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.

Which Urns Last the Longest? Durability by Material, Sealing Tips, and How to Choose the Right Urn

Which Urns Last the Longest? Durability by Material, Sealing Tips, and How to Choose the Right Urn

When families ask “which urns last the longest,” they’re rarely asking a purely technical question. What they usually mean is: if we choose this now—during a week that already feels...

Private vs Communal Pet Cremation: Pros, Cons, Cost Differences, and Which Option Returns Ashes

Private vs Communal Pet Cremation: Pros, Cons, Cost Differences, and Which Option Returns Ashes

When a pet dies, the house can feel strangely rearranged. The familiar sounds are missing. The routine you built together—food bowls, walk times, the soft weight at the foot of...

How to Mail Cremation Ashes Safely for Jewelry or Other Memorial Services

How to Mail Cremation Ashes Safely for Jewelry or Other Memorial Services

If you are reading this, you may be holding something that feels both precious and overwhelming. Maybe a jeweler has sent you a small kit for a ring or pendant....

Caring for Cremation Jewelry: Cleaning, Storage, and How Long It Can Last

Caring for Cremation Jewelry: Cleaning, Storage, and How Long It Can Last

If you’re reading this, you may be holding two realities at once. One is tender and personal: a piece of cremation jewelry that keeps someone (or a beloved pet) close...

Pet Cremation Jewelry Guide: Necklaces, Charms, and Diamonds—How to Choose and Buy Safely

Pet Cremation Jewelry Guide: Necklaces, Charms, and Diamonds—How to Choose and Buy Safely

When a pet dies, the world can feel strangely ordinary around you. The mail still arrives. The dishes still need washing. And yet everything is different—because the small, constant presence...

Coordinating Pet and Human Ashes: Shared Scattering, Joint Memorials, and Future Planning

Coordinating Pet and Human Ashes: Shared Scattering, Joint Memorials, and Future Planning

There are some questions families don’t expect to face until they’re already carrying them. One of them is what it means to honor more than one set of ashes in...

Do Cremation Ashes Attract Spirits or “Hold Energy”? Beliefs, Comfort Tips, and Faith-Based Guidance

Do Cremation Ashes Attract Spirits or “Hold Energy”? Beliefs, Comfort Tips, and Faith-Based Guidance

It’s a question people often whisper, sometimes even to themselves: do cremation ashes attract spirits, or do they hold energy in a way that changes the feeling of a home? The...

Which Religions Prefer Cremation? Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh Traditions and What Families Do With Ashes

Which Religions Prefer Cremation? Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh Traditions and What Families Do With Ashes

When a death happens, families often discover that the hardest decisions aren’t only practical. They’re emotional, and sometimes deeply spiritual. Even if your loved one wasn’t especially religious, faith traditions...

Cremation Urn Materials Guide: Metal, Wood, Ceramic, Stone, and Biodegradable Options (Plus What Can Be Buried)

Cremation Urn Materials Guide: Metal, Wood, Ceramic, Stone, and Biodegradable Options (Plus What Can Be Buried)

Choosing an urn can feel strangely difficult. Not because you can’t find something beautiful, but because the object you choose is tied to a decision you didn’t want to have...

When Family Doesn’t Claim Ashes: Timelines, Responsibilities, and Next Steps

When Family Doesn’t Claim Ashes: Timelines, Responsibilities, and Next Steps

When someone dies, the days that follow can feel like a blur of phone calls, paperwork, and decisions no one wanted to make. In the middle of that fog, it...

How Big Is a Cremation Urn? Sizes, Cubic Inches, and What Fits in a Columbarium Niche

How Big Is a Cremation Urn? Sizes, Cubic Inches, and What Fits in a Columbarium Niche

If you’re shopping for cremation urns for the first time, it can feel strangely technical at a moment that’s already tender. A listing might say “200 cubic inches,” while your real...

How the Cremation Process Works in the U.S.: Step-by-Step, Crematorium Basics, and Container Options

How the Cremation Process Works in the U.S.: Step-by-Step, Crematorium Basics, and Container Options

When you are grieving, the hardest part is often that everything feels urgent and unfamiliar at the same time. Cremation can be a gentle, practical choice, but families still deserve...

Pet Cremation 101: The Full Process Explained (Identification Tag to Return of Ashes)

Pet Cremation 101: The Full Process Explained (Identification Tag to Return of Ashes)

If you’re reading this, you may be in that strange, tender space where grief and logistics overlap. You’ve said goodbye (or you’re about to), and now you’re being asked questions...

Jewelry from Pet Ashes: How It Works, Costs, and Choosing a Design You’ll Love

Jewelry from Pet Ashes: How It Works, Costs, and Choosing a Design You’ll Love

When a pet dies, grief rarely arrives in one clean wave. It shows up in ordinary moments: a leash still hanging by the door, a food bowl you can’t bring...

Is Cremation Jewelry Okay for Christians? Faith, Respect, and Wearing Ashes Daily

Is Cremation Jewelry Okay for Christians? Faith, Respect, and Wearing Ashes Daily

It often starts with a simple, tender impulse: you want to keep someone close. Not in a vague, sentimental way, but in the most practical way possible—close enough that you...

What to Do With Pet Ashes: Options, Rituals, and Meaning

What to Do With Pet Ashes: Options, Rituals, and Meaning

When a beloved pet dies, the quiet that follows can feel unreal. And then, often sooner than you’d like, something tangible arrives: a container, a box, a bag inside a...