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.

Custom Engraved Cremation Urns: Personalization Options and Buying Checklist

Custom Engraved Cremation Urns: Personalization Options and Buying Checklist

Personalizing an urn can look simple from the outside—add a name, add dates, choose a font—and still feel surprisingly emotional when you’re the one doing it. You may be planning...

Cremation Rings: How Ash Jewelry Works, What It Costs, and How to Care for It

Cremation Rings: How Ash Jewelry Works, What It Costs, and How to Care for It

If you’ve found yourself searching for a cremation ring, it’s usually not because you want “jewelry.” It’s because you want a kind of closeness that fits real life—something you can...

What to Bring After a Loss: Thoughtful Sympathy Gifts for a Grieving Family

What to Bring After a Loss: Thoughtful Sympathy Gifts for a Grieving Family

If you’re searching what to bring to a funeral or what to bring to a grieving family, you’re usually trying to do something simple and difficult at the same time:...

Personalized Memorial Gifts: Unique Sympathy Keepsakes Beyond Flowers

Personalized Memorial Gifts: Unique Sympathy Keepsakes Beyond Flowers

Flowers are kind. They also fade, and in the days after a death, families often feel the strange whiplash of watching sympathy arrive in waves and then quietly disappear. If...

Best Cremation Jewelry and Keepsakes: Rings, Glass Memorials, and Top Brands

Best Cremation Jewelry and Keepsakes: Rings, Glass Memorials, and Top Brands

Cremation has become the default choice for many families, which is part of why memorial jewelry and keepsakes have become so much more visible—and, for some people, genuinely helpful. According...

Best Materials for Cremation Jewelry: Stainless Steel vs Silver vs Gold

Best Materials for Cremation Jewelry: Stainless Steel vs Silver vs Gold

When someone you love is cremated, the decisions that follow can feel strangely practical. You may be holding grief in one hand and a list of choices in the other:...

Fishing Cremation Urns: “Gone Fishing” Designs, Keepsakes, and Where to Shop

Fishing Cremation Urns: “Gone Fishing” Designs, Keepsakes, and Where to Shop

When someone loved to fish, it usually wasn’t “just” a pastime. It was where they reset after a hard week, where they kept promises with friends, where they taught a...

Men’s Cremation Jewelry: Durable Necklaces and Pendants That Hold Ashes

Men’s Cremation Jewelry: Durable Necklaces and Pendants That Hold Ashes

After cremation, families often describe a strange mix of relief and uncertainty. The immediate logistics may be over, but now there is a container in your hands and a question...

Choosing a Cremation Urn—and What to Do If You Don’t Want Ashes on the Mantel

Choosing a Cremation Urn—and What to Do If You Don’t Want Ashes on the Mantel

Most families don’t start this process by shopping. They start by trying to steady themselves after a loss, or by trying to plan ahead without feeling morbid. Somewhere in the...

Hummingbird Cremation Urns: Meaning, Styles, Sizes, and Where to Buy

Hummingbird Cremation Urns: Meaning, Styles, Sizes, and Where to Buy

If you’re reading this, you may be holding a handful of decisions that don’t feel like they belong together. There’s grief. There’s logistics. There’s the quiet pressure of choosing something...

Cremation Jewelry Necklaces & Ash Diamonds: Options, Costs, and Safety Tips

Cremation Jewelry Necklaces & Ash Diamonds: Options, Costs, and Safety Tips

There’s a particular kind of comfort in holding something small and solid when life feels unsteady. For some families, that comfort is a photograph in a wallet. For others, it’s...

Where to Buy Cremation Urns: Funeral Home vs Online (Plus Funeral.com Tips)

Where to Buy Cremation Urns: Funeral Home vs Online (Plus Funeral.com Tips)

If you’ve found yourself searching for where to buy cremation urns, you’re not alone—and you’re not “behind” if it feels like you’re making this decision later than you expected. Many...

Purple Cremation Urns: Meaning, Design Ideas, and How to Pick the Right Size

Purple Cremation Urns: Meaning, Design Ideas, and How to Pick the Right Size

There are moments in funeral planning when the most practical decisions feel unexpectedly personal. Choosing an urn is one of them. At first, families often focus on the basics—timing, paperwork,...

Cremation Jewelry Guide: Is It a Good Idea, How It Works, and How to Choose

Cremation Jewelry Guide: Is It a Good Idea, How It Works, and How to Choose

There’s a specific kind of quiet that follows cremation. The phone calls slow down. The flowers begin to fade. And then, often sooner than people expect, you’re holding a temporary...

Cremation Urns 101: Types, Materials, Sizes, Terminology, and How Long Urns Last

Cremation Urns 101: Types, Materials, Sizes, Terminology, and How Long Urns Last

Most families don’t set out to become experts in cremation urns. You start with a loss, or the quiet realization that planning ahead would be kinder to the people you...

How Pet Cremation Works: Private vs Communal Options, Timeline & What to Expect

How Pet Cremation Works: Private vs Communal Options, Timeline & What to Expect

Losing a pet can feel disorienting because grief shows up as a thousand small reminders: the quiet spot on the couch, the bowl you haven’t moved, the leash that still...