A nice get-together

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A few weeks ago I went to a very friendly public event that some people had organised to bring together people from a wide range of community groups. It was a very informal setting, and they had gone to the trouble of providing lots of delicious food, all for free.

Everyone seemed to be having a great time. Personally, I was completely overwhelmed by the numbers of people there, and struggled with the idea of socialising, as I always do, but I came as close as I could to actually enjoying it, and I could see that everybody else was having a great time.

Subsequently, one of the people who organised it was saying that he was concerned that these events might exclude people with eating disorders or who find social situations challenging. I offered to see what I could find out about how to address these problems and make these events more inviting to anyone who might be put off by either the food or the numbers (there must have been 30-40 people there).

So I'd like to ask people what they do in situations such as these. How do you deal with them (or do you just avoid them altogether)? Have you found some organised social situations easier to deal with than others? If so, was there something specific that made them easier to handle? Can you think of anything that people organising events like this could do to make them more welcoming to autistic people?

I don't know whether there will be people reading this who have any kind of eating disorders or the like, but any suggestions that could help these people get involved would be very much appreciated too. (I thought it might be an idea to post on the forum for other psychological conditions, but I thought that might be considered spamming).

Social events are always difficult--for EVERYBODY--if nobody knows each other previously.

I have an eating disorder (in recovery for anorexia) and also have social difficulties. I usually avoid parties because I can't really handle 30-40 people at once, and food and eating in front of people really freaks me out (but not as much as pre-recovery). I do much better one on one.

A lot of public social events I've heard of or tried to go to lately have tried to include those with sensitivities or disabilities and have included a "chill-out space", which is a separate room or separate area that's quiet and has quiet things to do like crafts or colouring, and if people are overwhelmed or need a break, there's somewhere to go and be quiet and wind down. To accommodate people who might get overwhelmed with food, it could also be a designated food-free zone.