Summer Play Date Invites-

People have made their plans already (usually back in April) and kids are at day camps or visiting grandparents.
You might get a few bites but I think 4 might be optimistic.
Try to keep busy with visiting zoos, aquariums, petting zoos and maybe doing some day trips on the weekends.

Sounds like a nice idea, you'll get some calls. I'd be much more likely to call if we had a brief face to face conversation, try to mention it in person to as many people from the school as you can. I've had some mom's from my son's school tell me that they plan to leave their contact info at the school for me before the summer...I'll likely call them for a playdate.

I think you'll have much better luck if you directly contact the parents of a child and ask if he can come over at x time on x day. Maybe offer a few options. I'd feel funny calling you after a generic note bc as someone said, it'd seem like I was inviting myself over. And if you wrote "your child" instead of the name of my child, it'd also seem like you were just reaching anywhere. And you are if you had it distributed to all his class mates. Sorry but this wouldn't be my approach and I wouldn't respond if I got this note even though I'm very fond of playdates for my kids.

Hopefully you'll get a few but honestly if most parents are working full time the kids will likely be in full time camps or care, or will be with a nanny who takes them to the pool and other activities during the day (and hangs out with other nannies and kids, not other parents.) That's been my experience anyway.
ETA: also working parents tend to want to chill and spend time together as a family on weekends and evenings, right?

I think it's nice that you offer to connect during the summer. I'm not sure this is the best way to do it though.

Do you not have a preschool directory or listing with people's phone numbers and emails? Some schools don't give them out, but most do especially private school where the administration depends on the bonds among families to keep enrollment up. So if you have that set up or available, why not use it?

I think more people will respond to a direct invitation, rather than an invitation to invite themselves. It might look to some, especially those who don't know you, like you're just inviting everyone instead of selecting the kids your child is really friendly with or well suited to. I would think a weeknight invitation would be less desirable at this age - a lot of kids (and siblings and parents) are burned out by evening.

Also, does your child's school agree to have teachers distribute social correspondence like letters and invitations? Our schools go crazy with parents expecting this of teachers and it often doesn't happen because it's an added task. Once doesn't seem like much, but if everyone does it…. Also, you're assuming that the note will make it into the backpack and not fall out because a kid didn't zip the zipper, or that it won't be missed by parents cleaning out old flyers, spilled juice boxes and old lunch boxes. There might be people who would have replied but just weren't thinking this was how communications would be handled. If it's your school's practice to send all kinds of personal stuff between families via the backpack, that's one thing. But in our experience, it's very iffy, and that's why people really don't use it as an effective method.

If you don't hear back, you won't know why. And that could lead to hurt feelings for your child. Teach him to reach out and issue invitations directly - you'll probably have more success and set him up with useful skills for going forward into a larger school.

If parents work full time, I would not count on many. No one wants to schlep a kid to play at night. Weekends during summer folks are busy. If he is going to day camp, he will have more than enough friend time.

Does the private school have a Facebook page? I would just suggest a park meetup for an hour or so for incoming kindergarten families. Keep it simple. I don't think I would want to have a one-on-one playdate for my kid with some parent and family I've never met. I'd like an escape plan, something I could just drop by to do. Our school did this over the Sundays of the summer previous to K-- just said "hey, this meetup opportunity is available"... we went to two of them. This really didn't help Kiddo at all, other than to familiarize himself with the playground. Which was fine. I worked a lot harder, though, to set up playtimes with his preschool buddies he already had and I think a lot of parents will be also focusing on 'known entities' instead of creating friendships before school starts.

It depends on the families. I find that far away friends are harder to catch up with. Everyone is so busy. I would expect most of them to be on weekends, and if you get 4, you would be doing excellently.

ETA: Many schools no longer have a phonebook, due to privacy concerns. If I were going to look for playdates with school friends for DD, I'd have done something similar.

You might get a bite or two, it's worth a try. If you run into classmates at a playground, it would be a good time to extend an invitation.

well, i think it's a great way to open the door. but i doubt you'll get as many as 6, and i'd be surprised if you got more than 1 or 2. because this is a pleasant and courteous way to put the ball in THEIR court. and if they're busy, it's not particularly likely that they'll pick it up.
but having done that, it will now be easier and less awkward if YOU call someone and arrange for an afternoon at the park, won't it?
you'll just still have to be pro-active about it.
for those of us who are introverted, it remains a Thing.
:) khairete
S.

I see what you're trying to do here but it strikes me as the same thing as saying to someone who has had a death in the family, or an illness "let me know if you need anything!" Like they're going to call & say "my laundry is piling up" or " we need a decent meal" or " I need a ride to chemo."

I think it would be warmer to set up a little get together at home or at a park. Or CALL them specifically. Personally, if I didn't know you already & got that note? I wouldn't call.

Why not plan a weekend meet up at the park and extend the invitation to everyone?

I'm sure there are other families who would like their kids to see familiar faces on the first day of school but I'm not sure you'll get much response from such a vague "invitation".

It's like when people offer you help "let me know if I can do anything". I take that as "how are you?" not really anything more than a pleasantry. When a person says can I mail those letters out for you and pick up your prescription it's a solid offer to do something specific, far more effective.

Be specific as to time and place and then after meeting a few parents face to face you can establish connections for future play dates.
Good luck, Kindergarten age kids are so much fun!

One of our preschool Moms created a group for the Moms/Dads on Facebook so we can keep in touch over the summer. If someone is going to the park, they post it and if people can join, they respond. We did the splash pad yesterday with 4 other moms, and did a bouncy place today with one Mom.
Last week we planned a water park day and 5 moms were able to go.
Throwing it out there with your phone number probably won't get you many responses unless you were able to make a connection with a few of them during the school year.
Good luck!

I've had really good luck when I have set up a park playdate with several families. Email a small group or the class and let them know when you will be at a local park and ask if they are available to join you. Then if they show up, it's a playdate, if not, you still have fun. Several of the kids in my son's class set up park playdates still, and they are 9 now. Now we drop the kids off with one parent at the park and they play ball for a while. When the kids were little we used to meet at a waterpark or regular park to keep up those classmate ties during the summer.

One on one playdates are great too, but asking them to be the one to call might be a stretch. I'd call or email them and just ask. If the ball is in their court, it might never happen.

My kids can only have "play dates" in the summer because we have a sitter come to our house, so she doesn't mind to have friends come over or drop the kids at someone else's house. Or they do sleep overs so they get two days of play and one overnight.

We really enjoy our family time in the summer though, so we don't mind running in to people, but I like the kids home since we are so busy during the year.

The good thing about your child meeting and playing with these future classmates, is that she will already know someone. Keep in mind with these new classmates, they will be inviting each other to play dates, parties, for years to come. It is good for you to also get to know the parents.

We were fortunate to have excellent neighborhood schools, this allowed us to develop close relationships with the students, parents and the school teachers(their families) and administration. We were close by, so these events were not as much trouble.

BUT it is good to set your priority. Sure our family time is precious, but each interaction with other families, other friends is an opportunity to build your community. Different people, make us even more complete.

We have some families that we met through our daughters schools that are just like family. We even know their grandparents, they know our daughters grandparents, cousins, Aunts, Uncles.. etc.

I feel very blessed to have this community. I know our daughter was very fortunate. They still keep up with her and cheer her on, I do the same with their families.

This is the beginning of an exciting time for all of you!