Now that the graduation ceremony is remote and virtual, how do you celebrate the occasion?
Last year, we were still in the depths of lockdown.
We had a drive by celebration, which was better than nothing but still sucked. We served our friends hot, freshly made glazed donuts, because it was an unseasonably cold day. In fact, it snowed. We had the kids (D and her bf) put on caps and gowns, took a bunch of pics, had a very good celebration dinner and home made cake, and a goodie bag for each of them. I think they both appreciated it very much, but it was a poor substitute for a real graduation.
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I got cake, drinks on the list. Nice meal can be added later. Warm body is a bit scare enough thee days. Presents and photos and make a lot of noise?
I have 2 graduating. Because of covid, I can’t celebrate with either of them in person for their ceremonies. Both ceremonies are virtual anyway. Normally, we would go out for dinner.
For the oldest, graduating from law school, I celebrated by sharing his “Graduated from Law School” Facebook update. He was semi-mortified by all his aunties and various family friends posting congratulatory wishes. Causing moritification to a 25 year old = parental success!
Child#2 is graduating from a tough undergrad program. She finished over a month ago but hasn’t had her graduation ceremony yet. It’s still a couple of weeks away. Maybe there’s a baby picture I can find to post to Facebook to celebrate. 
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Would you do gowns? Is it overdoing it? I feel it is overdoing but, I don’t see how to get photos otherwise.
We had 2 virtual graduations last year: medical school and business school. Our MD did not do the gown and photos, the MBA grad did (a friend was the photographer). We could not do any in person celebrating because both kids were concerned about getting their old folks infected, so we got them treats and gifts and toasted to their future via Skype.
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Grad school graduation last year. Family and friends made short videos, congratulating him, and put together as a video. We were on line at the time. His wife had bought some decorations. It was the best we could do.
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My daughter ended up with an in-person graduation last month. They had multiple smaller graduations with limited capacity and masks. Also kept ceremonies short. But when it looked like it would be virtual, she wanted my wife and me to come back and watch online with her and then go to dinner. That is what we planned to do had it been virtual.
She is headed to grad school in the fall so this was just a stop in the formal educational journey. My son’s girlfriend graduated last year and they had a virtual ceremony. As the first person in her family to graduate college, in person ceremony that her parents and siblings could have attended wold have been very meaningful. But at the end of the day, she has a degree and a very good job. IMO, that is more important than the ceremony with pizza box hats.
D21’s undergrad (outdoor) graduation on Saturday with up to 4 guests…masks required. Mask free acceptance of diploma crossing the stage…maskless photos with friends afterward. Helping matters dramatically was the fact that all of those on campus had been vaccinated. No cases in over a month. School removed mask requirements and didn’t harp on distance requirements for senior week, and it was about as normal a week as could have been expected for her. We considered not going back in the spring…and it would have been a huge mistake. She had a blast the second half of the semester (once vaccinated).
This was followed by our first family meal in a restaurant since March of last year. Minus masks…it was about as normal as HS graduation 4 years ago.
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