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.

Grieving a Grandchild: The Double Heartbreak of Child Loss for Grandparents

Grieving a Grandchild: The Double Heartbreak of Child Loss for Grandparents

There are losses we expect to face as we age—friends, siblings, even parents if we’re among the last living in a generation. A grandchild’s death shatters that quiet expectation. It...

How to Support a Grieving Parent: What to Say, What to Do, and What to Avoid

How to Support a Grieving Parent: What to Say, What to Do, and What to Avoid

When a parent loses a child, the world becomes unfamiliar. The parent you love is still there, but everything about their life has been rearranged by grief. If you’re reading...

Funeral Attire for Children: Comfortable, Respectful Outfits for Different Types of Services

Funeral Attire for Children: Comfortable, Respectful Outfits for Different Types of Services

If you’re trying to figure out funeral attire for children, you’re probably balancing two very real needs at the same time: you want your child to be comfortable enough to...

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...

What to Bring to a Grieving Family: Practical Sympathy Gifts That Truly Help - Funeral.com, Inc.

What to Bring to a Grieving Family: Practical Sympathy Gifts That Truly Help

When someone you care about is newly bereaved, it is natural to want to arrive with something in your hands. Most people mean well, but grief has a way of...

Planning a Child’s Funeral: What to Expect, Special Considerations, and Support Resources - Funeral.com, Inc.

Planning a Child’s Funeral: What to Expect, Special Considerations, and Support Resources

When a child dies, time can feel warped. Minutes crawl, but decisions appear fast and urgent: calls to make, paperwork to sign, family to notify, and the question of what...

Funeral Planning for Aging Parents: How Adult Children Can Start the Conversation - Funeral.com, Inc.

Funeral Planning for Aging Parents: How Adult Children Can Start the Conversation

Most adult children don’t avoid funeral planning because they’re careless. They avoid it because they’re trying to protect their parent from fear—and themselves from the ache of imagining life without...

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...

Sibling Grief: The “Forgotten Mourners” (What Adults and Kids Need) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Sibling Grief: The “Forgotten Mourners” (What Adults and Kids Need)

When someone dies, families often move instinctively toward the relationships the world recognizes most easily: a spouse, a parent, a child. Even in loving families, that spotlight can unintentionally leave...

How to Talk to Toddlers About Death (Without Scary Metaphors) - Funeral.com, Inc.

How to Talk to Toddlers About Death (Without Scary Metaphors)

If you’re reading this, you’re probably trying to do two hard things at once: grieve (or support someone you love) and also figure out what to say to a very...

Best Gifts for a Grieving Family: Thoughtful Ideas That Actually Help - Funeral.com, Inc.

Best Gifts for a Grieving Family: Thoughtful Ideas That Actually Help

When someone you care about is grieving, the instinct to “do something” is immediate. You want to bring comfort, lighten the load, and show up in a way that doesn’t...

25+ Sympathy Gifts to Send to Comfort After Loss: Food, Keepsakes, and Practical Help - Funeral.com, Inc.

25+ Sympathy Gifts to Send to Comfort After Loss: Food, Keepsakes, and Practical Help

When someone dies, the people closest to them often describe the same strange experience: the world keeps moving, but their capacity for decisions disappears. If you want to send sympathy...

Best Gifts for a Grieving Family: Meaningful Ideas That Feel Supportive, Not Awkward - Funeral.com, Inc.

Best Gifts for a Grieving Family: Meaningful Ideas That Feel Supportive, Not Awkward

When someone you care about loses a loved one, the urge to “do something” is immediate. And yet, buying or sending something can feel strangely complicated. You don’t want to...