The Funeral.com Journal

Resources to help you create tributes as unique as the people (and pets) you love. Learn how engraving, photos, colors, and symbols add meaning; discover scattering rituals and at-home memorial ideas. We focus on the details that matter—because small choices can carry a lifetime of comfort.

When Family Can’t Agree on Funeral Plans: Practical Mediation Steps and Decision Rules

When Family Can’t Agree on Funeral Plans: Practical Mediation Steps and Decision Rules

If you’re in the middle of a funeral planning disagreement, it can feel like you’re trying to build a clear plan on shifting sand. People are grieving, everyone is tired,...

Blended Families and Funerals: Navigating Exes, Step-Relatives, and Decision-Making

Blended Families and Funerals: Navigating Exes, Step-Relatives, and Decision-Making

When a family is blended, grief can feel like it has more than one address. There may be an ex-spouse who still matters, stepchildren who loved the person deeply, adult...

Funeral Planning From Afar: A Checklist for Next of Kin Who Live Out of Town

Funeral Planning From Afar: A Checklist for Next of Kin Who Live Out of Town

If you’re next of kin and you live far away, the hardest part often isn’t the distance itself. It’s the feeling that everything is happening without you while you’re trying...

Small Funeral vs Large Service: How to Decide What’s Right for Your Family - Funeral.com, Inc.

Small Funeral vs Large Service: How to Decide What’s Right for Your Family

When a death happens, many families assume there’s a single “correct” kind of service—until they realize they’re trying to solve two different problems at once. You’re trying to honor a...

Planning a Funeral With a Big Family: How to Manage Opinions and Keep the Peace - Funeral.com, Inc.

Planning a Funeral With a Big Family: How to Manage Opinions and Keep the Peace

When a big family is grieving, love and stress can show up in the same sentence. One sibling wants “something simple,” another wants “what Mom would have wanted,” an aunt...

How to Talk to Family About Funeral Wishes: A 5-Step Conversation Guide - Funeral.com, Inc.

How to Talk to Family About Funeral Wishes: A 5-Step Conversation Guide

Most people don’t avoid talking about funeral planning because they don’t care. They avoid it because it feels like bringing a storm cloud into an ordinary day. It can feel...

What to Take to a Grieving Family: 10 Practical Comfort Gifts (and How to Deliver Them) - Funeral.com, Inc.

What to Take to a Grieving Family: 10 Practical Comfort Gifts (and How to Deliver Them)

When someone you care about loses a loved one, the urge to “do something” can feel urgent. You want to show up in a way that actually helps, not in...

What Actually Helps After a Death in the Family: Support Ideas Beyond Flowers - Funeral.com, Inc.

What Actually Helps After a Death in the Family: Support Ideas Beyond Flowers

When someone you care about experiences a death in the family, it’s natural to want to help. Many of us instinctively think of sending flowers or a card, but families...

From Decisions to Comfort: A Family Guide to Cremation Urns, Pet Urns, Cremation Jewelry, and What to Do With Ashes - Funeral.com, Inc.

From Decisions to Comfort: A Family Guide to Cremation Urns, Pet Urns, Cremation Jewelry, and What to Do With Ashes

Most people don’t go looking for cremation urns for ashes because it sounds like a project they’re ready for. It usually starts with a quieter, heavier moment: the call from...

What to Do When Family Can’t Travel: Remote Memorial Ideas That Still Feel Close - Funeral.com, Inc.

What to Do When Family Can’t Travel: Remote Memorial Ideas That Still Feel Close

When someone dies and the people who love them are scattered—across states, across countries, across schedules that do not bend easily—grief can pick up an extra edge. Families often say...

Memorial Service Ideas for Families Who Don’t Want “Traditional” - Funeral.com, Inc.

Memorial Service Ideas for Families Who Don’t Want “Traditional”

If you’re reading this, you may already know what you don’t want. You don’t want a room that feels stiff or scripted. You don’t want traditions that don’t fit your...

What to Do If a Family Member Is Uncomfortable With Ashes at Home - Funeral.com, Inc.

What to Do If a Family Member Is Uncomfortable With Ashes at Home

After a cremation, families often assume the “hard decisions” are over. And then the ashes come home, and a different kind of decision begins—one that can feel surprisingly loaded. One...

Scattering vs Keeping Ashes at Home: How Families Decide - Funeral.com, Inc.

Scattering vs Keeping Ashes at Home: How Families Decide

After cremation, there is often a quiet moment that surprises people. The phone calls slow down. The paperwork is mostly done. The funeral home returns the remains, usually in a...

Mailing Keepsakes to Relatives: Safer Ways to Do It - Funeral.com, Inc.

Mailing Keepsakes to Relatives: Safer Ways to Do It

There are a few moments in grief that feel deceptively small, but weigh a lot. Putting a portion of someone’s ashes into a box, taping it closed, and trusting the...

A Calm Family Conversation Script for Sharing Ashes - Funeral.com, Inc.

A Calm Family Conversation Script for Sharing Ashes

There’s a moment after cremation that many families don’t expect to feel so tender: someone asks, “So… what are we doing with the ashes?” It sounds practical. It is practical....

How to Divide Ashes Among Family Members - Funeral.com, Inc.

How to Divide Ashes Among Family Members

When a loved one is cremated, the moment the ashes come home can feel surprisingly heavy. Not because the container is large, but because it holds a decision you may...