Keeping Family Stories Alive, a Creative Guide to Taping Your Family Life and Love

Nosotros have compiled a list of 101 of the best celebration of life ideas. Our hope is that yous are inspired to commemorate and remember the wonderful, astonishing, and special person that your loved one was, both at the funeral or memorial service, and in the years to come.

Are you in the midst of planning a celebration of life ceremony? Nosotros've created a helpful infographic to guide you through the planning process and to help you craft the perfect commemoration of life ceremony that truly captures the essence of who your loved 1 was and celebrates his or her incredible life.

Let's get started…

Celebration of Life Ideas that Inspire and Motility U.s.a.…

• 1. Our number 1 favourite manner of commemorating a loved 1 is to heritance money to his or her favourite charitable cause in your legal will.  For case, if he or she was an creature lover, yous could make a bequest to an animal shelter in your expanse.  The bequest tin specifically state that y'all are making the donation in your loved one's honor.  What a beautiful way to let the world know not only how much your loved one meant to you, merely to ensure that his or her legacy has a positive impact in your community in a fashion that's meaningful to his or her values.  If you don't already have a legal will, no problem.  Our new favourite online resources is FreeWill — a platform which allows yous to create a legal volition in less time than information technology takes you to eat luncheon — entirely for costless!  Instead of paying a lawyer hundreds of dollars to draft your legal will, give it to your loved one's favourite charity instead.  Caput over to FreeWill now to get started.

• ii. Easily create a unique social mediapostal service—a Meme-orial —for a loved 1 who has passed away on their altogether, a special holiday, the anniversary of their decease, or when you are merely missing them.  Instantly share your personalized, one-of-a-kind post with family and friends on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter with the click of a push.Brand a unique tribute now  and savour reading the memories and comments your special post will generate.

• 3. Purchase and keep a journal where you continue to write about your memories and feelings about your loved one.  This celebration of life idea is sure to help you in your healing journey.

• 4. Plant a tree in your loved one's name. Select a sapling of her favourite type of tree, and constitute it in a place that she loved. (The planting of a tree could exist incorporated into a commemoration of life service if you wish.  This is one of our favourite commemoration of life ideas as a tree is a souvenir for generations to come.)

• 5.Donate some of your loved ane'southward article of clothing or holding to clemency.

• 6. If your loved one enjoyed the ocean or nature in general, contribute your loved 1'south ashes to help with the creation of an eco-reef that provides a dwelling for sea life.

• 7. Wear your loved ane'due south favourite piece of jewelry.  It's a celebration of life idea that anyone can hands do today.

• 8. Take a bracelet engraved with your loved one's signature or how they hand wrote "I beloved y'all".  You can notice the script to use from an old note or bill of fare that you've kept.

• 9. Get a tattoo of something that reminds yous of your loved 1.  This might be your loved ones initials, favourite flower, favourite quote, or the dates of his nascency and death.

• ten. Create a memorial quilt out of old photographs and patches of your loved one's favourite clothing.

• 11. Write a notation to your loved one and place it in a sealed bottle and drib information technology in the bounding main. If you include your email accost, yous might go a surprising electronic mail 1 twenty-four hour period telling you how far your message has traveled.  What a novel celebration of life idea!
• 12. Create a recipe book with your loved one'south famous creations. You could include photographs of family gatherings around the dinner table.

• 13. Light a sky lantern with your loved one'south name on it and a message and release it at night. This could be done for a commemoration of life service, or on another special occasion. If y'all have lost several family members, you could release a number of lanterns at once. (Exist certain, however, to bank check if you demand a permit to release a sky lantern, and do non release the lantern where it is a potential fire hazard. It is also of import to notation that many sky lanterns are not biodegradable and tin can pose serious threats to wild animals and the environment. If you're considering a heaven lantern release, make sure to opt for a biodegradable selection.)

• 14.Create a quote board past choosing a quote that is special to your family and reminds yous of your loved i and put it on a chalkboard, paint it on a wood board of textile. It tin can be from their favourite book, film, verse form or something that they used to always say. Add together your own personal touches to information technology that remind you lot of your loved 1 and display it at the service.
• 15. Create a music playlist that reminds you of your loved 1 and puts a big smile on your face.

• 16. Donate your loved one's favourite books to a school library with a cute certificate affixed on the inside cover that says: "This book was donated in loving memory of [your loved one'due south proper noun]."  A simple, all the same meaningful, commemoration of life idea for book lovers everywhere.

• 17. Create a memorial stone jar where each of your guests write a special retentivity or something that they loved about your loved i on a rock when they enter the service and identify information technology in the jar. Y'all can and so take them dwelling and read them with your family, scatter them in places that were meaningful to the deceased, or brandish them in your flower garden.
• xviii. Consider using forever missed memorial websites similar the Butterfly Memorial Garden to commemorate the life and legacy of your loved one. Create your ain virtual online butterfly garden with gorgeous landscapes that change with the seasons. Invite family and friends to contribute to this innovative memorial garden by sharing memories and designing their own unique, paw-crafted butterfly.This forever missed memorial website features a private garden where you lot control who's invited and the comments that are posted. Visit this gorgeous private garden whenever you lot're missing your loved one. Proceed your garden alive for as long equally you lot want past renewing your subscription plan.
  
• xix.Brand a teddy bear for a child out of your loved one's favourite shirt or other memorable piece of clothing.  This celebration of life idea is not only environmentally friendly and encourages recycling, it will help keep your loved i shut.

• 20. Start a scholarship at a school in your loved one's name.

• 21. If a loved one who passed away was an beast lover, adopt a dog or cat from your local creature shelter in his retention. Y'all might even proper name your new pet a name that reminds you lot of him.

22. Buy gifts for your loved 1 for his birthday and Christmas and donate them to a local hospital or nursing home. He or she would definitely be proud of this celebration of life idea.

• 23. Purchase a bouquet of your loved one's favourite flowers on the anniversary of her death and display them in your home.

• 24. This is one of our favourite commemoration of life ideas — accept a new rose cultivar named after your loved one. Yous can view a gallery of roses that are available for naming. You tin can too purchase cuttings for planting. The name of the rose is then registered with the International Cultivar Registrations Authority.

• 25. Create a "retentivity capsule" by placing things that remind y'all of your loved ane in an air-tight container. Include items like treasured photographs, cards, books and other mementoes. Bury the retentiveness capsule in the basis with a programme to dig information technology up in the futurity. You lot could also take a burial ceremony with family and friends, as well as a anniversary when the memory capsule is dug up. The burial of the memory capsule tin likewise be included in a celebration of life service.

• 26. Frame your loved one's favourite quote or poem and hang information technology in your dwelling.
• 27. Host a celebration with family and friends on your loved i's altogether or on the anniversary of his death to celebrate the wonderful life he or she lived.

• 28. Terminate a project that your beloved ane was working on before her passing (for case: knitting a sweater, finishing a painting or a poem).

• 29. If your loved 1 had an old watch that no longer works, replace the watch face with your favourite portrait photograph of your loved i.  What a simple, but beautiful celebration of life idea!

• 30. Decorate a tree in your backyard to create a memorial tree. You can fill stonemason jars halfway with water and float your loved one's favourite flower or a floating candle in them. And then attach a wire handle to the top of the mason jar and hang them in the tree. You can even add a plaque with her proper noun on it. Or if the bark of the tree is smooth, y'all could paint her proper noun on the tree in water-based paint.
• 31. Read your loved one's favourite book. If he or she liked to underline passages or make notes in the margin, have fourth dimension to contemplate ideas that inspired him or her.

• 32. Host a motion-picture show marathon where you watch your loved one'due south favourite movies with family and friends.
• 33. Enter a walk or a race for a charitable organisation in your loved one'due south honour.  For example, if you lost a loved one to cancer, y'all might participate in the Relay for Life.

• 34. On a cold and dreary twenty-four hours, cuddle up in your loved one'south cozy sweater and read a book, with a cup of hot cocoa. Spritz your loved one's favourite perfume or cologne on the sweater to stimulate memories associated with his or her smell.
• 35. Habiliment your loved one's favourite tie on special occasions (for example, a nuptials, christening, or a celebration of life service).

• 36. Create a memory volume with photographs and stories nearly your loved 1. Inquire family members, friends, neighbours and colleagues to contribute.

• 37. Have a pottery course and create a personalized pot dedicated to your loved one.  Yous can either keep your loved one's ashes in the pot, or institute your loved 1's favourite flowers in information technology.

• 38. If your loved 1 was a sports lover, eolith ashes on your loved 1'southward favourite baseball field or golf class.
• 39. Buy the perfume or cologne your loved used to wear, and whenever yous experience sad, spray the smell and remember of him or her.  This is a powerful celebration of life idea considering of our "scent retention."
• 40. If your loved one was an adventurer, consider having your loved one'due south ashes in space. A company named 'Celestis' will take a minor portion of your loved one's cremated remains and besprinkle them in the Earth'south orbit.

• 41. On special family occasions, like Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, gear up a identify at the tabular array for your loved one with a identify card and get out the spot empty.

• 42. Next time you have a large get-together with family and friends who were also close to your loved one, create a tribute video that features anybody's favourite stories and memories about him or her.  You can easily club a video berth online from SpeechBooth.  They'll send a high-quality, easy-to-utilize video recording kit directly to your door anywhere in the United states of america and Canada.  SpeechBooth volition also professionally edit your tribute video footage, (besides equally provide you with the raw footage).  Y'all can give a copy of the tribute video to family unit and friends.  It is sure to become a treasured keepsake for years to come.

• 43. If you accept lost a child, yous could donate a toy to a Christmas toy charity in his or her name.
• 44. If your loved one enjoyed Halloween, cleave his or her name into a pumpkin.
• 45. Looking for commemoration of life ideas for someone who loved gardening?  Dedicate a small area in your backyard for a memory garden. Found your loved one's favourite flowers, or transplant plants from his or her garden. If your loved one was cremated, you could mix a small corporeality of the ashes into the soil. Make a modest pathway of stepping stones. On the stepping stones, inscribe special dates, or quotes, that remind y'all of your loved one.

• 46. Vesture a locket with your loved one's photo inside.

• 47. Commission a memorial plaque to be displayed on a park bench at her favourite park.

• 48. If your loved 1 was a sports lover, organize family and friends to play his favourite game. You tin can write your loved one'southward name on a brawl, puck, dissonance, or bailiwick of jersey, in his honour.

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• 49. Hang a stocking at Christmas and fill it with cards from family unit members with their loving memories inscribed in them. Read the cards out aloud at Christmas dinner.
• 50. On special occasions, use the china and silverware that y'all inherited from your loved one.

• 51. Create a simple bracelet or necklace out of your loved ane'due south nuptials ring.  This is a new tendency in commemoration of life ideas.  Search for a bespoke jeweller in your area that tin can aid yous implement your design.

• 52. Visit your loved one's favourite European urban center and put a lock on a lock bridge. The lock could take his initials engraved on it, along with the date of birth and the date of death.

• 53. On a seaside vacation, write your loved ane'south proper noun in the sand at sunset, and photograph it before information technology washes away.
• 54. Make an ornament with your loved one'south photo and/or name on it for the Christmas tree.  It's ane of our most pop celebration of life ideas during the vacation season.

• 55. Plow dried funeral flowers into beads, and assemble the beads into a memorial bracelet that y'all can article of clothing.  Information technology's a unique celebration of life idea.

• 56. Create a Christmas memory wreath using photographs of your loved one.
• 57. On special family occasions, toast your loved one with his favourite drink.

• 58. Set a keepsake box of things filled with special mementos that remind you lot of your loved one.

• 59. When you become married, attach a small amuse with framed photograph of your loved one to a ribbon in your bouquet.  This celebration of life idea will keep your dearly departed close to you during an important effect in your life.
• lx. Cutting a piece of material of your loved one's favourite tie or dress in the shape of a heart and run up it into your wedding dress.
• 61. Give guests to a special occasion, like a celebration of life service, nuptials or birthday political party, a pocket-sized bag of "Forget Me Not" seeds to found in honour of your loved 1.
• 62. Sew together your loved one'south proper name into the tag or seem of your wedding dress.  Again, this celebration of life thought is nearly ensuring that your loved one is part of your special day.
• 63. Write a letter or poem to your loved one. Express what he or she meant to you, the difference he or she made to your life, and how much you lot miss him or her. Write on the envelope a date for opening and reading the letter or poem, and keep the letter in a condom place in the meantime.

• 64. Visit your loved i's favourite place and go out a rose or favourite flower in that location, along with a annotation: "[Deaceased'southward name] loved this place and was happiest hither. May [he/she] residuum in peace."  It'south a simple celebration of life idea that yous can practise today.
• 65. Go an angel'southward wings pendent with your loved 1's name engraved on it.
• 66. Make air current chimes in accolade of your loved one and so that when yous hear them in a breeze, you recall of him or her. You can hang ceramic photographs in your current of air chime to personalize it.

• 67. Create a bookmark with your loved one's name, photograph or favourite quote on it. This would make a lovely gift for guests to a celebration of life service.

• 68. Knit gloves and hats for a local homeless shelter, with a personalized tag of "[Deceased person'due south name] wishes you love and joy".
• 69. Create a photo charm that tin can be attached to article of clothing or a favourite blanket.
• 70. Make a memory candle for your loved i. You can make this for yourself or for guests to a commemoration of life service.

• 71. Discover a tree in the woods and tie a ribbon effectually information technology in your loved 1's favourite colour. Write a quote on the ribbon that reminds you of your loved one, along with her name.
• 72. If your loved one was cremated, take a small corporeality of the ashes compressed into a gemstone.
• 73. Have a picnic on your loved ane'southward birthday at his or her favourite place. Pack her favourite dishes, and her favourite wine. This can be done for a celebration of life service, or whenever you lot wish.

• 74. At a special occasion, like a celebration of life service, Christmas, or Valentine'southward Day, create a memory chain by writing your favourite memories, loving moments, and your feelings of loss, on long, narrow strips of construction newspaper. Then form inter-linking loops out of the strips to make a concatenation yous tin can use to frame a doorway or hang over a fireplace.

• 75. Create a collage to commemorate your loved one. Utilise photographs of him or her, besides as places and objects that were significant. Overlay the photographs with quotes that remind you of him or her.
• 76. Paint or have a photograph of your loved i'south favourite place and hang it in your home.
• 77. Purchase and proper name a star after your loved one through the International Star Registry Canada.  It's a celebration of life idea that'due south "out of this world" (pun intended).
• 78. Visit a place that your loved 1 ever wanted to travel to, just never got the take a chance. If he or she was cremated, scatter some ashes there. Or set a small memorial with a tea-lite and a small laminated photograph. You could also write a modest summary nigh your loved one for other travelers to read, should they come up across your petty memorial site.

• 79. Laurels a loved one's special collection or hobby by participating in that interest or activity (due east.g. coin collecting, reading, golfing).
• 80. Looking for a larger-than-life celebration of life idea?  Well, here it is!  Plow your loved one'due south ashes into fireworks and then set up them off on his birthday, a special occasion or vacation.

• 81. Have flowers to your loved ane's resting place.
• 82. Turn dried funeral flowers into beads, and get together the beads into abeautiful rosary.

• 83. Tell the little ones in your family unit lots of stories about your loved one.  Keep special stories alive in the family unit by creating a storybook.  Have the children in the family create illustrations for the storybook.  Once the stories have been written, and the illustrations drawn, demark the book together.  Have a copy made for each child in the family.
• 84. Go on vacation to a favourite place you used to travel to with your loved 1.  While in that location, take the time to remember your loved one and feel his or her presence.

• 85. Looking for a commemoration of life idea for kids?  Have the little ones in your family create boats to award a loved one who has passed away.  Later they have created their boats, they tin can decorate them and write the loved i'south proper noun.  After the craft project is finished, the family unit tin gather at a river where the children place the boats in the h2o and watch them float away.  This is a good fourth dimension to share a prayer or memories of your loved ane. The boats could also be released during a commemoration of life service.

• 86. Acquire to make the recipes that your loved 1 was famous for.
• 87. If your loved one was a music lover, donate musical instruments to the music program of a local school. Each musical instrument could be engraved with: "In memory of [deceased's name], who loved music."
• 88. Create a plant marker to commemorate your loved one.  The institute marker can be display in either a potted constitute or in your garden.  It also makes the perfect gift to give to guests that attend a commemoration of life service, particularly if the loved one who passed away was an avid gardener.

• 89. If your loved i was a prolific traveller, frame a large map of the world.  Put in pins for each city or town he or she visited.  Attach a small-scale characterization to the pivot with the date of the visit.  Yous could also take photographs from his or her travels every bit a boarder for the map.  Each photograph could be numbered, and correspond to a numbered pin.

• 90. Here'south another great celebration of life ideas for the youngest members of your family unit.  Take children make a kite. The tail of the kite is made upwardly of ribbons, on which each kid writes a message to the loved one who has passed away. When the kite has been completed, the children can fly the kite at a identify that was special to the person who passed away.

• 91. Do mindful meditation. Sit in a quiet place and contemplate how lucky you were to have known your loved ane. Focus on your breathing.

• 92. Send family and friends a card made from seed paper on your loved 1's altogether. The card could incorporate a quote, or other special message virtually your loved one. Family unit and friends constitute the card in the basis, and the seeds will bloom. You could also requite the card to guests at a commemoration of life service.
• 93. If your loved one was a parent or grandparent, collect all the artwork that the children in the family gave him or her over the years. Have the drawings and paintings turned into a book. Give a copy of the book to family unit members and friends as a special gift.

• 94. If a loved ane liked to brand jams and preserves, make a batch of their special recipe. Decorate the jars with a special label commemorating him or her.  (This celebration of life thought would also make a special gift for family unit members at Christmas time!)

• 95. Create a pendent from polymer clay with a beloved heart intertwined with an infinity symbol. You can etch your loved one'due south name into the pendent. One time you take baked the pendent, hang it on your favourite chain. This simple craft project tin exist used to brand gifts for guests at a celebration of life service.

• 96. Have a road trip and visit all the places that were pregnant to your loved 1 and your family unit. Accept photographs in exactly the same spot where your loved one was previously photographed.
• 97. If your loved one was an avid fisherman, create a special lure and proper noun information technology: "The [First Name of Your Loved One]" (e.thousand. "The Tom"). Brand one for everyone who knew him and loves to go fishing.  It'south a pretty cool commemoration of life idea for families that grew upwardly fishing!
• 98. Host a slide testify and home movie night for family unit and friends. Everybody will relish the trip down retention lane. This could also be incorporated into a celebration of life service.
• 99. If your loved one owned a cat or dog, have a special collar made for the pet which says: "[Deceased's beginning proper name] e'er loves you."  (We retrieve pets shouldn't be forgotten when it comes to celebration of life ideas!)

• 100. Donate your loved one'south reading glasses to a charity that sends them to underprivileged people.

• 101. If your loved one was a sports lover, sponsor a little league team. Take squad jerseys made. The tag on the jersey could say: "Made in Memory of "[Deceased's proper name]". Attend the petty league games with your family and friends.
• 102. At Easter or on another special occasion, have a treasure hunt for the little ones in the family. Hibernate niggling mementos that were owned by a loved ane who has passed away. You lot tin can too hide scrolls tied with a pretty ribbon. When a child unrolls the whorl, they tin read a quote or message from the loved one.  The kids will dearest beingness involved with this unique celebration of life idea.

• 103. Create memory balloon decorations for your loved one'due south celebration of life service. Tie your favourite photos of your loved one to pieces of ribbon that can and then exist attached to helium balloons. These will float from the ceiling at your loved 1's celebration of life.
• 104. Create your own DIY floral arrangements in the shape of your loved one's name.
• 105. Create a DIY photo table runner out of your favourite photos of your loved ane to apply in the tabular array setting for a celebration of life reception.
• 106. Was your loved one known for his or her obsession with a certain kind of food similar cookies or cupcakes? Create a nutrient bar at their celebration of life ceremony serving all sorts of variations of their food favourites.

How to Programme a Celebration of Life

Nosotros've put together an infographic to help you programme a meaningful and personalized celebration of life ceremony for your loved one that you tin can easily save to Pinterest or share it on social media.

(Click infographic to enlarge)

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If you lot tried any of these commemoration of life ideas, or have any further ideas to add to our list, please let us know in the comments box below. We would beloved to hear from you!

You tin also follow our Pinterest board for even more inspiring celebration of life ideas.  It's important to proceed our loved ones' legacy alive, now and forever.

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Source: https://www.loveliveson.com/100-best-celebration-of-life-ideas-2/

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