This was the very first proper disco birthday party DS got invited at (he has known this little girl since birth).
DS is 4 ( mild asd). Before he has been to smaller parties and things hadn't been too bad actually.
But this turned out quite different, it was in a hall, with a dj, disco lights, and ...lots of kids.
After usual initial refusal to enter, he went in and quickly played chase and running around happily.
Then party games started... pass the parcel, i explained to a bewildered DS what he had to do, stayed with him to make sure he passed the parcel, with a nudge he was doing fine until another kid won the present.
Oh boy! DS just went into one... crying, screaming. No matter what i said or tried to do he wouldn't stop.
Dj came to talk to him to say there will be more games with more presents, that alone made him scream more
Another game started, DS was still crying and simply not getting it, he was getting upset over everything and nothing.
So i tried to leave, he didn't want to leave! ...and was kicking and screaming as i was struggling to put his coat on.
A friend who we rarely see , came over to ask if 'he was on medications?'...WTF!!!
It was a bad experience and we won't be repeating it in a hurry.
Poor DS had such red swollen eyes for the rest of the afternoon from all the crying.
I sort of get into a 'comfort bubble' regarding DS's asd issues, you know like we do the same old stuff at home and DS hasn't got much socialising with peers outside of nursery routine and park, so that was a nasty wake up call.
Still i won't let get me down again... there are other stuff we can do that DS does enjoys, will stick to these in the future.