pharmacy graduation party details

apparently no one on the internets throws pharmacy graduation parties? hopefully these party details will help someone else celebrate their pharmD grad! the most helpful party i found online came from today's letters. her husband graduated from PA school and i just had to copy her invitations, plus i already knew i wanted to use pill bottles so that was awesome to see how she used them.

invitation

decor

 the school colors are orange and green so i went with an orange/green/white theme. we hung up balloons strung on fishing line with a large needle. (i'm so surprised i never ended up popping a balloon while i was sewing them on the line! i did this at midnight so i'm super glad that didn't happen and wake everyone up! also i couldn't stop singing won't you pop my balloon during this process, well brett and i sang it all weekend really.)

i also made graduation tassel streamers with orange and green tissue paper (tutorial here). i bought orange and green wrapping paper with the intention of making paper fan pinwheels for behind the dessert table, but alas there was just not enough time. i used the paper as a runner on the dessert table.

menu

when we said we were doing a barbeque for brett's party we got a lot of, "um you're vegan isn't that the opposite of barbeque?" it worked out great though. we've gotten more lax about the oil recently so it was super easy make food the works for both the meat eaters and the vegans. i opted for trays since i had different types of salads and i didn't want the juices to mix and mingle. ideally, if i would have thought about it ahead of time, i would have ordered paper ones. instead i used the cafeteria foam ones (which i found at the dollar general and family dollar for the best deal).

we had:
turkey burgers (premade from costco. healthier option than ground beef per brett's request. i wanted to make this recipe with turkey, but opted for the convenient option.)
boca burgers
hot dogs
white buns/wheat buns/sandwich rounds
veggie kabobs
three bean salad
pasta salad
fruit salad
chips
cookie bar

recipes below were adapted to accommodate our crowd of about 35. 
veggie kabobs (adapted from here)
3 red onions, chunked
7 assorted peppers, chunked
3 zucchini, chunked
2 1/2 cup grape tomatoes
1 pineapple, chunked
1 costco container mushrooms (4 cups?)
marinade
1 cup olive oil
1 cup lemon or lime juice
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup dijon mustard
4 tbsp maple syrup
4 tbsp minced garlic
4 tbsp chopped fresh basil leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
directions
pour marinade over vegetables. cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. preheat an outdoor grill to medium heat. remove vegetables from the marinade, reserving marinade. Thread vegetables onto skewers, alternating colors. cook skewers on grill until vegetables are lightly charred all over, about 10 minutes, basting with reserved marinade and turning occasionally.

three bean salad (adapated from here)
2 lbs fresh green beans, trimmed and halved crosswise
2 cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 cans chick peas, rinsed and drained
2 shallots, thinly sliced
6 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp cider vinegar (i only had balsamic though)
4 tsp grainy mustard
coarse salt and pepper
directions 
in a large pot of boiling water, cook green beans until bright green and crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes. drain and rinse under cold water until cool. In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, oil, oregano, shallot, and mustard. add green beans, red kidney beans, and chickpeas; toss well to combine. season with salt and pepper.

pasta salad
2 boxes rotini pasta
2 oversized hot house cucumbers, chunky diced
2 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
3 assorted peppers, chunky diced
1 block pepper jack cheese, diced
1 block cheddar cheese, diced
2 small cans olives (i only put them in half of the batch)
1 bottle italian dressing 
directions 
boil pasta. while pasta is cooking begin chopping your veggies and cheese. strain cooked noodles and rinse with cold water to cool. mix with chopped ingredients. add dressing just before eating. (don't let it sit too long on the salad, like overnight, because it eats away at the cheese.) 

fruit salad (adapted from cathrie long's recipe. she uses fresh fruit instead of the tropical mix, but for convenience i used pre-cut frozen)
1 bag tropical fruit mix from costco
6 bananas, sliced
1 can orange juice concentrate 
directions
slice bananas into a bowl and mix with orange juice concentrate. let set overnight or at least a few hours. mix with chopped fruit. (set the fruit out to thaw at least an hour. i prefer completely thawed for my sensitive teeth - well really i prefer fresh fruit - but partially thawed makes this double as a nice frozen summer treat.)

treats

for dessert we had a cookie bar since "brett is one smart cookie". my dad and sister in laws who wanted to help each brought at least two kinds of cookies. it was nice to not have to worry about dessert. we had about 8 different types of cookies including a shortbread cookie meant to look like a pill capsule.

i used some of brett's pharmacy books to create height on the table for my 7 different cake plates.

for party favors i filled prescription bottles (jp's old boss gave them to him for free! thanks jp!) with hot tamales and good n' plenty candies. i had 40 bottles and filled them with 4 boxes of good n' plenty (the $1 box) and one big bag of hot tamales from walmart. i recreated the cvs label found here in word (using the avery shipping label 5163) and the barcode found here. i'm willing to email out the label document too, just holler at me! it's kind of scary how easy that is to copy. i used birthdays and favorite numbers, brett's favorite baseball player growing up, and inside jokes about his study habits to write the labels.

 i handed out extra bottles at work the next day and they were a little skeptical to accept the pill bottles i was handing out. they look so real!