You need to supervise them and no shoes in house.

We have a no-kid-shoe policy to minimize dirt. (adult guests of course, just not kids).

Make your kids responsible for their friends' behavior. My kids' friends are (mostly) not destructive but they did leave snack bags and drinks all over the basement when they were over a few months ago. I honestly don't really care about the 3 minutes it took to clean it up but I do care about attracting bugs and mice into the basement. So I told my kids that they were no longer allowed to have snacks in the basement (with or without friends there) if it happened again. My kids spend a lot of time down there so having to come to kitchen each time they wanted a drink was going to get old quick. And now they clean up every single time--haven't had the issue again.

Anonymous wrote: Nothing in our house is valuable enough to worry about. I can’t imagine having a $20,000 sofa that mattered more than the guests.

My son had a friend over who put stickers all over his wooden bed frame. It wasn't particularly valuable but it super annoying since they won't come off without elbow grease/ goo gone. It wasn't a $20,000 bed but I don't feel a burning need to replace $600 bed frames just because a kid is stupid.

It did teach me the valuable lesson of realizing that certain kids need more supervision when they are over though!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Nothing in our house is valuable enough to worry about. I can’t imagine having a $20,000 sofa that mattered more than the guests.

+1. Part of having kids is that you don't have nice things. At least for a while.

Totally disagree that part of having kids means not having nice things. I raise my kids to only eat food in the kitchen at the table, to clean up spills when they happen, to be careful of how they fling their bodies around, to not climb or jump on furniture, and to be respectful of other people's things when a guest in their homes.

I wouldn't say we have particularly nice things, but I'm trying to raise my kids to be respectful of things. What about when they are guests somewhere with very nice things? Or just with expectations for nice behavior?

OP I agree with the PP who said if you want to have the careless kids over, you have to supervise more carefully.

Anonymous wrote: Nothing in our house is valuable enough to worry about. I can’t imagine having a $20,000 sofa that mattered more than the guests.

NP. We live in a very old and small house and none of our stuff is that valuable. Nobody wants to see their furniture damaged, walls smeared, dishes broken, etc. It's stressful and who wants to replace things everytime they have kids over?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Nothing in our house is valuable enough to worry about. I can’t imagine having a $20,000 sofa that mattered more than the guests.

+1. Part of having kids is that you don't have nice things. At least for a while.

Totally disagree that part of having kids means not having nice things. I raise my kids to only eat food in the kitchen at the table, to clean up spills when they happen, to be careful of how they fling their bodies around, to not climb or jump on furniture, and to be respectful of other people's things when a guest in their homes.

Nothings ever been broken but DD has friends that think it’s ok to run in the house and play hide and seek and go where they want. I nipped that in the bud as soon as it started.

Anonymous wrote: Nothing in our house is valuable enough to worry about. I can’t imagine having a $20,000 sofa that mattered more than the guests.

+1. Part of having kids is that you don't have nice things. At least for a while.

Nothing in our house is valuable enough to worry about. I can’t imagine having a $20,000 sofa that mattered more than the guests.

Then stay on top of them better, and give more boundaries. "You guys can play in these three rooms - the bathroom is right there. No James, we're not going upstairs today - we're staying in these three rooms, remember? Emily, stop banging that against the table - it's for playing gently with, not for breaking. Can you play with it properly or shall I take it away? Boys, please treat this house with respect."

And if they don't improve, don't have them over again. "My house hasn't recovered from last time all the kids played together yet, so why don't the two of us just go out for drinks?"

I have 3 kids. My daughter and her friends never break anything and are fairly neat. My oldest son’s friends have always been tame and respectful. My middle kid’s friends run around like crazy people, always break or spill something or someone gets injured. I limit which of his friends can come over and limit the time to 2-3 hours.

Anonymous wrote:Yep and dirt

I don't mind the neighbor kids coming in and out and love to hear their voices, but as soon as more than one kid comes inside, the dirt becomes ambient. Gives me the feeling of being around Pigpen from the Peanuts.

Yep and dirt

Every time other people's kids come to my house, for days afterward I find bits of what they damaged around my house.