9 Valentine’s Day DIYs That Honor The Ones We Love
February 8th, 2021For centuries, St. Valentine has been associated with love and romance. While he might not be the first person you think to partner with for a funeral home workshop or event, the many ideas people have to share their feelings on February 14th can also be adapted to help your families celebrate the life of their loved ones.
Showing the Love — Personalizing Funerals and Hosting Community Events
With Valentine’s Day’s focus on love and relationships, this familiar holiday brings out the DIY-best in people. You can borrow some of these ideas to add meaningful personalization to an upcoming funeral service or host a thoughtful workshop to bring your community together at your funeral home. Here are several activities we think can help express the love family and friends feel for their loved one.
1) Keep the Conversation Going
Transform this conversation stones Valentine’s Day idea into a way to break the ice and start the storytelling at the visitation or memorial service. Guests could be asked to select one of the stones a family member (or you) have made already with prompts such as “Favorite Getaway” or “Favorite Restaurant” and share the story that comes to mind.
You could also gift these conversation stones to your families to help them through the healing process in the days, weeks, months or even years after the loss of their loved one. Suggest that families hold “Conversation Stone” gatherings to come together a honor their loved one a few months after their funeral service, or even annually on their loved one’s birthday.
Alternatively, you could do the same craft project capturing the favorite sayings of a loved one. These could then be handed out to guests so that they leave with a memory stone of their very own.
2) Create a Photo Puzzle
Invite families with small children to keep the memories of grandparents and older aunts and uncles alive by turning photographs into puzzles. This craft will provide a physical, tangible reminder of the loved one. Plus, it can encourage the younger generation to continue to connect with the lost elder in an ongoing way.
3) Light the Loved One’s Way
Shimmering handmade votives with candles can be a lovely additional decoration to the service setting or a fun craft to host at your funeral home. Invite family members to let their love literally glow all around them by offering a DIY tutorial in making mason jars into candles. These can also double as a crafty keepsake the family and friends can take home to light on later nights when they want to feel close once more to their loved one.
4) Transform A Keepsake
A loved one’s beloved memorabilia often gets packed away or passed on to family and friends. Yet you might personalize a service by asking the family to provide a personal item which guests can make into a true memento. Set up a spot at the viewing, for instance, where you have put the loved one’s favorite guitar or sports jersey along with permanent markers. Make a small sign inviting guests to share a message of comfort of support. Then, present this even more valuable keepsake to the family after the funeral.
5) Prompt Storytelling
Invite people to your funeral home for a workshop in which they’ll make “Fun Fact” cards remembering their loved ones. This activity can bring together people who are various stages of the grief process to remember their loved one’s life and share stories. Even if the funeral service has already been held, workshop participants could create these informational cards to send out on the anniversary of the loss. Provide colorful cardstock, scrapbooking supplies, and markers and prepare a list of prompts such as:
- Favorite song
- Favorite movie
- Least favorite food
- Favorite city visited
- Favorite sport played
- Favorite food to cook
- Nicknames through the years
- Stories about monumental life moments or accomplishments
6) Make a Wardrobe Wreath
Encourage family members to attend an event in which they transform items of their loved one’s clothing into a colorful wreath. A lady’s scarves or child’s colorful T-shirts could be cut into colorful strips and twined together to create a lasting piece of decor. Or make a decorative wreath out of Dad’s old ties.
7) Sew a Special Shirt Apron
All you need to provide is needle, thread, and scissors to help family members turn a loved one’s old shirt into an apron. These keepsakes make good use of favorite or familiar button downs, and can provide an ongoing reminder of the loved on in the kitchen, garden, or workshop.
8) Pull Together a Pull-Out Album
Help your community transform their snapshots into a curated collection of images by hosting a Pull-Out Photo Album DIY Night. Country Living offers the how-to instructions. You’d need to provide rulers, pencils, card stock and scissors while guiding your guests to make these accordion albums from their favorite photos.
9) Create a Tribute Video
One more way you can offer a personalized funeral? Sign up for funeralOne’s Life Tributes software and create a beautiful memorial videos for families. These easy-to-create tribute videos are always a great way to start the sharing of memories at a visitation. They can also be uploaded to the loved one’s social memorial website so they are available for friends and family to view anytime, anywhere.
[…] Valentine’s Day is a special time to come back to love. […]