Linda Lee provided everyone with name tags when they walked in. Her mother was 85 years old, most of her friends were about the same age, and many were suffering from memory loss. She didn’t want her mother’s friends to be embarrassed for not remembering names of people they hadn’t seen in years. Her mother’s favorite color was pink so she got plain white labels from the office supply store and put a pink border on them using the computer. The pink-bordered tags were then given to a couple close friends who sat at the front on the reception area at a table writing out name tags. The tags not only said the person’s name but the relationship to her mother; for example, Esther Hodges (high school friend, class of 1938). It’s rare that everyone knows each other at a service. If everyone has a name tag that says not only the person’s name but also the relation to the deceased it makes the service much more personal as well as helps the guests to make conversation.

Create a Collage

Here is a creative idea, create a photo collage that captures your love one. This could be incorporated in a folder to be handed out at the service and perhaps on thank you notes that you could have printed to thank all those who lend support, send flowers and donations to charity. Go to Kodak Gallery to create a collage.

Make Clay Hearts

One woman baked clay butterflies and hearts to give away at the celebration of life she was in charge of planning. She purchased polymer clay, which can be found at most craft stores. She rolled colors she liked together (it’s like play-doh and it stays soft until you bake it). It can be sanded, drilled, carved, or painted. Perhaps you could add your loved ones name on the back. Get the kids and grandkids involved.

Other Ideas:

• At one man’s funeral, his friends and family were transported by a zoo trainto four separate and unique outdoor settings at his beloved zoo. At each setting, they heard comments from a podium surrounded by cloth covered chairs. Each setting uniquely demonstrated areas of his life. There was the marriage setting, with pictures of his 50-year marriage in which his wife talked of their life together. Another that demonstrated his avocation with pictures of his work with PETA and his pictorial safaris. One completely constructed by his grandchildren who amidst both laughter and tears acted out a play about their grandfather. At the conclusion of the video tribute in the last setting, while the video screen held a full head shot of the deceased, his voicemail’s familiar message both startled and moved us. “Hi this is Dave, I’m not here right now, I am on safari, but I hope I meet you on the trail.”
  Alicia Johnson, a self-proclaimed wine connoisseur prearranged her service to include three separate wine tasting ceremony stations established in her garden at her suburban home. Her family and friends walked to each of the three stations, tasted wine, and experienced the important areas of her life. At the first one, they listened to some of her favorite music while enjoying one particular wine she had invested in and talked amongst themselves about Alicia, her wine and her music. At the second ceremony station, the funeral director provided each attendee with a message card to write words of comfort to the family if they chose while enjoying a different wine and hearing her husband talk of their life together. At the third ceremony station beneath an outdoor tent, they tearfully watched Alicia in a video in which she talked to them from her bed just weeks before her death. She had heartfelt and loving messages to more than ten members of her family and friends.