Create a Great Funeral Day
Engaging in heartfelt conversations about the final journey ensures wishes are honored, easing the burden on loved ones during difficult times.
Position your funeral, financial planning, or eco-conscious services as the compassionate partner helping families have difficult conversations and honor final wishes with clarity and peace of mind.
- Start the conversation: 5 questions to ask loved ones about their final wishes
- Green funeral options: How to plan an eco-friendly send-off
- Estate planning 101: Why October is the perfect time to document your wishes
- Funeral homes that listen: How to choose a provider aligned with your values
Developed just prior to the turn of the century, Create a Great Funeral Day is barely a decade old. Registered as an official holiday by Stephanie West Allen as a way of attempting to relieve the pressure of having to decide what a loved one would want for their final send off, this day got its start in 1999.
Create a Great Funeral Day was founded with the hopes of getting loved ones to sit down together and talk about what they would want at their funeral while they are still young and healthy enough to have the conversation. This type of forward thinking helps loved ones know what the plan is when the time comes and keeps them from having to juggle their grief with trying to plan a funeral and guess what they would have wanted.
From big plans like a living will or a burial plot to smaller thoughts such as a particular song to be played at the funeral or words for the headstone, Create a Great Funeral Day is all about sharing preferences and opening up a healthy conversation about death.
Another similar day that is worth paying attention to, called Dying to Know Day falls each year in the month of August.
Have a Conversation About Last Wishes
One of the most important things to do on Create a Great Funeral Day is to open up the lines of communication with loved ones. Whether aging parents, a spouse, aunts and uncles, or even siblings, it’s important to remember that everyone dies at some point. So get the conversation rolling with some questions regarding preferences – and write them down to make it easier to save them for later. Try discussing some of these topics: How does the person feel about organ donation?Which is preferred, burial or cremation?Would flowers be welcome or would it be better to make a donation to a charity?What would they like their obituary to say?
Learn More About Green Funerals
In recent years there has been a great deal of realization that traditional funerals can come with a very large carbon footprint. One way to limit this impact on the earth is to consider working with an eco-friendly funeral home and burial provider. In the US, there are more than 300 providers who avoid toxic chemicals or traditional coffins, instead opting for biodegradable shrouds or pine coffins that allow for a more natural internment. Share Some Facts About FuneralsTo break the ice when it comes to discussing difficult topics on Create a Great Funeral Day, perhaps it would be interesting to bring up some of these interesting facts related to funerals:The word funeral was first used in written English in the 1300s by author Geoffrey Chaucer in The Knight’s Tale.Wearing black to a funeral dates all the way back to Roman times, around the first century, when a dark toga would be worn after someone’s passing. The tradition continued throughout Victorian England.While today people send flowers for a funeral, during ancient times the herb Rosemary was preferred to be carried in a funeral procession as it is a fragrant plant that is associated with eternal life.