Clara and I met because our kids go to the same school. One way we get work done during the holidays is organising a Working Play Date.

We get together at either my house or hers and take our laptop and anything else we need. We hook ourselves up to the wireless Internet and get to work while our kids have a wonderful time playing together.

To keep them occupied, there are games and toys. Sometimes we are organised enough to hire some bigger toys as a special treat for the day. We also have a ready supply of fruit and dry biscuits and water bottles so the kids can nibble as they get hungry. We also have lunch ready and eat together giving us all a break.

It's amazing how much work we get done on these days, and the kids love it too as they have someone to play with and a new set of toys.

We take turns hosting the play date. Sometimes Natalie joins us too, though she finds it a bit harder to work when the kids are around given the nature of her business. It's a bit hard drafting Santa letters when there are kids around who are likely to read over her shoulder…

These working play dates are great fun for all of us. The biggest benefit to our businesses as we get a lot of work done. The biggest benefit to our kids is that we can then take days off to spend quality time with our kids on days we aren't working.

Today is one of our play date days, so I'd better get back to work.

From Quinn