Princess Party - Sick Child...What to do??

[mjaclyn]

I've been planning a big Princess Tea Party for my DD 3yrs for over a month. The party is tomorrow, we have 12 little girls coming with their mothers, and along with tons of other food I've ordered a huge (and expensive) princess castle cake from a local bakery. Last night my DD sneezed a couple of times and her nose looked a little runny. I gave her a small amount of Tylenol before she went to bed, just in case. Today she's been acting fine - running around, playing with her toys, etc. She sneezed a couple more times but her nose is running more than yesterday. I just checked her temp and it's 101.1. I don't know what to do!!! Should I wait and see how she is in the morning? I'm sure this is just a cold because she's acting normal otherwise...usually when she's really sick, she doesn't want to play or anything, she just lays on the couch and rests. If I cancel the party I'm going to have to decide soon...although I don't know if I'll be able to cancel the cake on this short notice. If I do cancel, I'm also not sure when I'll be able to reschedule since we have something planned every weekend from now until the end of February, and even then there are no guarantees that all the girls will be able to come if I change it. I really really don't want to cancel the party, but I REALLY don't want to be responsible for someone else's child getting sick. What would you do? My options are to cancel now and hope I can get the cake for another time, wait until tomorrow morning and see if she still has a fever, or just still plan on having the party but just give her medicine beforehand. I don't want to sound like a terrible mother...making my child go to a party even though she's sick, because honestly, I'm very health conscious and usually keep her in every time she has even a sniffle. The only thing keeping me from canceling is that I've already gotten everything for this party and a lot of it will go to waste if I have to change it. I wish I could say money is no object but the economy has been hard on us. I lost my job and had to go on unemployment which has put a lot of pressure on DH to pick up the slack. It's not easy to afford things right now, and I've been saving up for this for her. Besides the monetary issue, I've invited almost 30 people and the kids will be extremely disappointed. I've had a bunch of the moms tell me how excited their girls are to come. I also would hate to have that huge castle cake go to waste. I'm having a hard time making this decision... Please help!

[DizNee143]

if your daughter is acting fine i would go with still having the party..
maybe just call all the other moms and let them know she has the sniffles and might be getting a cold..just to give them a heads up..
hopefully not to many people will back out if you do that..
or if you decide to cancel..and cant back out of the cake and the other food..have an over the top tea party with just your daughter and maybe try planning another one in a few months..
let us know how it goes!

[Joannelet]

I would call the other parents and let them know she has a cold. Also when she has a fever she is contagious.

[cajundisneyfreak]

I would go ahead with the party.Sounds like she's active.Alternate tylenol and motrin for the fever.Sounds like a cold.If it continues after the party and fever gets worse take her to the doctor to get checked out.Hope you and your little princess have a wonderful party!!

[scootch713]

My dd spiked a temp the day we were to leave for our cruise. I alternated the motrin/tylenol for 24 and we went anyhow(although i paced and thought about it for hours). Nothing more ever transpired. I would keep the motrin/tylenol in her and have it, unless she seems sicker tomorrow.

[Tinkerfreak]

If you decide to have the party I would say definately let all the parents know that your daughter has a fever. Let them decide if they want to expose their child or not. That way if they do bring their child and he/she gets sick they can't blame you. I would be upset if I were not told, a cold is one thing but a fever is another, she could be coming down with something besides a cold. You might not have as many kids as you invited but your daughter will still have a good time.
I hope she wakes up tomorrow feeling good and fever free and has a great party! How sweet of you to plan such a nice party for her.

[mjaclyn]

Thanks for the advice everyone . I ended up canceling the party. I waited a while to see if DD would improve, but she actually got worse. Her fever went from 100.6 to 101.4. I knew then that she wouldn't be better by tomorrow. I also thought about how I would feel if the situation were reversed...if I brought DD to a party where there was a sick child and then my kids got sick from it, I'd be really upset. I called the bakery and (thankfully!!) they hadn't started making the cake yet, so they said I could get it next Saturday instead. The rest of this month is incredibly busy for us but I really didn't want to put the party off until March, so I decided to have it later in the afternoon next weekend. DH and I have our 'Give a Day. Get a Disney Day' volunteer project in the morning and the party in the afternoon. Yes, it will definitely be hectic but I'll be guilt-free about not sending my party guests home with a cold! :-)

[crazypoohbear]

I'm glad that everything worked out for you. I hope your daughter has a wonderful Princess party.
I do want to point out that a fever is not contagious and that having a fever doesn't make you contagious though.
A fever is just a sign that your body has something wrong with it and is trying to regulate itself to fix the problem.
The problem doesn't have to be something that is contagious though
My son's both don't get fevers. My youngest has had pneumonia 8 times and had a fever once when he was one year old.
both my boys have had ear infections, strep, sinus etc and never had a fever.
My youngest had scarlet fever WITHOUT the fever!!
So please dont' jump to conclusions based only on a fever. Some kids naturally run hot while others do not.

[mjaclyn]

So tomorrow is the Princess Party! (rescheduled) DD is still on the mend - fever is gone, but still has a runny nose and a cough. I feel like I'm having to overcome obstacles left and right to have this party!! Two nights ago I came down with a terrible stomach flu. I'm feeling much better today but still tired and weak from barely eating anything for two days. It's also supposed to snow tomorrow. AAAAHHHH!!! Anything else?? Lol Send some pixie dust my way so that I can hopefully pull this off!

[badkitty]

Here you go!

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

Oh my goodness! You certainly been having bad luck for this party. But you'll never forget it that's for sure. Here's pixie dust coming your way that you feel better and that you don't have a big storm for the party.

[DizNee143]

how did the party go? how is everyone feeling?