Son has chickenpox party scheduled for next week

[Cliffordthbigreddog]

Hi guys,

My son was sent home yesterday from nursery with chickenpox and we have a birthday party planned for him next Saturday (8 days away).

Should we cancel, or go ahead as planned?

Has anyone else experienced this? Should it have cleared up by then?

AIBU to go ahead with the party.

Thanks in advance.

Two things .
You will have to see if your child is well enough, even if the infection possibility has passed.
I'd also inform parents regardless.
My child only had a few, very large, spots but was unwell and under the weather for a few weeks.

Bicarb mixed to a paste on the spots works well.

Hope they feel better soon 🌼

Babies are at risk but it is not a serious illness for party-age children. It is, though, a very nasty virus. It stays with us, lurking in our spinal nerves until our immune system is weak enough for it to strike and give us shingles.

This, you don’t know who in a family could have low immunity due to chemo or another issue so possibly exposing them to your child’s still active chickenpox could be a huge problem.

Chickenpox parties used to be a thing too. People would commonly try to get their children to catch it young as it's generally milder at a younger age. I was taken to my cousins to catch it as a 2 year old.

For some children it passes quickly, but for others annoyingly, it can take a bit longer!

I would give the parents of the invited kids a heads up and say you’ll decide in 3/4 days.

He will still be contagious, cancel.

Don't use drying things on the scabs eg Calamine lotion. Use a cream eg Aloe Vera to keep them moisture so they heal better. Also oral antihistamines and paracetamol. Poor thing.

Back in the 70s that exactly what our parents did.! If we we otherwise healthy of course!

They would purposely let us play with friends in order to catch it at a convenient time and all of us together! There was also the tale that as you got older the worse it would be and, as one normally only gets its once, then to get it when youngish was the right thing to do.

I never caught it as planned!! I got it at 15 and it was really, really, horrible. So, maybe, the tale was correct?

I would post pone, as some parents would not want to send their kids. Or I would at least be open with them ahead (Perhaps ask if they want to risk it?). I would be furious if someone went ahead with a party with out telling me because they think their child is no longer contagious (when it is that close, you can not be sure).

You can be infectious from a week before the spots even come out plus once there scabbed over you are not infectious anymore hence why you can go to school aslong as they are scabbed over!! Some people just love to make people feel like crap!!
Don't cancel yet I would give it a couple off days see how he is in himself and all poxs should be scabbed by then. I would let parents know tho.

If it's in a price place like a softly etc then hold off and re arrange for another day. If you go ahead then also let all parents know. Chickenpox is a risk to pregnant women, immunocompromised, elderly etc so just give everyone fair warning

Commas are important!

I remember pox parties in the 80’s 😂. on another note my Dd had it at around 2. We were away, she was all scabbed over and fine on return trip via boat. she was sat with us not running around… if was funny to watch some people avoid us on way home and some mums encourage their children to ask her to play

if you can postpone op I would as some won’t want to catch it, some will be ill with it and you do need to tell the parents so they have the choice

This thread title really would have benefited from a comma. 😂

I thought you were infectious until everything scabbed up? If you go ahead FGS warn the parents and anyone attending so they can decide whether they come.
We had someone drop a spotty DC off at our DS' party and run and say nothing until the spotty DC was showing everyone his spots to his friends at the end of the party! DAunt who was helping us at the party was immunecompromised and caught shingles.

FFS. Punctuation matters.

You might want to punctuate your title or change the grammar, Op. It is very misleading.

I'd say there's several reasons to postpone.

Your DS's spots may not have scabbed over by then, in which case you'd need to cancel at short notice, which would be upsetting for your DS and inconvenient for everyone.

Your DS may still feel ill and rundown, and therefore not enjoy it as much as he would a week later.

Other children who have been invited might well catch chickenpox between now and then. When my DC had it recently, almost their entire nursery class was affected. Rescheduling would mean some of these children may then be able to attend.

Chickenpox can be much worse of a risk for immunocompromised people, pregnant women, etc. and there could well be vulnerable people attending.

I'd contact the venue and reschedule now, so everyone has plenty of notice.

Do posters not read their titles /posts back before posting? There are a huge amount of posts on here that read like a stream of consciousness. Is there no understanding that a comma etc can change the whole meaning of a sentence?

Punctuation is so important.

A misleading thread title in need of punctuation!

2 things spring to mind.
My first child was bad with chickenpox but had crusty spots and went to a party. Another child picked all the (almost healed) scabs off his face and the permanent scars are terrible years later. Tell your child no one is allowed to pick his scabs, not even for sweets.

My second child was so ill with chickenpox they nearly died. A long time in hospital from a secondary infections (strep A and Stap). A toddler did die from our area the same week. Don’t overdo it and go anywhere they can catch extra bugs if they are recovering or give others bugs if he’s still infectious.

If I had my time again 100% I would get them vaccinated. About 20 kids died the year mine had chickenpox, which I think is average.

its not a 'chicken pox party' its a birthday party and he will be in the end stages of CP.
This happened with my eldest when he was little. I nearly cancelled, but i sent a message to everyone and a lot of people had already had it, so were not worried, and a few people decided not to come and a few people risked it.
ASAIR noone actually caught it from him in the end, but it was nearly a week after he had caught it by then

My 3.5 year old has got chickenpox and we are on day 9 now! They have almost all scabbed over but there are still around ten waiting to burst. I think it's just different for every child but you may get away with it! Fingers crossed 🤞🏻

It is for about 20 children a year who die and many more who end up in hospital.

If you have any other kids, bear in mind that the incubation period is around 2 weeks, so by the time of the party they may have come out with it, or they might be about to get it and be infectious without you knowing.