Tips/advice needed for a social situation

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I've been invited to go to a 'girly evening' tomorrow. I am trying to challenge myself and attempt things which make me uncomfortable, so I said I'd go.
The woman who is hosting the evening works for an organisation to do with Autism and Aspergers, and she knows that I might struggle with this. She has tried to help me by emailing me a list of the food she will be providing and ideas about what might happen during the evening.
I would like to be able to eat the food, as I have been challenging myself on this recently, and I managed to eat something that she had made this Tuesday. I am usually very uncomfortable eating food that others make, but have improved on this recently, moving from only eating food I or my family make to eating foods that some of the people I know make as well.
I would also like to be able to relax in this social situation. I know vaguely what will be happening, but I would like to be able to go along with whatever happens, and to be able to make small talk.
However, I know that this may not happen. On Tuesday I was at a social function and there were many more people than I had anticipated. I was also very tired. I ended up sitting in the kitchen to try and get away from all the noise.
Does anybody have any advice or tips on how I could make this situation work?

Would it be easier to find another person in the group who is also new, and make small talk with them? This makes you look as if you are part of the larger group, but narrows the necessary socializing down to one person. I do this a lot -- I just talk with one person at a time, rather than trying to respond to multiple people all at once. Also, if you do a little bit of socializing and then have to find a way to leave the group for a break (as you have done before, in the kitchen) you have still succeeded in pushing your personal "envelope" by just showing up for this thing and trying. There's nothing wrong with taking a break from the noise and confusion. I usually socialize a litte, then take a break in a quiet place, then socialize a little more, then take a break, etc. Also, it's not a bad thing in a big group like this to NOT contribute to the conversation. You can just listen and nod your head to show that you're paying attention to the conversation -- you don't absolutely have to converse.