There are many decisions that will need to be made when planning your loved one’s funeral. It will be one of the most hectic times many of us will go through. It may be a daunting task for some, but you should know that it does not need to be as hard as you think. You will not have to go it alone as long as you choose a compassionate and capable funeral director. They can help you personalize your loved one’s funeral and turn it into the perfect memorial for them with your help and insight of course. You will have to give them some ideas of what your loved one may have enjoyed during their life and what was most important to them, but, usually, it will not be too hard to come up with what they liked and what you want to include. Here are just a few tips and ideas to help you through the process:
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Share your family traditions. If your loved one had a family tradition that they enjoyed, share your memories of them with others at the funeral. If your loved one enjoyed the yearly family vacation, Christmas get-togethers or a nice summer bbq every year with family and friends, let others know about all the great times they once had. It may help them feel closer to your loved one and remember some of the good times they had with them.
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Offer your guests a keepsake to take home. It does not have to be anything big or expensive, but you can offer your guests something that was meaningful to your loved one. It could be a poem or painting they made, pictures of your loved one, a copy of their favorite recipes, a recording of their favorite songs or a piece of jewelry they may have liked. Anything that will help your guests feel closer to your loved one or be reminded of your loved one when they look at it would be the perfect keepsake to offer.
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Play their favorite songs. During the funeral, you can add a nice personal touch by incorporating your loved one’s favorite songs into the service. It is a little step that can add a lot to the funeral. Your guests may even be reminded of old times with your loved one enjoying, singing or dancing to the music that you chose. This is another way to help your guests feel just a little bit closer to your loved one.
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Allow guests to share their memories and stories of your loved one. Many funerals typically feature a single speaker. However, you could step out of the box and allow your guests a certain time during the ceremony to come down and share their memories and stories that they may have of your loved one. This allows them to become a part of memorializing your loved one and a chance to relive these moments while sharing them with everyone else.
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Feature a memory table at the funeral. You can create a table featuring everything the deceased loved. You can place the table at the entrance or near the casket. The table can feature a plethora of things. Whatever brings back good memories of the deceased would be perfect. You can put pictures, mementos, awards, letters, stuffed animals, etc. Anything that would help your guests remember how passionate your loved one was can be included in the table.
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Feature some photos of your loved one. You can add pictures around the funeral of your loved one during the most important or most fun times they had. This can help our guests reminisce about the old times and allow them into a certain time in your loved one’s life. It can help them feel close once again to your loved one and is a fairly easy way to add a personal touch to your loved one’s funeral.
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Personalize the casket or urn. Some families like to put something special in the casket for their loved one to keep with them. You can include jewelry, trinkets, pictures or even their favorite sports team memorabilia. This is a new tradition for many that allow you to openly share something personal with your guests or keep it just among close friends and family. You could also opt for an urn in your loved one’s favorite colors or pattern, or you could get the urn engraved with something meaningful to them. This is just a little way of adding something special to the typical plain silver urn.
These days there are so many choices available to help add to and personalize your loved one’s funeral. You can easily ask your funeral director for any ideas, or if you have something in mind, you can ask your funeral director if it would be okay to do. They are there to help you throughout the funeral and give you direction with the best way to go. If you feel as if you want to add something more to the funeral, do not be afraid to speak with them. They do this a lot and may even have some good ideas to help get you going. It can be stressful and hectic planning your loved one’s funeral, but you can easily make it special without having to put too much money or time into it.