Playdates are serious business, now that children are passing out formal business cards to lock in their future hangouts with new pals.
That’s exactly what mom influencer Vanity Rodriguez found out after her child came home from school with a “playdate” business card.
“If you’re an extroverted parent with an extroverted child, I think this is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Rodriguez, who goes by @_msvanity online, gushed.
In her now-viral clip, she explained that her son received a snazzy card stock — which included the classmate’s name, photo, Roblox user name and the parent’s contact information — inviting him to hang out after school.
“A lot of times when our kids want to play with other kids in class we don’t have their information,” she added. “I’m definitely going to text the mom.”
It’s part of a growing trend amongst parents who are advocating for more in-person playdates and creative approaches for exchanging contact information IRL.
Brianna Mullally, a mother and former teacher who owns Missouri-based Partyof4STL, started handing out the “playdate” business cards to help her eldest son make friends.
“As the mom of an extremely outgoing kid who wants to invite everyone over, I love the playdate cards,” Mullally, 34, told The Post. “It is so much easier to have him hand a card out than write information down or awkwardly stand there waiting for a phone number.”
The doting mom said she made playdate business cards for her oldest child when they moved to a new town — but then turned it into an online business.
“His speech teacher saw them and thought they were so great,” Mullally said. “At that point, I started selling them as actual printed cards in local craft groups, and they were a huge hit.”
Lori Rich, another mompreneur who runs Farthest Star Studios and specializes in playdate cards, said they’re a convenient and “cute” way to connect with other parents.
“I’m able to pack them in my bag and just hand them out when I meet a parent. I’m always met with positive feedback from the other adults about how much easier it is to do it this way and how cute they are as well,” the Pennsylvania-based mom told The Post, noting her daughter also enjoys passing the cards out to potential friends.
“My daughter thinks it is very cool that she has her own business card and loves being able to hand them out herself,” Rich chuckled.
The cards also come in handy beyond scheduling playdates, Rich said, since they allow children to stay in touch without relying on a cell phone. Plus, kids get to exchange video game usernames and parents can hand them out as an end-of-the-school-year gift so kids can contact each other over the holidays.
“I have also had parents add the days that their child is available to make planning playdates even easier,” she said, adding that some cards even include the child’s allergies.
Stephanie Manes (LCSW), a New York City family and relationship therapist, encouraged parents to get on board with this parenting hack to cut out some of the mental load.
“I think of this not as a business card but as a sensible solution for what can be complicated logistics of coordinating your child’s activities,” Manes told The Post.
While there could be concerns about the information you unveil on the card, parents should be sure to link everything back to their personal contact info.
“I personally use a dedicated ‘family’ email on ours so it’s not necessarily handing out all of our information, which is great for people you maybe have only just met at the playground,” Mullally added.
And just like any playdate invite, there’s no guarantee the invitee’s parents will call to schedule a hangout. New York-licensed psychotherapist Tara Arutunian advised parents to be ready for that tough conversation.
“There could be the pitfall of rejection from the invitee, so parents should be prepared to help their child cope with disappointment if it doesn’t work out,” suggests Tara Arutunian, a New York licensed psychotherapist.
But regardless, “there are plenty of other fish in the sea to play with!”