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.

Sealing an Urn: Silicone vs. Super Glue (What Works Best and When) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Sealing an Urn: Silicone vs. Super Glue (What Works Best and When)

There’s a moment that catches a lot of families off guard. The urn is on the table. Everything looks “finished,” at least from the outside. And then someone asks a...

Can You Be Buried with Your Pet? State-by-State Rules and What Cemeteries Allow (2026) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Can You Be Buried with Your Pet? State-by-State Rules and What Cemeteries Allow (2026)

If you are asking whether you can be buried with your pet, it usually comes from a very simple place: you loved them, they were family, and the idea of...

Direct Cremation: How Families Cut Funeral Costs (What’s Included and What’s Not) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Direct Cremation: How Families Cut Funeral Costs (What’s Included and What’s Not)

When a family first hears the phrase direct cremation, it can sound clinical—like a checkbox on a form. But what families are really asking is something more human: “Can we...

Living Funerals: What They Are, Why People Hold Them, and How to Plan One - Funeral.com, Inc.

Living Funerals: What They Are, Why People Hold Them, and How to Plan One

A “living funeral” sounds like a contradiction until you hear what it really means. It’s a gathering held while someone is still alive—often because time feels precious, or because the...

How to Plan a Death Dinner: Conversation Prompts, Menu Ideas, and Hosting Tips - Funeral.com, Inc.

How to Plan a Death Dinner: Conversation Prompts, Menu Ideas, and Hosting Tips

A death dinner is exactly what it sounds like—an intentional meal where people you trust talk honestly about death, preferences, and the “someday” decisions most of us avoid until we’re...

Death Doulas vs. Hospice Nurses: Who Does What (and How They Work Together) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Death Doulas vs. Hospice Nurses: Who Does What (and How They Work Together)

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re trying to help someone you love through an incredibly tender season. And you’re probably doing what so many families do: searching...

Disenfranchised Grief: Mourning an Ex-Spouse or Affair Partner (and Why It Hurts So Much) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Disenfranchised Grief: Mourning an Ex-Spouse or Affair Partner (and Why It Hurts So Much)

Some losses are met with casseroles and condolences. Others are met with silence, sideways looks, or a tight little pause that tells you, “This is not the kind of grief...

Ambiguous Loss and Dementia: Grieving Someone Who Is Still Here - Funeral.com, Inc.

Ambiguous Loss and Dementia: Grieving Someone Who Is Still Here

Dementia has a way of turning love into a moving target. The person you care about is alive, breathing, sitting across from you—yet the relationship keeps changing, and you keep...

Keeping Ashes Safe from Cats and Kids: Secure Lids, Placement, and Museum Putty - Funeral.com, Inc.

Keeping Ashes Safe from Cats and Kids: Secure Lids, Placement, and Museum Putty

When you bring cremated remains home, the first question is often quieter than people expect: where do we put them so they’re safe? Not “emotionally safe,” though that matters too,...

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...