Memorial Service Ideas

3 Gift Basket Ideas for Grieving Friends and Family

December 9, 2015 urngarden.com

gift ideas for grieving friends and family

When a death occurs, it’s often difficult to express your sympathy. Often, people want to reach out, but don’t know what to say or do. This situation can be awkward and painful, but doesn’t have to be. Small gestures, like a gift basket can express your condolences and some of the families we serve have told us that often it was the best gift they received during a very dark time.

This gift doesn’t have to be extravagant, shop the house and gather up a few items and bundle them up to create a thoughtful, loving expression. Here’s three ideas:

Breakfast Gift Basket:

One of our clients whose husband died suddenly, said this was the one of the best gifts she received, as she had out of town family arriving and had nothing in the house. One of the neighbors made up a basket filled with English muffins, jelly, bacon, milk, eggs, juice, and coffee. Assembling the ingredients for the most important meal of the day can help fortify a grieving person and give them a little strength to start the day.

Comfort Gift Basket:

Think about items that are cozy and comforting stress busters. Show your sympathy with a container filled with tea, honey, scented candle, essential oils, tissues, chap stick, lotion, a journal, cocoa, cookies, thank you cards, bubble bath, and maybe an inspirational book, or collection of uplifting music.

Gift Basket For the Children:

Sometimes kids are overlooked with all the activity surrounding making funeral arrangements, planning a memorial service, and taking care of the business at hand. Consider building a basket for the younger ones that they can help themselves to.

Fill it with stickers, stuffed animals, candy or snacks, coloring book, plant-able seed packets, paper and pencils, bubbles, night light or flashlight.

We’re calling these memorial gift baskets, but you could re-purpose and fill a gift bag or box, or get creative and use a discarded decorative container, or even a laundry basket. Whatever you vessel you use, whether you fill with fruit, flowers, or toys, your gift will be cherished. In the event, that you just can’t pull it all together, pick up the phone, or go to your favorite local florist’s website and let them do the heavy lifting. Most florists offer gift baskets and will build an attractive customized collection based on what you want to accomplish and even deliver it if needed.

Gift baskets may not be your bag. Some of our customers choose to buy a small piece of jewelry for ashes or often they’ll buy a memorial stone that is personalized and have it sent to the family. If you need help narrowing down your choices, we can help.

Irish Rose Cremation Urn

June 5, 2015 urngarden.com

If your loved one was lucky enough to be born in June, having the rose as a birth flower is the perfect token to use on his or her cremation urn. However, before choosing the specific color or flower, make sure you understand its symbolism.

Take the Irish Rose. Did you know that “My Wild Irish Rose” is more than just a classic movie from the 1940s, and a beautiful ballad released a few decades earlier? An Irish rose, such as the cremationurn shown here embossed with copper roses on an iridescent green background, symbolizes that something so beautiful can grow during harsh or inclement times. When coupled with the urn’s rich color, which often times instills a sense of calm, peacefulness and stability, you have the perfect urn to honor your loved one.

Ruby and blue are two other beautiful rose colors. Ruby is the July birth stone and red roses by all means symbolize love as red is the closest likeness to one’s heart. If you recently lost the love of your life, an urn with a ruby red rose is a proper choice.

A not-so-natural choice in roses is the color blue. However, its meaning goes very deep. Blue roses symbolize a contemplated or blissful mood. The peace received from one of these flowers makes it an appropriate sympathy flower.

All of these styles are the traditional vase shape with multiple layers of rich jewel tone enamel and high gloss clear coat to protect the finish. The shimmering mother of pearl inlay against the dark backgrounds creates a beautiful contrast. Any of these urns can be engraved with names, dates, or a brief sentiment to further personalize or identify the urn.

Looking for something else that represents your loved one’s style or personality? We can help.

Buy Urns Made in the USA for American Heroes

May 19, 2015 urngarden.com

We love to showcase American made artists and the work is even more meaningful when the memorial is for a veteran. Whether it’s a flag case to protect the symbol of our freedom, or the urn that will be a final resting place, the superior skill and craftsmanship honor your loved one’s legacy.

Recently, we were contacted and commissioned to create a memorial for a gentleman who had fought in the Vietnam campaign. His sister chose a premium bronze sculpture featuring a helmet and boots to honor his service.

Usually, when families choose the bronze urns, they plan to keep them in the home or place them in an above ground niche at the cemetery. In this case, the urn would be buried in a veterans cemetery in California. Sometimes, the cemeteries require a vault or outer container for burials and we called ahead to confirm their requirements. Turns out, this location had no requirements and even accepted organic burials where the body was simply wrapped in a shroud and placed directly into the earth.

The sad part of this story is that this family was embroiled in an all out war among themselves. The sister was the executor of her brother’s estate, and in addition to the infighting, her brother’s service medals that she planned to incorporate with the memorial had been stolen. After collaborating on various ideas, we were able to engrave dog tags that were engraved not only with his names and dates, but also had the Great Seal of the United States and listed his accommodations.

Despite the drama, we were able to create a beautiful work of art that honors a war veteran’s service. In addition to artistic bronze, we work with craftsman all over the country to create quality funeral vessels in ceramic, gorgeous pottery, and wood boxes that have been harvested from native trees. Our jewelers are creating designer style ash pendants in sterling silver and gold that function as tiny tributes that can be worn close to the heart and we employ stone masons from the Midwest to create outdoor urns and memorial markers.

We are proud to support military service and help create and support American jobs.

Hummingbird Urn for Ashes, Zest for Life and Love of Peace

April 15, 2014 urngarden.com

Cremation Urns with the image of the hummingbird have been popular with our families for years. Often the buyer will tell us that their loved one adored hummingbirds and was often out in the yard or garden enjoying nature and kept feeders full to attract the little birds.

Urns featuring the symbol of the hummingbirds come in a variety of materials ranging from metal to ceramic and many can be personalized. This attractive style is a calm shade of blue with a beautiful image of a hummingbird in flight sipping sweet nectar.

A Few Fun Facts About the Hummingbird and What it Represents as a Spirit Animal:

Hummingbirds represent all that is enjoyable about life. Those drawn to this animal fully take in the sweetness of life and love no matter what they are doing. While small in stature, hummingbirds are capable of fascinating feats such as flying backward or flying even long distances. Those who have hummingbirds as their symbols are inspired to continue developing their adaptability to various surroundings while maintaining their positive outlook.

small hummingbird keepsake urn for ashes

There are more than 300 species of hummingbirds, and they all share many of the same characteristics including being very swift. They are the tiniest of all birds weighing less than an ounce and measuring up to four inches long. They communicate by producing a hum noise with strong wing beats.

Is the Hummingbird Your Totem?

If you feel a strong connection to the hummingbird and feel that it plays an important role in your life, then it just may be your totem. Hummingbirds pass their energy on to you, as well as their zest for life, love of peace and playful quality. The hummingbird also needs much rest so it stays refreshed.

Hummingbirds remind us to take a look at how we are using our energy and resources. Are you wasting your energy worrying about or fearing something?

Hummingbirds as a Messenger of Love and Joy

To Native Americans, hummingbirds represent endless joy and the Nectar of Life. They are also seen as messengers of jubilation and love. With their swift action, they aggressively seek out those who want and need inspiration, renewal and rejuvenation.

Hummingbird Dreams

If a hummingbird flies through your dreams, it often means that small concepts and ideas possess greater potential and power. However, it can also mean the opposite. The tiny birds can represent a person’s frivolous ideas and flighty thoughts.

Need personal service creating a memorial? We can help!

Spring Themes in Cremation Urns

April 10, 2014 urngarden.com

Spring is the season of awakening and rejuvenation. Perennials that were hidden all winter long are making their first appearance; taking in the glorious sunshine and everything else Mother Nature has to offer.

Another promising sign of Spring is the sites and sounds of birds. Cardinals, for instance, are only bring hope and cheer on cold, wintry days, but like the dogwood, reminds people to focus on their faith. A cardinal’s scarlet plumage symbolizes the blood Christ shed as he died on the cross. A cardinal in a dogwood tree is a popular image, and our Cardinal and Dogwood Flower Urn has this exact picture. Not only is the cardinal a favorite mascot here in Missouri (St. Louis Cardinals), it’s the most popular state bird and represents seven states in the USA.

Listening to birds sing on a warm spring morning is another way of feeling not only rejuvenated but comforted as well. If you are hurting, the sounds of a bird’s tweet can be quite healing as well as help feed one’s brain with energy.

Dogwood trees and accompanying blossoms are a fine representation of this season, which is also closely associated with Easter. While the Bible does not mention dogwoods by name, they are tied to Jesus’ crucifixion, as this type of tree was said to have been used to make His cross. But from that day forward, God commanded that this once grandeur tree would never grow tall again, but always be twisted and short and never used for this purpose.

Its clustered fruit blossoms resemble Jesus’ crown of thorns and are said to be formed in the shape of a cross with two short and two long petals. Each petal’s outer edge are “nail prints” that are brown with rust and stained with blood. Everyone who sees this blossom is supposed to remember why Jesus died on the cross. Dogwoods are native from Eastern United States to North-Central Florida and is the state flower for North Carolina and Virginia.

Our goal at Urn Garden is to provide families with comforting memorial choices that are not only easy on the eye, but the pocket book as well. Feel free to call us if you have an idea or question about creating something personal that will reflect the spirit of your loved one.

Image credits: Dogwood: bosela