 about two weeks before school starts back up so they’ve seen people. Plus people reciprocate if you ask their child over!!
edited to add probably 3 over the summer

In brief: yes. If you don’t want to be in charge, ask a few of the mums if they fancy meeting up with their kids. It’s her holiday time too.

Yes but only at home, not on trips out. The kids play and keep each other busy, I provide snacks and will intervene if there’s a problem, but otherwise it’s a good way for me to get my jobs done. We probably have a playdate once a week (two kids so they roughly alternate who has a friend over).

We don't because we're working and the kids are in childcare so it's not really possible. The week or so we're are off and at weekends we have other plans or are away. My kids don't seem to have suffered from not seeing their friends for a few weeks.

It’s impossible. Everyone’s kid is in childcare while they’re at work. If they’re not at work then they’re away on holiday.

Yes, in fact that's when the bull of playdates happen as I'm off work.

By age 7, they were fairly independent so I just threw snacks and drinks at them and kept half an ear out while they played as I got on with chores and chilled. I suspect that was mostly because it wasn't really a novelty anymore.

Not any more, as DS is 12, and arranges his own social life, but in the past, yes, absolutely. He naturally wanted to see his friends over the summer. I used to have four or five of them over on days I WFH and was fairly flexible, or take them to the park, or bowling or to a film in wet weather. His friends’ parents also hosted or took them out. They also did a water sports camp together for a week most summers.

I don't mind having the kids, but I find the social interaction with the parent just trying to arrange the bloody thing is too much for me!

Honestly, by age 7 they shouldn't really need much entertaining on a play date, it sounds like you're trying too hard. Keep it fairly short, like 10-2, ideally bring out a box of old toys that no one's looked at for ages (or even better, ask the girls to go through an old box and sort out what can go to the charity shop and what needs to go to the tip - gives them a bit of a task to get started on, and I promise it will all suddenly be their favourite toy ever 🤣) or get out some colouring/play doh etc. Pizza and cucumber sticks for lunch, easy.

My child is a similar age and we’ve not been invited to any play dates this summer

I’ve organised one meet with a friend in a park

she does camps so sees friends there

Yes definitely. As an only child I remember the summer holidays being a bit lonely.

My two (10 and 7) see their friends as often as possible through the holidays, probably each have play dates around twice a week, equally shared between friends’ houses and ours or both families going out together somewhere.

I have a 7 year old and he is desperate to see his friends, sibling is just not the same! If you don't know the other kids/parents well I would suggest keeping it even shorter than a pp suggested and not over a meal eg 2-4pm. And don't take them out. Some combinations of kids are much easier than others so once you've hosted a few you will know which ones are easy to have round...
I do sympathise because our house is always a tip and I am always nervous about being responsible for other people's children so I do find it a bit daunting but I still do it...

Occasionally I do if we have no plans for the day. Or sometimes we might suggest meeting in a park. But not too often as it can be a pain!

I find them really hard to actually organise working around holidays and people working…DD two best friends went off on holiday just when I went back to work. I try to have a couple, they are 6 so just over to the house rather than out. Also dd goes to holiday camps and some of her regular hobby’s carry on over the summer. I try to book her into holiday clubs that her friends go to as well so that, along with the couple of play dates has that box ‘ticked’ for seeing friends. I do think the summer holidays is far too long and she gets bored of just being around us!

Yes we do, sometimes just at home but it's often beach meet ups here. DS loves to see his friends in the holidays, six weeks is a long time for young children. We've probably done 4/5 so far including last Day off term after school beach trip, got over planned today for the outdoor cinema, one next weekend but that's with a friend if nice and her DC and one the weekend before school starts with a couple of mums and their DC. There have also been occasions where we have gone to local events/activities and bumped into one of his classmates and parents and they end up playing together

this is part of the problem, if I do try sort one with the closer friends they're usually busy, then need to contact the less close friends who i don't know too well

Try to do this, but with a younger sibling wanting to get involved and a dog thrown on the mix (friends can be afraid of dog) it can be tricky to be at home