6th birthday party in a park in mid November?

[Laushe]

Just getting some thoughts on it this is an awful idea. For my sons 6th birthday in mid November I'm considering hiring the venue attached to the cafe in a local park. It's £25 an hour and can hold 50. The park is massive with lots to do including nature trails, crazy golf, duck pond, great play area, huge sand pit, duck pond and tennis/football court.
My son is autistic and will have been in his new specialist school for two months so I'll be inviting the other 8 kids in his specialist class. Out of 20-25 kids about 50% will have sen. I'm thinking the park as its easy to exit the venue if it gets too much for some of them.
I was planning to have an indoor bouncy castle, dj, balloons, bubbles, ball pit, food from the cafe attached
The alternative was to private hire a soft play center. I love the park idea but it is too difficult that time of year? Thank you for any input

The only thing I would worry about is how many adults will there be for 20-25 kids bearing in mind that some may want to go outside on the park (weather permitting) and some won't.

It could be freezing and possible rain.

I don't think you can rely on using the outside space at all, it is more likely to be freezing cold and pissing it down than not. So I guess the question is, without the outside space, would the park cafe or the soft play be best? Could you hire the soft play exclusively so that it was only them there? It's a shame your son doesn't have a summer birthday, because the park sounds fab. I feel for you, my son's is 1st March - it snowed one year!

Guess it depends on your friends! We had my eldests 6th birthday in a woodland in January, told everyone to wear waterproofs and dress warm. There was a firepit area so we took flasks of hot chocolate and toasted marshmallows to go with it. We were lucky in that it didn't rain, but think even if it had been slightly wet (not torrential) most of our mates are the type to put on adequate clothing and come anyway. We made challenges and treasure hunts and things around the woods, put up a slackline, people had a great time! And was no obligation obvs, not your scene...don't come!

We did have one kid turn up in a twirly dress and canvas shoes though....

I think all parents will be staying as I'll be inviting the younger siblings of some kids and obviously the sen parents will know they have to stay. My son adores this park and the venue is lovely. It's just a rubbish weather month for his birthday 😞

Too big, too busy, I think. I’d scale down dramatically. Choose an activity your son will enjoy and invite a few children you know he likes.

So you’d be hiring a venue (hall?) within a park that has a cafe next to it? If so, can you do something in the hall? If everyone is going off in separate directions on different nature trails etc then it’s not really a party.

I'd be hiring out the hall with a bouncy castle, ball pit and other little things like spinning chair and black out tent for sensory regulation. Being in the park would mostly be to help the sen parents if the kids needed some outside space to cool down given they will have quite a lot of additional needs and typical party venues may be too much for them

In which case it sounds great. You have an indoor party venue and entertainment. Then if people want to go outside either during the party or afterwards, then they can.

Sounds perfect, no such thing as bad weather just poor choices of clothing. Children generally don’t get put off by rain and cold as long as they are dressed appropriately it’s adults who complain. It will be really beneficial to have the outside activities for children who may need a little more space