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Sorry you had to cancel your plans! I hope your LO feels better soon!

I would have canceled too, especially given the fever.

My son came down with pink eye literally the hour before his second birthday party. We were hosting at home with a guitar / music guy and a lot of homemade food and basically a ton of effort, and it was literally took late to cancel. So we held the party and got some stink eye from a few parents and took him to the doctor the next day (his actuaL birthday). I really had no idea what to do considering that most people were already on their way to our place.

I'd cancel based solely on my son telling me he didn't feel well. I figure if a child says that knowing that it means missing his birthday activities, then it should be taken seriously, fever or not (technically 99 isn't a fever, but you can feel plenty crappy without a full-blown fever).

I really think cancelling is the right thing to do. No one appreciates sharing germs, however mild the symptoms may seem. Last minute cancellations for that reason are completely cool with me. I can find something else to do on the fly, but I can't un-expose my family, you know?

My son runs hot, I am sure there are times when he would have registered 99 degrees but not had anything else that would have caused me to think he was ill.

The biggest thing for me though, would be that if my son told me he wasn't feeling well, that would be enough for me to cancel. I am big on my son learning to listen to his body.

I really do assume that with children, there is always a good chance they will be sick for whatever. I have had to cancel so many plans in the last 3.5 years because one or both of my kids were sick. If it was in the case of a larger birthday party and it was something where my kid could power through for 2 hours with Advil, I would probably still hold the party (because we'd likely have family visiting from out of town who would take the risk), but immediately call everyone else who had RSVPed and let them off the hook. If my kid was really sick, I'd cancel absolutely. I think its just a risk you have to factor in when setting a budget and planning a large party for a small child.

But its also probably why I really just do casual family dinners for any non-major birthdays. So far we have only hosted a real party for their 1st birthdays (we had lots of out of town grandparents and family), and even then the parties were only scheduled for 2 hours.

If my kiddo had symptoms that would keep her home from school (fever, bad cough, rash, etc.), I would cancel her party and give her all the cuddles. No questions. We've done it before.

If she said she wasn't feeling well, and we had plans with other kids, I wouldn't go. I'm a stickler for trying my best to not spread germs. It actually really bothers me when people take their sick kids out.