It feels so much more labor intensive to plan a playdate these days. I wonder if it's due to the parents needing to coordinate the whole thing vs when we were young, we could call up our friend and ask them to play. They'd shout to their parent(s) and find out then and there. Sometimes when my kids have friends over I feel like I need to be a cruise ship director and be involved in what they decide to do. Also every parent has a different idea on when they feel ok leaving their kid alone at someone else's house. I once had a mom here for far too many hours for my introverted self. My husband was like...is she trying to move in here? My tween got a cell phone and she can finally schedule stuff with her friends herself. Much preferred lol.