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.

Memory Jar Ideas for Grief: How to Make a Healing Tribute With Notes, Photos & Prompts

Memory Jar Ideas for Grief: How to Make a Healing Tribute With Notes, Photos & Prompts

A memory jar is one of the simplest grief rituals that actually works in real life. It doesn’t demand a speech. It doesn’t require everyone to be “good with words.”...

Pet Memorial Garden Ideas: Pet-Safe Plants, Layout Tips, and Ways to Honor a Dog or Cat

Pet Memorial Garden Ideas: Pet-Safe Plants, Layout Tips, and Ways to Honor a Dog or Cat

A pet memorial garden is one of the gentlest ways to keep love moving when everything else feels stuck. It doesn’t demand a grand ceremony. It doesn’t ask you to...

Cord-Cutting Rituals for Grief: A Gentle Candle Practice for Letting Go and Finding Closure

Cord-Cutting Rituals for Grief: A Gentle Candle Practice for Letting Go and Finding Closure

The phrase cord cutting ritual shows up in grief conversations because it names something many people feel but struggle to describe. After a death, you can love someone fiercely and...

Online Support for Pet Loss: Forums, Groups, and How to Find a Safe, Caring Space

Online Support for Pet Loss: Forums, Groups, and How to Find a Safe, Caring Space

In the first days after a pet dies, the world can feel strangely loud and strangely quiet at the same time. Loud because life keeps moving—notifications, errands, people talking about...

Social Anxiety and Grief: When Being Around People Feels Hard but Isolation Isn’t Helping Either

Social Anxiety and Grief: When Being Around People Feels Hard but Isolation Isn’t Helping Either

Social anxiety and grief can collide in a frustrating way. You may genuinely want support, but the moment someone texts “How are you holding up?” your chest tightens. A funeral,...

Best Children’s Books About Pet Death: 20 Picks By Age And Discussion Questions For Families

Best Children’s Books About Pet Death: 20 Picks By Age And Discussion Questions For Families

If your child has lost a pet, you are often navigating two layers of grief at the same time: your own sorrow, and the heartbreak of watching someone you love...

Books to Help Toddlers Understand the Death of a Pet

Books to Help Toddlers Understand the Death of a Pet

When a pet dies, adults often feel two kinds of grief at once: the heartbreak of missing a beloved companion, and the ache of trying to explain something enormous to...

Where to Find Real-Time Help for Pet Loss: Hotlines, Chats, and Online Communities

Where to Find Real-Time Help for Pet Loss: Hotlines, Chats, and Online Communities

The first hours after a pet dies can feel oddly unreal—like your body is going through normal motions while your heart is in a different room entirely. You might be...

How to Build a Support System After Pet Loss

How to Build a Support System After Pet Loss

There’s a particular kind of silence that follows pet loss. It isn’t only the absence of paws on the hallway floor or the familiar weight at the edge of the...

Finding a Pet Loss Counselor: What Credentials to Look For

Finding a Pet Loss Counselor: What Credentials to Look For

When a pet dies, the grief can be as sharp and disorienting as losing a close family member. In today’s world, where most U.S. households now include at least one...

Pet Loss & Memorial Center

Pet Loss & Memorial Center

Grieving is a journey you never expected to take—but one that can reshape every corner of your life. The quiet in your home feels heavier, routines feel disrupted, and even...

Why Pet Loss Feels So Lonely (and How to Find People Who Truly Get It)

Why Pet Loss Feels So Lonely (and How to Find People Who Truly Get It)

When a pet dies, the world often looks the same from the outside, but feels unrecognizably different on the inside. You still go to work, answer emails, pay bills, and...

Coping with the Loss of a Pet: Grief Stages, Rituals, and When to Seek Support

Coping with the Loss of a Pet: Grief Stages, Rituals, and When to Seek Support

When a pet dies, the whole rhythm of home changes. The quiet by the food bowl, the empty spot on the couch, the way you still half-expect the jingle of...

Pet Loss Support Groups: Are They Right for You?

Pet Loss Support Groups: Are They Right for You?

Losing a pet can rearrange your whole world in a way that people around you do not always understand. The bed is emptier, the yard is quieter, and your routines...

Online Grief Groups vs In-Person Support: Which Works Better After a Loss?

Online Grief Groups vs In-Person Support: Which Works Better After a Loss?

In the weeks after a death, many people describe their world as split in two. On one side are the practical tasks: calling relatives, making funeral planning decisions, choosing between burial...