When a loved one passes on, you want to honor their life, what they meant to you, and how they changed the lives of those around them. Spending time with friends and family who are also suffering a loss can help relieve a bit of the heartbreak as you relive your memories with those who understand your pain. Individuals create memorials to help the living adjust to life again. Beautiful and heartfelt memorials help our loved ones say goodbye.
Funeral memorial ideas abound in 2021. Let’s look at some of the newest ways you can remember your loved one.
Memorial Laser Engraved Stones
With the newest types of engraved stones, you can have almost any picture engraved in stone to remember your loved one.
Headstones
Seek out a laser engraver and headstone maker for your artistic headstone. Ensure that the dimensions are correct and talk with your cemetery about extra costs or fees if you choose an online provider not affiliated with your cemetery.
Memorial Paperweights or Garden Stones
Order small engraved stones for memorial paperweights or memory garden stones. Give to your close friends and family. Another idea is to give each funeral guest a smaller granite or marble token to remember their loved one.
Stone Engraving Ideas include:
- Favorite picture of a face
- Sports team logo or scene
- Favorite childhood memory or landscape
- House they grew up in
- Artistic collage of pictures
- Mountain Retreat
- Beach house or scene
- An astrological sign in engraved stars
- Favorite flowers or garden scene
- Scriptures or poems in picture form
Engravers only need a picture, know the type and color of the stone, and know the dimensions. Many online stone engravers offer these types of stones but always speak with your funeral home and cemetery before final order. They may have additional concerns or information that could help.
Dedicate a Star
In today’s world, you can pay to name a star after your loved one. If the deceased was interested in star gazing or passed on telescopes as an inheritance, they perhaps had a favorite constellation or star. Know that their name lives on as you gaze into the night sky.
Memorial Jewelry
Heirloom Jewelry
If you inherited jewelry from a loved one, you could always have a jeweler refashion stones into a modern piece as a memorial you love to wear every single day.
Cremation Diamond
In our modern world, you can send ashes away and receive a beautiful diamond in return. Since diamonds are made from ashes, this is a modern way to always remember and carry a piece of your loved one with you.
Signature Jewelry
If your loved one always wore a strand of pearls, gold hoop earrings, or had a special brooch, make memorial jewelry for yourself and other loved ones. Choose a piece and have copies made honoring your loved one.
Keepsake Locket
For a keepsake locket, make the pictures for the inside feature your loved one and the other person who will receive the locket. Lockets can also hold their ashes.
Fingerprint Jewelry
You can also have your loved one’s fingerprint engraved on a pendant. Fingerprint jewelry can also be done on bracelets, rings, keychains and other items. too.
Urns
There is no rule that all of a person’s ashes must go into one urn. You could order several urns for each of 4 children for example. Memorial plaques on the front let everyone know whose memory you each honor. When guests ask about your loved one, you can honor them by sharing your favorite memories.
Just as individuals scatter ashes into the ocean or off a mountaintop, you can scatter ashes between family members so that all feel loved and included in the grieving process.
Recipe Heirlooms
You may cherish memories of the times you spent around a dinner table with family. Making memorial items related to recipes shared together brings back memories every time you make the same foods. Some ideas for memorial recipes include:
- Fire-engraved wooden cutting recipe board
- Order custom art prints with the recipe featured
- Kitchen art of the foods you loved as a family
- Printing a favorite recipe or picture of dinner as a family in a memorial bulletin
Charitable Donations
Ask guests to contribute to a social cause the deceased advocated for. You can choose to ask for this instead of the traditional flowers. Choose a cause and post the link on social media so that all can contribute easily. A beloved cause could include one these issues:
- Environmental
- Religious
- Missionary
- Political
- Helping the Poor
- Fighting for Rights
- Helping Children
- Animal Rights
Dedicating a Memorial Garden
Dedicate trees or benches at a park to your loved one. Depending on your budget, you could also choose to name a building or an entire park in their memory.
Your Ideas Can Work
No matter how you choose to honor a loved one or prepare for your own memorial, know that your plans matter. Finding unique and meaningful expressions of their impact in the world is part of grieving their loss.
Grief is a journey best taken with others as you recognize your loss and remember the good times together. Memorial plans give importance to the process of moving forward. You can find new hope together while keeping a place in your heart for the deceased.
We Can Help
At Renaissance Funeral Home, we understand your need to memorialize your loved one. We work with you to help create times of remembrance together as you comfort one another in your loss. We respect all religious, social, and cultural backgrounds and are here for you in all of the crucial ways to take care of details, ensure all is smooth, and that your plan works well for all of your family involved. Contact us today and find out how we can help you plan for a loved one or preplan for your own memorial.
