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.

Last Letters and Video Messages: How to Leave Meaningful Goodbyes for Loved Ones

Last Letters and Video Messages: How to Leave Meaningful Goodbyes for Loved Ones

Most families don’t set out to create “legacy content.” They set out to love each other, to build a life, and to get through whatever the world puts in front...

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...

Buying Cemetery Property Now vs Later: Costs, Availability, and Resale Rules for Plots

Buying Cemetery Property Now vs Later: Costs, Availability, and Resale Rules for Plots

If you’ve found yourself wondering whether to buy cemetery plot now or later, you’re not being “morbid.” You’re trying to protect your future self—and the people you love—from rushed decisions,...

Cremation With a Viewing: How Visitation Works (With or Without Embalming)

Cremation With a Viewing: How Visitation Works (With or Without Embalming)

In the first hours after a death, families often feel pulled in two directions at once. One part of you wants the simplest path forward. Another part of you wants...

Living Funeral Explained: How to Plan a Celebration of Life Before Death - Funeral.com, Inc.

Living Funeral Explained: How to Plan a Celebration of Life Before Death

There are moments in serious illness and advanced age when time feels both precious and strangely unreal. Conversations get postponed because everyone is trying to stay hopeful, and yet the...

Planning Multi-Location Memorials: Coordinating Tributes in Different Cities at the Same Time - Funeral.com, Inc.

Planning Multi-Location Memorials: Coordinating Tributes in Different Cities at the Same Time

When a family is spread across cities, a single gathering can feel like an impossible compromise. Someone is recovering from surgery. Someone can’t afford a last-minute flight. Someone is stationed...

Assigning Roles for Funeral Planning: How to Involve Loved Ones (and When to Say No) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Assigning Roles for Funeral Planning: How to Involve Loved Ones (and When to Say No)

In the first hours after a death—or even in the weeks leading up to one—help often arrives before you know what you need. A sister offers to “handle everything.” A...

Funeral Gift Etiquette: What to Send (Food, Flowers, Donations & Keepsakes) and What to Avoid - Funeral.com, Inc.

Funeral Gift Etiquette: What to Send (Food, Flowers, Donations & Keepsakes) and What to Avoid

If you have ever stared at your phone after hearing the words “they passed away,” you are not alone. Many people want to help immediately, but grief makes ordinary social...

What to Bring to a Funeral: A Simple Checklist (Cards, Flowers, Donations & Helpful Gestures) - Funeral.com, Inc.

What to Bring to a Funeral: A Simple Checklist (Cards, Flowers, Donations & Helpful Gestures)

If you are reading this because you have a funeral, wake, or visitation on your calendar, you are not alone in the question that follows: what to bring to a...

Sympathy Gifts Beyond Flowers: Comfort Basket & Care Package Ideas - Funeral.com, Inc.

Sympathy Gifts Beyond Flowers: Comfort Basket & Care Package Ideas

When someone you love is grieving the loss of a family member or friend, the impulse to reach out often comes with flowers and cards. Those traditional gestures have their...

10 Common U.S. Funeral Traditions Explained (What to Expect and Why) - Funeral.com, Inc.

10 Common U.S. Funeral Traditions Explained (What to Expect and Why)

If you haven’t attended a funeral in a while, it’s normal to feel unsure. Grief changes the way time feels, and it also changes the way social rules land. You...

What to Send Instead of Flowers: Sympathy Gifts That Actually Help - Funeral.com, Inc.

What to Send Instead of Flowers: Sympathy Gifts That Actually Help

When someone you care about dies, it’s natural to reach for the thing our culture has taught us to send: flowers. They are beautiful, they show up quickly, and they...

White Tulip Meaning: Symbolism, Spiritual Significado, and How to Care for Them - Funeral.com, Inc.

White Tulip Meaning: Symbolism, Spiritual Significado, and How to Care for Them

If you have ever stood in a grocery-store flower aisle after a hard phone call, you know how strange the moment can feel. You are trying to do something kind,...

Sentimental Gifts After a Loss: Meaningful Ideas That Aren’t Flowers - Funeral.com, Inc.

Sentimental Gifts After a Loss: Meaningful Ideas That Aren’t Flowers

Flowers are kind. They show up at the door when words don’t, and for many families they’re a visible reminder that they’re not alone. But flowers also fade quickly, and...

Indoor vs. Outdoor Niches: Access, Weather, and Comfort Differences - Funeral.com, Inc.

Indoor vs. Outdoor Niches: Access, Weather, and Comfort Differences

Choosing a columbarium niche is one of those decisions that can feel surprisingly personal. Two niches might look nearly identical on a cemetery map, yet the experience of visiting them...