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.

Planting a Garden for Your Pet: Living Memorial Ideas for Dog and Cat Lovers

Planting a Garden for Your Pet: Living Memorial Ideas for Dog and Cat Lovers

When a pet dies, the whole house feels different. The quiet by the food bowl, the empty spot on the couch, the way the yard suddenly looks a little too...

Memorializing a Pet at Home: Altars, Photos, Candles, and Everyday Rituals

Memorializing a Pet at Home: Altars, Photos, Candles, and Everyday Rituals

When a beloved pet dies, the house can feel strangely hollow. You still catch yourself glancing at their bed, listening for paws on the floor, or reaching for a leash...

Meaningful Ways to Memorialize a Pet at Home

Meaningful Ways to Memorialize a Pet at Home

There are moments after losing a pet when the house feels both familiar and unfamiliar, like a place you recognize but can’t fully settle into. You walk through each room...

Planting a Tree or Garden in Memory of a Pet

Planting a Tree or Garden in Memory of a Pet

Grief enters quietly when pet loss happens, reshaping the home and the heart in ways few people truly understand. What once felt familiar suddenly carries a new weight: the empty...

Creating a Memory Box for Your Pet: What to Include

Creating a Memory Box for Your Pet: What to Include

When a beloved pet dies, the silence can feel almost as loud as their bark, purr, or cheerful footsteps once did. The leash hanging by the door, the empty bed...

How to Hold a Pet Memorial Service with Family and Friends

How to Hold a Pet Memorial Service with Family and Friends

There is a kind of silence that settles over a home after a pet dies—a silence made not only of the absence of sound, but of the absence of presence....

Creating a Pet Memory Book or Photo Album: Telling Their Story One Page at a Time

Creating a Pet Memory Book or Photo Album: Telling Their Story One Page at a Time

Memories have a way of appearing when we least expect them, an unexpected pang at the sound of a paw on the floor, a vivid flash of a shared morning...

Paw Prints, Clay Prints, and Ink Prints: Creating Pet Keepsakes That Last

Paw Prints, Clay Prints, and Ink Prints: Creating Pet Keepsakes That Last

The moment a pet is gone, the emptiness is undeniable. The warmth of their body, the softness of their paws, the gentle weight of their head resting on your lap,...

Honoring Your Pet Through Volunteering: Turning Grief Into Quiet Action

Honoring Your Pet Through Volunteering: Turning Grief Into Quiet Action

When a much-loved animal dies, the silence can feel louder than anything. You may still move through the same routines—filling a food bowl that no longer needs filling, glancing at...

How to Create a Pet Memorial Garden at Home: Design Ideas, Plants, and Personal Touches

How to Create a Pet Memorial Garden at Home: Design Ideas, Plants, and Personal Touches

When a pet dies, the whole house feels different. The quiet by the food bowl, the empty spot on the couch, the way the yard suddenly looks a little too...

Helping Kids Create a Pet Memorial: Simple Crafts and Rituals

Helping Kids Create a Pet Memorial: Simple Crafts and Rituals

When a beloved pet dies, adults often juggle calls to the vet, decisions about funeral planning, and practical questions like what to do with ashes. Children feel the same loss,...

Celebrating Their Birthday After They’re Gone

Celebrating Their Birthday After They’re Gone

When a beloved pet dies, the calendar does not get the news. Their birthday or “gotcha day” still shows up in your phone, on the family wall calendar, or in...

Planning a Pet Memorial Service: Ideas for Ceremonies at Home, Outside, or Online

Planning a Pet Memorial Service: Ideas for Ceremonies at Home, Outside, or Online

The quiet house feels different without your pet’s gentle presence, the soft padding of paws, the way they curled beside you, the little habits that brought joy to everyday moments....

What Is an Urn Used For? A Gentle Guide to Modern Memorials

What Is an Urn Used For? A Gentle Guide to Modern Memorials

When someone you love is cremated, the first question is rarely about products or prices. It’s quieter, more emotional: what is an urn actually for, and how can it honor...

Taxidermy and Preservation: Is It Creepy or Comforting?

Taxidermy and Preservation: Is It Creepy or Comforting?

When a pet dies, most families today are offered cremation almost by default. You may be handed a brochure about pet cremation urns, see options for pet urns for ashes,...

Digital Legacies: Creating a Virtual Memorial for Your Pet

Digital Legacies: Creating a Virtual Memorial for Your Pet

When a pet dies, the quiet moments often feel the loudest. You may catch yourself reaching for your phone to show a favorite video, only to remember that the dog...