When an individual or family chooses cremation, one of the first questions that follows is what to do with the remains. Some choose cremation urns or keepsake urns to hold and display the remains. Others start with urns for cremation and then build memorials around them such as a memorial bench in a beautiful garden or cemetery. Alternately, funeral urns may be skipped entirely in favor of alternate memorial keepsakes including cremation jewelry or pottery. With a wide array of options available, there is a cremation memorial keepsake suitable for every family.
Cremation Urns
Cremation urns come in a wide array of styles and price ranges. Simple cremation urns designed for nothing more than the transport of cremation ashes to a scattering location are at the low end of the price spectrum.
For environmentally thoughtful individuals, urns for cremation can be eco-friendly. These “green” cremation urns range from simple biodegradable materials to more ornate and elaborately designed urns to commemorate and memorialize the deceased. Some examples of more elaborate eco-friendly urns include sweetgrass basket urns or sand art keepsake urns. Bamboo and natural salt urns are also biodegradable, and are increasingly popular among environmentally conscious families.
Elaborate keepsake urns designed for display on a mantel or in another memorial context are often made from expensive materials like granite, marble, or even precious metals. These urns can cost thousands of dollars for pieces in the higher price ranges.
Keepsake Urns
Keepsake urns are designed for display in homes, at columbariums, or in funeral niches in local cemeteries. Keepsake urns are elaborate cremation urns, often with carving, engraving, embossing, and other decorative details. Sometimes keepsake urns are integrated with a larger memorial piece, such as a granite keepsake urn as part of a memorial bench in a beautiful garden or other special place. Families choose many methods of displaying keepsake urns to memorialize the deceased, varying primarily based on budget and the desires of the family or deceased.
Pre-planning gives an individual the opportunity to select the way in which he or she will be memorialized. This is particularly helpful if one has a particular keepsake urn or location in which one would like to be interred.
Other Memorial Keepsakes Following Cremation
Memorial keepsakes after cremation aren’t confined to keepsake urns and elaborate memorial statuary. Options such as cremation jewelry, urns shaped like vases, and even small capsules to hold cremated remains are growing in popularity. Keepsake lockets are becoming more commonplace. Some individuals prefer to have their remains transformed into precious stones, which can then be set into jewelry. Some families are even choosing things like pottery or candles as keepsake memorial items following cremation. Shell keepsakes are a good choice for families who prefer a natural, environmentally friendly memorial keepsake. Another option is a cremation memorial at the Neptune Memorial Reef™.
With cremation growing in popularity, a wide array of cremation urns, keepsake urns, and other memorial keepsakes are available. Pre-planning cremation makes it possible for an individual to select the memorial keepsake most suitable to his or her wishes. When families are left to select funeral urns and urns for cremation, they often focus on how they wish to remember and memorialize the deceased.
