A council has apologised after parents were offered a choice of class photos with or without children with complex needs in them.
Parents at Aboyne Primary complained after being sent a link from a photography company offering them alternative pictures.
None of those are correct. Are you not a native English speaker?
Special occasion means an occasion that isn’t ordinary… i.e. unusual. Special cake for the occasion isn’t surplus, it’s just a cake that is specific to the occasion. Specific, shockingly, shares a root word with special.
Special plates for guests only are the plates you don’t usually use… i.e. unusual. Yes, they might ALSO be extraneous, but that isn’t what makes them special. Heck, if you entertain a lot and use those plates for the guests, then they definitely aren’t extraneous.
Special cupcake means you made something you didn’t make like the normal ones or as many as usual… i.e. unusual.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/special - definition 4
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/special - definition 6
https://www.oed.com/dictionary/special_adj - definitions 4b, 6a–g.