6 smart things you can do now to prepare for graduation
I have always been a huge advocate of creating lifetime keepsakes for graduates and not just ‘picture boards for the party’. Telling your graduate’s story is a great way to mark the milestone, celebrate it, and show your graduate how much you love them.
With that in mind, here are 6 things that you can do now to prepare for graduation:
1. Sort through your printed photos. If you hadn’t purchased a digital camera yet when your graduate was born, you may only have baby photos in printed form. Start sorting through those pics, select the favorites that you know you want to preserve long-term and maybe use for graduation, and get them scanned.
If you need a simple sorting process, check out this blog: Choose awesome…how to sort the box
For scanning, you can either find a trusted company (CYP offers this service) or scan them yourself. If you decide to scan them yourself, I recommend scanning at 600 dpi., which will give you more flexibility in printing and in other projects.
2. Organize your digital photos using facial recognition to find your graduate. I love when we can get technology to do the work for us. Finding pics of your graduate amongst a digital photo collection that may not be as organized as you’d like, can be pretty challenging. My advice is to first get all of your digital photos into one place. Once you do that, you can put technology to work. Two photo organization programs that do facial recognition well is Apple Photos on the Mac and Adobe Lightroom.
Can’t get past ‘getting your digital photos into one place’? I got you! Let’s talk.
3. Print the graduation announcement. Why wait? Get this checked off your list. If you don’t have the party planned yet, you can always add those details on a separate piece of paper.
4. Make an Album. I have 2 kids that have graduated from high school. One thing I did for both of them was to create a digital album, a keepsake that they will have forever.
If you are like most of my clients, very few pictures have been printed since the first digital camera was purchased. Now is the time to rediscover those memories and share them with your graduate. I say this with all the love, if you don’t do it now, it may not happen and you will have missed the perfect opportunity to relive the stories and memories that will help you continue to build your relationship for years to come.
I like Mixbook and mpix for printing digital albums.
5. Make a slideshow highlighting your graduate. It doesn’t even matter if you plan to use it for a party or not. Our kids are digital natives. They enjoy and sometimes prefer to watch their memories on a screen. How beautiful would it be to surprise your graduate with a video all about him/her to make them feel extra special and loved during this time when they may be feeling a bit nostalgic.
At Capture Your Photos, we create something we call the ‘mini’, which is a short slideshow using just 1 song and about 40 photos that can easily be shared online. I love these because they are easy to create, fun to share and oh so very sweet.
6. Ask family members or friends to make a quick video on their phones. It’s so easy these days for even grandpa and grandma to record a quick video telling your graduate how much they love him/her. Or you can ask them to tell a favorite story about the graduate. Imagine compiling these clips and presenting your child with this keepsake that affirms everything good about who they are and how much they are loved. Priceless!
Take advantage of this time to rediscover these beautiful memories and get started celebrating your graduate. In times like this, photos can be both comforting and provide an opportunity to bring laughter and love into the world. Enjoy the process and good luck sharing your graduate’s story.
Need help finding your graduate’s photos? Set up a free consultation HERE.
AND…grab our FREE GETTING STARTED GUIDE that includes tips for how to get started organizing your photos. It helps you create a plan and teaches you how to take inventory of your collection.
Check out our other graduation blogs HERE.
Make it stand out
Holly Corbid is the Founder/Owner of Capture Your Photos, where we help you to organize, preserve, and share your lifetime of memories. Helping you touch hearts with your photos is our passion. We specialize in digital photo organization and work remotely with clients all over the country.
Holly is also the creator of The Photo Organizing Blueprint, an online course that provides a step-by-step guide to organizing your photos.
Find us at www.captureyourphotos.com or contact us here.