Baby "Sprinkle" Location?

My fiance and I want to do a baby sprinkle with friends we haven't seen in a long time. Since they're also broke college kids I don't want anybody to feel obligated to bring gifts, so I wanted to just have a last-party-before-we-have-a-baby party. However, we're about to move into a smaller apartment, and don't want to hold it in our house while we're getting ready to move. We were kind of the party hub for family because our house could fit a ton of people, so we're trying to think of a location. I'm debating between making a reservation at a restaurant where we can all go eat and catch up or a park pavilion and just bring food and drinks. Has anybody had experience with either/both for a shower? How did it go for y'all?