6 Ways to Enhance Your Funeral Services with “Celebration Stations”
November 5th, 2015
The primary goal of a funeral service is to pay respect to a meaningful life lived, and to offer an opportunity for comfort and closure to grieving family and friends. Without a doubt, your services are a beautiful and important way for people to honor loved ones, but the celebration of life shouldn’t start and end with a eulogy…
Guests of a funeral service all mourn in different ways, and different guests feel the most profound impact of a service at different moments… the service, the visitation, the burial, etc. And for guests who may only be close with the immediate family or the loved one they’re saying goodbye to, funeral services can feel disconnected or like there’s no proper opportunity for them to grieve and memorialize the life lived.
What these guests need is a funeral service that’s personalized and unique in order to help them celebrate properly (as well as help your funeral home stand out as one that puts families first). Just take a look at these six unique “celebration stations” that will help to enhance your funeral services:
1. Encourage photo sharing with a scrapbook station.
For funeral guests who may not have known the family, services can be tricky to navigate. However, providing a scrapbooking station where guests can deliver their favorite photos, notes or small mementoes to the family creates a simple way to generate conversation and memory sharing. Plus, it’s rare that family members know about every life their loved one touched, or every person who shared in that love. A scrapbook filled with new stories and memories helps them take comfort in knowing how many people cared for their loved one, and helps bridge gaps and prompt introductions in otherwise difficult circumstances.
2. Allow visitors to give their regards with a unique guest book.
For guests who want to make their mark at the funeral service, but may not have any photos or mementoes to share, a unique guest book helps them express sympathy and love in a way that feels more personalized to the life lived. Let guests leave their loving regards on a signable photo frame the family can keep, or on a piece of memorabilia honoring for the life lived. For example, if their loved one was a big baseball fan, a blank jersey or photo of them in their uniform is the perfect place to jot down signatures and memories to help guests feel close to their loved one. Plus, it helps families feel like the service was personally crafted and designed around the life lived.
3. Let guests comfort the family with warm memories and messages of support.
Some funerals draw large numbers of guests and it can be difficult for everyone to get a few minutes of face-time with the family members. But everyone’s memories and stories of their loved one are important, worth sharing and happily comforting to their loved one’s family. A great way to help friends and families ensure that their memories and well wishes are heard (and remembered) is a memory time capsule. Have people write down and deliver their memories or messages of support for the family, and drop them in a private gift box or basket. This unique way of memory sharing gives families a way to remember their loved one (even months and years after the service) and cherish new stories they may have never heard before.
4. Give friends a place to view or contribute treasured items.
People tend to wear many hats in life, and not everyone who cares for them is able to see them in each and every hat. A display of tokens from the life lived, created in honor of the passions and hobbies he or she held closest, can bring funeral guests together in comfort. It also provides another opportunity to customize the services. Consider letting the family display a sports or military uniform, a piece of artwork their loved one created or other beloved belongings that will help personalize the funeral for those in attendance.
5. Feature causes close to the loved one’s heart and encourage charitable support in their memory.
A way to truly celebrate the life lived and memorialize someone’s great efforts and achievements is to point out their passions. You can do this in a way that helps funeral guests feel as if they can have a part in carrying on their loved one’s legacy. For example, for the person who spent their life volunteering at animal shelters and championing animal welfare, create a space to display information on continuing their work with the same shelter or contributing to an animal welfare organization in their name. Providing such an opportunity for charitable work may help those who prefer to “spring into action” feel less helpless and more productive in their grieving period.
6. Create a Life Tribute video to help family and friends relive their favorite moments together.
It’s not uncommon for mourners to express that they want to see their loved one’s smile or hear them laugh once more. Create that opportunity for guests at your services with a Life Tributes video, and let family and friends relive their favorite moments and memories in a unique and personalized way. Incorporate still images, favorite songs and video footage for the most customized video that lets every guest feel the presence of their loved one again. Easily create and share a tribute video with our Life Tributes software for a seamless way to integrate a well-loved celebration station into your services.
As a funeral director, are you doing all that you can to help different families remember and honor their loved one throughout the entire funeral celebration? A celebration station of any kind can powerfully enhance the services your funeral home provides. Click here to learn more about establishing a video celebration station with Life Tributes, and other personalized pieces to create a one-of-a-kind celebration of life.
Leave a Reply