THE INVITATIONS
Ah, dental puns. I will never grow tired of you! I won't admit how long I worked on this invitation, but I will say that I went through multiple drafts. Things I wanted to be sure to include were his senior photo, a giant tooth, his school colors, and the "DDS" after his name.
I designed it in Microsoft Word and saved the final version as a PDF. Then, I uploaded that PDF to zamzar.com to convert it from PDF to .jpeg. Finally, I uploaded my .jpeg to Walmart Photo and ordered about 50.
THE GUEST LIST
Of course you want to include family and friends but you may also want to think about inviting any mentors or Dentists who helped your graduate along the way. We made sure to include any Dentists who let Robbie job shadow, volunteer, or work in their office prior to applying to Dental School. Even if you haven't kept in contact or you don't think they will be able to make it, receiving an invitation is a nice way of acknowledging their help in achieving this dream.
THE DECORATIONS
We're sticking with his school colors (black and gold) for all the details like plates, balloons, streamers, plastic ware, etc. and white for everything else. Party City will blow up any package of balloons from their store for free, then we'll get some foil balloons from Dollar Tree (since they are only $1 compared to $5-10 at Party City).
THE FOOD
I don't really want to go overboard on the tooth theme but if you're into that, there are plenty of ideas on Pinterest for tooth cupcakes, mouthwash colored punch, tooth shaped cookies, tooth shaped rice krispy treats, and so on. Just do a search for Dental School Graduation and click on Boards to find a zillion ideas (or you can just click this link to get there as well).
We're sticking with pulled pork BBQ sandwiches, cole slaw, fruit salad, veggie finger foods, cubed cheeses, and other basic summer bbq type snacks. I'll get a simple graduation sheet cake from Wal-Mart and possibly something small and gluten free for Robbie from Whole Foods.
I'm also going to have a little candy station where people can fill a bag with some candy to take home. I bought a cheap chalkboard sign and I'm going to write "Help yourself to some
THE MEMORIES
For Robbie's party, we are using the clubhouse in Robbie's parents' neighborhood and it happens to come with a projector you can hook up to a computer. I've compiled a bunch of our Dental School photos into a Powerpoint slideshow (with some Dental humor cartoons dispersed throughout) to play on a loop during the party. Most of the photos are of things Robbie worked on during school. I also included photos from trips we took, when we bought our first house, and when Jubilee was born since those were all important memories we made during the course of school.
If you don't have access to a projector, you could also try to find a cheap collage frame from Wal-Mart or possibly a thrift store to fill with your favorite memories. Many people at your party won't know what Dental School is like so sharing photos helps them connect with the journey.
THE SPEECH
If you feel comfortable talking in front of people, it can be really meaningful to give a short speech about your graduate. Tell them how proud you are of all their hard work, thank the people that helped along the way, and give a little toast to their future in the Dental field. I got surprisingly teary while writing my speech as it truly hit home to me how far we've come and just how quickly this chapter of our lives is about to come to a close.
If you aren't comfortable talking in front of others, at least take the time to write a letter to your graduate so they know how you feel on this momentous occasion!
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