How do I force the shell I called a script from to reload .bashrc from inside the script?

I'm trying to make a "new box" script that sets everything up the way I like it. Everything works, except for reloading .bashrc.

I know I can "just" do . ~/.bashrc or exec bash or any of the other ways to apply changes after running the script. But it kind of defeats the purpose of making a one-button fix, and coming this far just to get screwed on the last step is driving me nuts lol

I've tried adding all of the source ~./bashrc exec bash stuff to the script, but no joy since it is only reloading it for the script's environment, not the calling shell

I'm still fairly new so it's probably something super obvious which would explain why I couldn't googlefu the answer >.<

any help would be much appreciated.