This is a sponsored post with Personally She. All content and opinions expressed are my own.
I love playdates. My kiddo is entertained, I have adult conversations and it is usually a pretty stress-free way to spend a day. Now that our home is officially under contract, I don’t have to keep it staged anymore. So I jumped at the opportunity to host a playdate yesterday!
My husband and I love to entertain and have people over. But, without his help, hosting can quickly become stressful – especially with a toddler. That is the opposite of what I want in a playdate, so I was very purposeful in how I threw lunch together for guests.
Below are a few tips on hosting a fun and stress-free playdate:
Most importantly, keep things simple.
You want to enjoy having company and not playing host the entire time. And honestly, if you have to play or pretend anything, you are doing this for the wrong reason! Having judgement-free friends is super important.
You may want to start off your playdate with a fun activity. Again, keep it simple! Our weather is so nice right now so we went outside and let the kids run wild. It helped build their appetite and hopefully will help with nap time later!
If you don’t have a dedicated toy room, plan to bring out a few toy bins and let the kiddos have fun. Don’t worry about cleaning up after them and just let them be kids. Our kiddos ran all over the place while we sat back and enjoyed our conversations.
Stick to a “build you own” meal.
I’m a big fan of “build your own” meals. At BabyCoolJ’s 2nd birthday, we did a PB&J bar and it helped us enjoy spending time with friends instead of constantly worrying about food.
For this playdate, I picked up some delicious deli meats and croissants, threw in some crackers & dip, toddler snacks, fruits and a yummy 3-ingredient PB dip (1.5 cup yogurt, 3/4 cup natural peanut butter and honey to taste). Super easy and everyone loved it – even the kiddos!
Wear something comfortable.
Thank God the days of us wearing dresses when preparing a meal is long gone (although I do love to wear dresses mostly, I am glad I have a choice!). I want to be comfortable if I’m going to get on the floor with my toddler, so I went with my favorite Ruby Ribbon Capri Leggings and this super cute graphic tee from Personally She.
How fun is this shirt?! Girls, I concur – motherhood really is the toughest hood!
So who is going to go plan a playdate now?! Just remember, don’t over plan or stress about it. Have fun and enjoy your time with your girls!
Wow i am impressed with the spread of food you have. Usually when we have a playmate it is just a cup of tea/coffee and maybe a biscuit
Coffee for morning playdates is usually perfect, this was a special lunch for all the times my friends fed me when we had showings!
A build your own lunch or a healthy snack bar is always the best when it comes to play dates …. whatever isn’t eaten can easily be put back to use for something else at another time! that’s truly the way to go
Totally agree! We actually have lunch for all week…although the croissants were gone in a heartbeat!
Looks like lots of fun! My oldest daughter is in Kindergarten and loves to have play dates with her friends. She’s been to their house and they’ve been to our house. I’ve kept it pretty simple. I let them play and have an after school snack.
That’s so sweet, I hope to still have fun with playdates when he’s in school. It’s a new world for me!
Thanks for these ideas. We have a play-date next week and I am going to have 5 three year olds over.
Wow that’s a lot of little girls! Hope y’all have a blast.
I love the build your own meal idea! I usually order pizza lol
That works too!
What great ideas! Going to pass these along to both my sisters who are mothers, they love having playdates with their little ones!
Hope it helps them out!
This totally makes for a stress free play date! These are excellent tips! Will be implementing these for my next play date.
Thanks, I am glad they can help!
I rarely host playdates, but I do attend quite a few. It is always best when we get to be comfy and have easy snacks.
For sure! I love going to playdates where things are casual.
YES! I needed these! My kids are all getting old enough where they want friends over all the time now.
So fun when that happens, I loved it when my toddler finally recognized friends. Glad these can help!
I don’t have kids yet, but I do have occasional puppy play-dates for my dogs and comfortable clothes are a MUST
That is fun! I used to be a pet party planner in a previous life…much easier playdates for sure!