When did the term "play date" come around?

[lmintzer]

Okay, so not the most important question in the world. But I was thinking about this the other day. When I was little, we talked about going over to someone's house to play (not for a "play date"). I heard the term for the first time when I lived in L.A. pre-kids. My friend Debby, who had two boys at the time, kept talking about "play dates". To be honest, I thought it was some upper crust L.A. term. LOL! Debby is the sweetest person in the world, but I was silently laughing at her choice of words instead of asking if that was common.

[elliput]

What a coincidence! I was thinking the same thing just yesterday, but it never occurred to me to post it as a question here. DOH!

[C99]

No idea, but that is the term I use as well, even though, like you, when I was a kid, I just asked someone over to my house to play. Maybe it's a playdate b/c it's done in advance and b/c I'm talking about a kid who is too young to ask someone (or accept someone's invitation) to come over to play?

[chlobo]

I think of it as a product of children becoming more scheduled. When I was little we had a couple of activities but spent a lot of time roaming around the neigborhood. Now it seems like everything is "scheduled" and I think "play dates" are just one of those scheduled activities.