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.

Workplace Grief: How to Ask for Bereavement Leave in 2026 (Scripts + HR Checklist) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Workplace Grief: How to Ask for Bereavement Leave in 2026 (Scripts + HR Checklist)

Grief doesn’t clock out when you do. It follows you into the parking lot, into your inbox, into the meeting you’re trying to survive on autopilot. And when someone dies,...

Swedish Death Cleaning in Your 40s: A Practical Guide to Decluttering With Purpose - Funeral.com, Inc.

Swedish Death Cleaning in Your 40s: A Practical Guide to Decluttering With Purpose

If you’re in your 40s and the word “death cleaning” makes you flinch, you’re not alone. Swedish death cleaning (often referred to by the Swedish term döstädning) sounds heavier than...

The Death Café Movement: How to Find (or Host) One Near You - Funeral.com, Inc.

The Death Café Movement: How to Find (or Host) One Near You

If you’ve ever left a funeral, closed your laptop after reading yet another article about end-of-life decisions, and thought, “I wish I could just talk to someone about this without...

Legacy Projects: Writing Letters to Your Children for Future Milestones - Funeral.com, Inc.

Legacy Projects: Writing Letters to Your Children for Future Milestones

There’s a certain kind of love that doesn’t fit neatly into the present tense. It’s the love behind a lunchbox note, a late-night “text me when you get there,” and...

What to Do With Ashes: A Calm Guide to Cremation Urns, Pet Urns, Keepsakes, and Cremation Jewelry - Funeral.com, Inc.

What to Do With Ashes: A Calm Guide to Cremation Urns, Pet Urns, Keepsakes, and Cremation Jewelry

After a cremation, families often describe an unexpected quiet. The urgent decisions may be done, but a new question arrives—softly at first, and then more insistently when you see the...

Urn Vaults: Do You Really Need One for Cemetery Burial? - Funeral.com, Inc.

Urn Vaults: Do You Really Need One for Cemetery Burial?

Most families don’t begin funeral planning expecting to learn new vocabulary. You make the big decisions first—cremation or burial, a service now or later, a cemetery plot or a place that...

How to Write an Obituary That Isn’t Boring (With Examples and Templates) - Funeral.com, Inc.

How to Write an Obituary That Isn’t Boring (With Examples and Templates)

Writing an obituary can feel like you’ve been handed two impossible jobs at once: announce a death and somehow capture a whole person in a few paragraphs. Most families start...

What to Do With Ashes: A Gentle, Practical Guide to Cremation Urns, Pet Urns, Keepsakes, Jewelry, and Next Steps - Funeral.com, Inc.

What to Do With Ashes: A Gentle, Practical Guide to Cremation Urns, Pet Urns, Keepsakes, Jewelry, and Next Steps

If you’re holding a temporary container (or waiting for it to arrive), you may be feeling two things at once: the weight of what happened, and the pressure to “figure...

Relief Guilt: Why It’s OK to Feel Relieved When Someone Dies - Funeral.com, Inc.

Relief Guilt: Why It’s OK to Feel Relieved When Someone Dies

Losing someone you cared for deeply is one of life’s most profound experiences, and it can stir a mix of emotions that are confusing and intense. For many people, especially...

Supporting a Friend Through Infertility or Miscarriage Grief: What to Say (and What Not to) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Supporting a Friend Through Infertility or Miscarriage Grief: What to Say (and What Not to)

When someone you care about is facing infertility or a miscarriage, the hardest part is often not the lack of love—it’s the lack of language. You want to show up....

Creating a Home Altar for Remembrance: Secular Ideas and Simple Rituals - Funeral.com, Inc.

Creating a Home Altar for Remembrance: Secular Ideas and Simple Rituals

A home altar doesn’t have to be religious to be real. It can be as simple as a small surface you return to when your mind keeps circling the same...

Driving a Body Across State Lines: What Paperwork Do You Need? - Funeral.com, Inc.

Driving a Body Across State Lines: What Paperwork Do You Need?

When someone dies far from home, the first wish many families say out loud is simple: “We want to bring them home.” It’s a loving instinct, and it can also...

Digital Executors: Who They Are and Why You Need One - Funeral.com, Inc.

Digital Executors: Who They Are and Why You Need One

A few days after someone dies, the world keeps doing what it always does. Phones buzz. Emails arrive. A streaming service charges a card on file. A “memories” notification appears...

Rituals for Scattering Ashes: Music, Poems, Readings, and Timing - Funeral.com, Inc.

Rituals for Scattering Ashes: Music, Poems, Readings, and Timing

When a family chooses cremation, there’s often a quiet second decision that follows: what comes next for the ashes. Some people know right away. Others don’t. Many families sit with...

Grief Groceries: What to Buy for a Grieving Friend (and What to Skip) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Grief Groceries: What to Buy for a Grieving Friend (and What to Skip)

When someone you care about loses a person they love, it’s normal to feel the urge to do something meaningful right away. But grief has a funny way of making...

>Urns for Horses: How to Handle Very Large Cremains Volumes (2,000+ Cubic Inches) - Funeral.com, Inc.

>Urns for Horses: How to Handle Very Large Cremains Volumes (2,000+ Cubic Inches)

When a horse dies, the loss is rarely “just” a loss. It’s the end of a routine built around feeding times and quiet barn checks, the soft thud of hooves...