Whether you’ve lost someone recently, or years ago, the scar doesn’t ever completely heal – does it? One way to turn any negative thoughts into positive ones is to celebrate your departed loved one’s life. Loving Ashes takes a look at ten ways to celebrate a life lost, but lived to the fullest…
1. Plant a Tree
Celebrate a life by giving life to something else. Planting a tree is a great way to memorialise a departed loved one. Invite family and friends of the departed to join the planting ceremony, and once the tree has grown large enough, you can have a small copper plaque attached to the bark with your departed loved one’s name on it.
2. Host a Slide-Show
Gather your favourite photographs of your departed loved one, scanning and digitising any physical photographs, and arrange them to your loved one’s favourite song using a video editing computer program. Invite friends and family over for dinner one night, and play your slideshow for all to reminisce and enjoy.
3. Cook Like Them
As a thoughtful addition to the above idea, if your departed loved one simply adored a specific meal or style of food, consider cooking this (the way they liked it) and serve it at the family gathering where you intend on revealing the slide-show.
4. Take on Their Hobby
Did your loved one like to go fishing on a Sunday morning? Perhaps they enjoyed going to watch stock car racing on a Friday night? Maybe they enjoyed collecting bottle caps from beverages around the world? What ever your departed loved one did to pass the time, celebrate their life by taking on a hobby of theirs.
5. Make a Collage
Not too keen on having the family over for a slide-show? Why not make a collage instead? Take a handful of your favourite photographs featuring your departed loved one and arrange them – using scrapbooking extras here and there – into a collage of happy memories that you can frame and hang somewhere at home.
6. Keep Them Close
One way to celebrate a passed loved one’s life is to use a small portion of their cremation ash and craft it into a stunning memorial art piece. Loving Ashes crafts beautiful memorial orbs and hearts, using a small amount of your loved one’s ashes. These colourful blown-glass memorials can be displayed anywhere, and can be placed on a light stand for night-time reminiscing.
7. Get Inked in Their Name
Tattoos aren’t for everyone, but they are a great way to celebrate the life of a passed family member. Skilled tattoo artists are able to accurately portray a human face using ink, but there are literally hundreds of other smaller tattoo memorial ideas to look at should pain be an issue for you.
8. Reserve Their Spot
If you’re big on family gatherings, you’ll know that everyone seems to have their preferred spot at the dining table. Celebrate your departed loved one’s life by keeping their spot at the table open, using a sign board or a memorial art piece on their table mat when having the family around for a meal.
9. Donate Their Goods
One way to really celebrate a life lived, and help those less fortunate, is to donate your loved one’s belongings to worthy causes. We’re talking about their clothes which can keep people warm during winter, their glasses to establishments that assist less fortunate visually impaired people, and the like.
10. Quilt a Blanket
Prefer not to part with those black bags of your departed loved one’s clothing? Celebrate their life by undertaking a repurposing project, like quilting a blanket. You can use pieces of your loved one’s clothing as patches to be added to the blanket, or you can make a bunch of smaller throws for other members of the family.
