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.

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...

Can You Be Buried on Your Own Property? A 50-State Guide to Home Burial Laws - Funeral.com, Inc.

Can You Be Buried on Your Own Property? A 50-State Guide to Home Burial Laws

The question usually arrives quietly, sometimes in the middle of a hard week and sometimes years before anyone dies: “Could we bring them home?” For some families, the idea of...

Keeping Cremation Ashes at Home: Safety, Storage, and Common Questions in the U.S. - Funeral.com, Inc.

Keeping Cremation Ashes at Home: Safety, Storage, and Common Questions in the U.S.

Bringing cremated remains home can feel surprisingly ordinary and profoundly heavy at the same time. One moment you’re signing a form and gathering paperwork; the next, you’re holding something that...

What Actually Helps After a Death in the Family: Support Ideas Beyond Flowers - Funeral.com, Inc.

What Actually Helps After a Death in the Family: Support Ideas Beyond Flowers

When someone you care about experiences a death in the family, it’s natural to want to help. Many of us instinctively think of sending flowers or a card, but families...

How to Display an Urn at Home: Safe, Respectful, and Beautiful Ideas - Funeral.com, Inc.

How to Display an Urn at Home: Safe, Respectful, and Beautiful Ideas

If you’re reading this, you’re probably holding two truths at the same time. One is practical: you want to know how to display an urn at home without worrying about...

Bringing Food to a Grieving Family: What to Bring, What Helps Most, and What to Avoid - Funeral.com, Inc.

Bringing Food to a Grieving Family: What to Bring, What Helps Most, and What to Avoid

Walking up to a grieving family’s doorstep with a casserole, a loaf of bread, or even a bag of groceries is one of the gentlest ways to show someone you...

From Decisions to Comfort: A Family Guide to Cremation Urns, Pet Urns, Cremation Jewelry, and What to Do With Ashes - Funeral.com, Inc.

From Decisions to Comfort: A Family Guide to Cremation Urns, Pet Urns, Cremation Jewelry, and What to Do With Ashes

Most people don’t go looking for cremation urns for ashes because it sounds like a project they’re ready for. It usually starts with a quieter, heavier moment: the call from...

Funeral Etiquette for Immediate Family: What to Wear, Where to Sit, and How to Navigate the Service - Funeral.com, Inc.

Funeral Etiquette for Immediate Family: What to Wear, Where to Sit, and How to Navigate the Service

If you are immediate family at a funeral, you are rarely “just attending.” You are grieving, you are being watched with gentle concern, and you are often carrying invisible responsibilities—answering...

What to Do When Family Can’t Travel: Remote Memorial Ideas That Still Feel Close - Funeral.com, Inc.

What to Do When Family Can’t Travel: Remote Memorial Ideas That Still Feel Close

When someone dies and the people who love them are scattered—across states, across countries, across schedules that do not bend easily—grief can pick up an extra edge. Families often say...

How to Host a Celebration of Life at Home - Funeral.com, Inc.

How to Host a Celebration of Life at Home

A celebration of life at home can be one of the most comforting ways to gather after a loss, because it lets people show up in a space that already...

Memorial Service Ideas for Families Who Don’t Want “Traditional” - Funeral.com, Inc.

Memorial Service Ideas for Families Who Don’t Want “Traditional”

If you’re reading this, you may already know what you don’t want. You don’t want a room that feels stiff or scripted. You don’t want traditions that don’t fit your...

What to Do If a Family Member Is Uncomfortable With Ashes at Home - Funeral.com, Inc.

What to Do If a Family Member Is Uncomfortable With Ashes at Home

After a cremation, families often assume the “hard decisions” are over. And then the ashes come home, and a different kind of decision begins—one that can feel surprisingly loaded. One...

Keeping Ashes at Home: What’s Normal, What’s Not - Funeral.com, Inc.

Keeping Ashes at Home: What’s Normal, What’s Not

When a family brings cremated remains home, the moment can feel surprisingly ordinary and strangely heavy at the same time. The container might arrive in a simple bag inside a...

Scattering vs Keeping Ashes at Home: How Families Decide - Funeral.com, Inc.

Scattering vs Keeping Ashes at Home: How Families Decide

After cremation, there is often a quiet moment that surprises people. The phone calls slow down. The paperwork is mostly done. The funeral home returns the remains, usually in a...