When someone you love passes away, their passing brings about a unique type of pain. And thought of planning a funeral can make it hard to cope. There’s a brighter alternative.
Instead of using customary measures to bury your loved one, plan a celebration of life.
In a celebration service, their remains aren’t present. That makes it easier to keep the focal point on happy memories.
Would you like to honor a loved one by remembering the best parts of their life? Use this guide to help you, your friends and your family make plans.
Gather Keepsakes and Mementos
Sometimes spelled momento, a memento is an object or item that serves as a positive memory. It’s something from the past of the deceased that sparks a happy thought.
Mementos could be anything from old tickets from a first baseball game to a favorite recipe. Also, things like trophies, poems, and photos.
Gather up a small collection of the most important ones to share. Attach small memory cards to each memento that tell a short story. That way those in attendance can share in the history of the keepsake.
Guest List
A guest list is important if you plan to feed people afterward. This is a celebration, so feeding the guests would be a nice touch.
Also, the number of guests determines the size of the venue.
Go through your loved one’s call list on their phone. Check into their friend lists on social media. Try to invite those people they actively communicated with. Family and friends are a given.
So once you nail everyone else down, you can plan a meal size and look for hosting location.
A Celebration of Life Menu
After you’ve locked down a guest list and venue, put together the menu. Plan to have more than enough food.
If the guest list consists of mostly adults, plan for double the portion size. Expect for each guest to eat at least two servings. Not every person will. But by planning this way, you won’t have to worry about running out of food.
Celebrate Your Loved One
Death is a rite of passage. It hurts saying goodbye to someone we adored, but sometimes in life, we have no choice.
We can control how we say goodbye. Instead of going the usual route of planning a funeral, throw a celebration of life. Say farewell to your loved one by remembering the best parts of them with family and friends.
We’d love to help. Take a look at our celebrant services for more insight into how to say to goodbye.