Should I cancel the party or go ahead without DS?

[Autumnleaves06]

My DS has just started with chickenpox, his 5th birthday party is on Saturday, all booked and paid for as of yesterday when they called me to confirm numbers. I can’t believe the timing of this!
I said to my DH this morning that we’ll need to cancel and let parents know.
He suggested we still have the party (it’s soft play) but without DS. Surely this is totally unfair on him? He’s been looking forward to this party for weeks. I’m so gutted for him.

DH’s logic is that we’ve already paid the balance and other than doing the cake and candles, we should still go ahead and his friends can enjoy soft play & the food without him, this makes me really sad though and what if his friends mention it when he’s back at school? That they went to his party without him.

What would you do?

Move it to new year. Our kids were both born in bleak midwinter. In those days, soft plays were almost unheard of and nothing was open so they often had their party 6 months on in summer.

how will your child feel knowing the party went on without him?

With half term, Halloween, fireworks, Christmas etc the next few weeks will fly past, plus if it's anything like when my two had chicken pox everyone around them will start dropping like flies soon enough. We had 17 out of one class with it!
Party in new year sounds lovely, something to look forward to after Christmas! If you can't cancel maybe let parents know they can still take their children so it's not wasted but if they let you move it, just go for January!

Hope your son feels better soon, mine were miserable with it

The two I know (mine and a friend) fine. They got the presents, they were happy their friends had a good time and they understood it was better for the party to go ahead

mainly presents though for DS

Book it for next year. 6 year olds love soft play too, just have a little celebration for his birthday with a handful of friends and a big one next time. Awful timing but so typical.

Agree shouldn't go ahead with party without him though.

Option 1: postpone till the new year

option 2: chicken pox party, for those who want it out of the way and done.

Why not rearrange for another day?

Move it to the new year! We had to do this for covid (had a small family party on the day and the kids party 3 months after the birthday) and another child in the same class had to do the same and it was held 6 months later. Kids were totally happy on both occasions.