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.

Pet Keepsake Urns and Small Pet Memorials: Sharing Ashes, Photo Urns, and Mini Keepsakes

Pet Keepsake Urns and Small Pet Memorials: Sharing Ashes, Photo Urns, and Mini Keepsakes

When a pet dies, it’s common to think you’ll make the memorial decisions right away—choose an urn, choose a spot, choose the words. But grief doesn’t move in neat steps,...

How to Transfer Ashes into an Urn: Step-by-Step Tips, Tools & Safety

How to Transfer Ashes into an Urn: Step-by-Step Tips, Tools & Safety

The moment you decide to move a loved one’s cremated remains into a new urn can feel surprisingly tender. Sometimes it’s because the crematory returned the ashes in a temporary...

14K Gold Cremation Jewelry: How to Choose a Real Gold Urn Necklace (Plus a Price Guide)

14K Gold Cremation Jewelry: How to Choose a Real Gold Urn Necklace (Plus a Price Guide)

If you’re searching for a 14k gold cremation necklace, you’re probably carrying two needs at once: you want something beautiful enough to wear every day, and you want something secure...

Infant & Child Cremation Urns: Sizing, Styles, and Compassionate Buying Tips

Infant & Child Cremation Urns: Sizing, Styles, and Compassionate Buying Tips

There are losses that rearrange time. When a baby or child dies, many families describe the days afterward as both painfully slow and impossibly fast—appointments, forms, phone calls, decisions you...

Keepsake Urns Explained: Mini Urns for Sharing Ashes (Sizes, Filling, and Costs)

Keepsake Urns Explained: Mini Urns for Sharing Ashes (Sizes, Filling, and Costs)

In the first days after a cremation, many families feel surprised by how “practical” grief can become. You’re carrying love and memory, but you’re also making decisions: where the ashes...

Cremation Jewelry Guide: Best Necklace Styles, Materials, Filling Tips, and Shopping Checklist

Cremation Jewelry Guide: Best Necklace Styles, Materials, Filling Tips, and Shopping Checklist

In the days after a cremation, families often discover that the hardest part isn’t paperwork or logistics—it’s deciding what “close” should look like. An urn on a shelf can feel...

Cremation Jewelry Guide: Urn Pendants, Charms & Beads That Hold Ashes

Cremation Jewelry Guide: Urn Pendants, Charms & Beads That Hold Ashes

In the first days after a cremation, many families discover they’re holding two kinds of weight at once: the practical responsibility of deciding what to do with ashes, and the...

What Size Urn Do I Need? A Simple Urn Size Calculator Guide (Cubic Inches Rule + Examples)

What Size Urn Do I Need? A Simple Urn Size Calculator Guide (Cubic Inches Rule + Examples)

There’s a moment after cremation—sometimes right after the call from the provider, sometimes days later—when a surprisingly practical question lands with emotional weight: what size urn do I need? It...

How to Fill a Cremation Urn (and What an “Urn Filler” Is): Tools, Tips, and Clean Transfers

How to Fill a Cremation Urn (and What an “Urn Filler” Is): Tools, Tips, and Clean Transfers

When the cremation process is complete, many families are surprised by what happens next: the ashes usually come home in a temporary container, and at some point you have to...

Hourglass Urns for Ashes: How They Work, Capacity, and What to Know Before You Buy

Hourglass Urns for Ashes: How They Work, Capacity, and What to Know Before You Buy

There’s something quietly comforting about an hourglass. Even people who don’t consider themselves “sentimental” understand the feeling: time passing, love staying, a life held gently between before and after. That’s...

Judaism and Cremation: Beliefs by Tradition and What Families Can Do

Judaism and Cremation: Beliefs by Tradition and What Families Can Do

When a family is facing loss, decisions can arrive faster than grief can catch up. Sometimes the questions come before the goodbye. Sometimes they come after—when a loved one has...

How Long Can You Wait to Hold a Memorial After Cremation?

How Long Can You Wait to Hold a Memorial After Cremation?

In the days after a death, families often expect that there is a “right” order of events: a service, a burial, a gathering, a clear ending. But cremation changes the...

How Cremation Works: The Science of Heat, Bone Processing, and Why It’s Not the Same as Burns

How Cremation Works: The Science of Heat, Bone Processing, and Why It’s Not the Same as Burns

If you’ve ever caught yourself googling how does cremation work at 2 a.m., you’re not alone. Families often want a clear, respectful explanation—something more grounded than internet myths, but not...

Memorial Options When You Only Have a Small Amount of Ashes

Memorial Options When You Only Have a Small Amount of Ashes

Sometimes you expect to receive “the ashes,” and instead you find yourself holding a small container that feels surprisingly light. Or you already scattered most of the remains and kept...

Flying With Cremated Remains: TSA Rules, Airline Tips, and Travel-Friendly Urns

Flying With Cremated Remains: TSA Rules, Airline Tips, and Travel-Friendly Urns

Traveling with someone’s ashes can feel oddly heavy in a way that isn’t just physical. You’re carrying love, responsibility, and a plan you don’t want to mess up—while moving through...

Cremation, Guilt, and “Did I Do the Right Thing?”: Mental Health Perspectives

Cremation, Guilt, and “Did I Do the Right Thing?”: Mental Health Perspectives

Guilt after cremation can feel surprisingly sharp. It can show up in the quiet hours after the arrangements are finished, after the urn arrives, after the house empties out, or...