Being terrible at organising play dates

The school summer holidays are sadly coming to an end, and we seem to have been very busy. We've been out and about, as well as spending lots of time having fun at home, doing craft kits, playing games and playing Minecraft. It's also been really nice to catch up with friends and their children that are at different schools, the children get along well and they don't really see each other during the term so it's a good opportunity to meet.

It's turned out though that they've not really seen much of their friends from school. Harry has had play dates with a couple of his class mates, here and at theirs, but Mia so far hasn't seen anyone from her class and it's my fault. I just haven't taken the initiative to get around to organising anything.

I tend to worry that the other child will be busy, they won't want to come around, it will be awkward for their parents (we live a few miles away from the school). I also am not very good about getting too many things booked into the calendar, it starts to make me feel anxious. Then the start of term approaches and it feels too late to sort something out now anyway.

I do enjoy having other children around, they are no trouble, and in many ways it makes things easier for me because they can just get on with things by themselves now, I don't generally have to organise any activities for them. Harry can sometimes get a bit overwhelmed with too many events all at once, but Mia loves having friends round, both hers and Harry's.

I'm also bad at term time play dates. We only have a couple of afternoons during the week when we are free, and everyone else always seems so busy too that it's difficult to co-ordinate. We don't get home until around 4pm anyway, and by that time it seems a bit late in the day to be entertaining, besides the children are usually quite happy chilling out by themselves.

I know that Mia in particular is quite concerned about her friendships at school, and she'd love to have some of her friends over. Only one of her class mates has ever been to our house. I've always been really pleased when a Mum has invited one of mine over, so I need to encourage myself to make the first move. I'm determined that once the new term is under way I'm going to try and organise for a few more children to come over (although not all at once!)

Do you organise lots of play dates for your children? Am I alone in my insecurities?