Prom For Special Needs Kids Coming To Vienna In May

VIENNA, VA — The Vienna community will see its 4th annual prom for students with special needs on May 8.

The Vienna Presbyterian Church will host the fourth annual Be Our Guest Prom next month. The event, which typically draws dozens of local kids and adults, includes a dinner, dancing, karaoke and other activities, plus gifts.

Teenagers with special needs are matched with peer buddies, usually local high school or college students or members of the church youth group, while their parents are treated to a catered dinner in another part of the church.

“It’s one of our favorite nights of the year,” Caitlin Thrasher of Vienna told Patch.

Thrasher’s family has attended every one of these proms. Her two children, Grace, 16 and Henry, 14, are on the autism spectrum.

“It’s just such a great environment to be yourself and relax,” she said. Thrasher returns year after year to see her kids and others getting “to experience this joy with their friends and their peers.”

Parents not only get to witness their kids having a blast, but get a party of their own, as well.

At the event, “my husband and I get to go and have dinner and meet some other parents,” she explained. “We don’t get that many opportunities to socialize with other special needs parents, so that’s always been great.”

The events are well attended by kids and adults of all abilities, and while they are billed as proms for special needs students, a party is a party, and buddies and parents are there to have a good time as much as anyone attending.

Of the buddies, Thrasher says, “it really just looks like everybody’s having fun. They’re at a dance and they’re having fun, but they’re supporting their buddy, making sure that we know where their buddies are.”

“It’s very special,” she told Patch.

The party takes place over multiple rooms, with a main dance floor, a karaoke room, a room to relax and places for parents as well as special needs adults to hang out and mingle.

The event is open to all and the church is actively looking for guests, buddies and volunteers. Thrasher says about 40 people have registered so far and the events usually draw a few dozen more.

For more information about attending or getting involved, click here.