How To Plan A Celebration Of Life
A celebration of life is a joyous ceremony where friends and family come together to celebrate a life well lived. If you’ve never had to plan one before, you’re likely here because you’re wondering, how to plan a celebration of life. Planning a celebration of life doesn’t have to be difficult. Our experienced and caring funeral home staff can help you plan a service that showcases your loved one’s unique personality. The service can be simple and elegant or big and bold, the choice is up to you.
Every life is unique, and we believe it should be celebrated as such. Together our staff will take a personalized approach and help tailor a service that is one of a kind. To help get you started with brainstorming ideas, check out our planning a celebration of life checklist to learn more.
Celebration of Life Ideas
Celebrations of life are all about personalization and capturing the spirit of your loved one. To truly make the service as unique as your loved one, check out the ideas below for inspiration.
*Please keep in mind, these are strictly ideas and in no way, are services currently offered by our firm.
Create a Time Capsule
A great way to help the family long after the service has ended is to create a time capsule of memories. For this idea, invite guests to bring small items like photographs, cards, books, letters, and other little mementos. As guests add their item into the capsule, they can share the memory with everyone in attendance. Afterwards, your family can choose to bury the capsule or lock it away. On the first anniversary of the deceased’s passing, your family can open the memory capsule and revisit all the memories that were shared.
Host a Potluck
If your loved one loved to cook or enjoyed trying new foods, consider hosting a potluck. Create a list of your loved one’s favorite dishes and invite guests to sign up to bring them. Not only will you be serving the food your loved one enjoyed, guests can feel a greater connection to the deceased and that they were a part of the celebration.
Scatter the Remains
If your loved one has been cremated, you may want to consider planning an ash scattering ceremony during the celebration of life. There are many ways to do this from scattering remains in a garden to releasing them into a body of water. Whatever you decide to do, make sure to check with the funeral director and local authorities about any laws or regulations surrounding ash scattering.
How to Plan a Celebration of Life?
- Make a list of who will be invited?
To save time, rather than starting from scratch see if you or a family member has a holiday card mailing list. This will make it easier to ensure that you don't forget to invite extended family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. This will save you time if you plan to write thank you notes as well.
- Where and when should the event take place? Consider a location that has special meaning to your loved one or family. Be sure to check in with out-of-town relatives and friends about their situation before settling on these critical details.
- Who will orchestrate or conduct the event? If your loved one was religious, you may opt to have their pastor or church minister perform these tasks. However, many families hire a non-denominational celebrant to oversee the celebration of life.
- Who wishes to speak at the event? Often family and friends will be direct about their desire to make a short presentation at the celebration of life; other times you need to ask folks directly if they would be willing to publicly share their thoughts and feelings. Either way, you'll want to select those who have shared a close relationship with the deceased and have something meaningful to contribute.
- What type of celebration is appropriate? We've heard some wonderful and unique celebration-of-life ideas over the years. Consider a theme that is representative of what your loved one was known for. Perhaps they were a sports enthusiast, music lover or had a passion for crafts or sailing. For unique and memorable ideas visit
Pinterest.
- What food or beverages should be served? What you serve may depend on the theme of your celebration of life, or may be based on your loved one's favorite dishes or drinks. Some families opt for a "pot luck" celebration of life where guests actually sign up to bring select food and beverages. Consider using
Sign-Up Genius to make your celebration planning easier.
- What readings and music should you include? Music is an integral part of life for many people, and a celebration of life is the perfect event in which to showcase the meaningful music of your loved one's life. But, if your loved one didn't appreciate music (and lots of folks don’t), it may be more appropriate to read chosen spiritual selections or excerpts from literature.
- What details of your loved one's life do you want to share with guests? Not every biographical detail needs to be highlighted. Capture their essence by telling revealing anecdotes or stories. Sometimes you can reveal their character by detailing one short moment in their life experience.
- What decorations will you have? If you have a theme it may be easy to select decorations however choosing a respectful and memorable way to showcase your loved one in videos and photos may be challenging. Many families create a video tribute and use it as the centerpiece of the event. Others may choose to use a memory table of photographs and other memorabilia. For more ideas visit
Pinterest.
Let Us Help You Plan A Celebration of Life
As we've said, we have the experience to help make things easier for you and your family. Don't hesitate to pick up the phone & call us. Let's talk about your loved one's life. Share some stories with us. We're confident that, together, we can come up with the perfect celebration of life event to suit your needs and expectations.
Davis Funeral Home, LLC
1 Lock Street Nashua, NH 03064
Fax: (603) 881-3124
