I actually attended the party over the weekend and as the kids were running around playing, I mostly interacted with the adults which put me a little more at ease as that was one less communication issue to tackle. I only knew my neighbor's and there were about 12 people there and everybody was very good at making me feel welcome and included me in the conversations. This greatly helped but as the evening went on I found myself unable to focus on everything that was being said and was only able to catch certain words and connect things from there. I did use your earlier suggestions about facial expressions, nodding and short verbal responses to imply that I'm interested and that went rather well. It's when I open my damn mouth that I messed up. It wasn't what I said but how it came out. My response thoughts were not the same as my verbal responses. Overall, I did much better than I normally do and your homework for me was a big help.

Even though the event has passed, I'm going to make a point to make more small talk while doing errands and shopping as this can only assist me in being more comfortable when communicating in the future. Forward and up!