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Celebration of Life Ideas

By: Addison Koch

Friday, October 6, 2017

The loss of a loved one is never easy. In many cases, attending a funeral can make the experience that much more difficult. A funeral is often somber with many guests being overcome with sadness and grief. The alternative option is to have a celebration of life. An event focused around celebrating the achievements of the deceased, what they valued, and sharing good memories of your loved one. Click here for a deeper explanation of a celebration of life, and click here to understand the differences between a celebration of life and a funeral.

For families in Bellbrook and the surrounding communities of Cincinnati, Centerville, Kettering, and Dayton, we offer celebration of life services to help you say goodbye with a positive event of remembrance. Our staff will work alongside you to help pay tribute and honor a loved one. We have listed some things to keep in mind when you start planning the celebration of life.  

For Who?

The first thing you need to think about is who the event is for. While the purpose is to honor the life of the deceased and reflect his/her individuality; you should also understand that this event is for family and friends as well. It is about more than just saying goodbye, it’s about helping family members and friends cope with the loss and begin the healing process.

The Where?

Where will this event take place? The great thing about a celebration of life is that it can take place anywhere. The deceased’s home, a local park, even at a funeral home. The first thing you need to do when choosing the location is to determine how many guests will likely attend. From there you can begin looking for venues that will meet the space requirements. You should also consider holding the celebration of life at a location that was important to your loved one.

The How?

How will you honor and celebrate the life of your loved one? Some celebrations include an officiant and others do not; the choice is totally up to you. Some families choose to have someone move the ceremony along and others hold a more informal party where guests just casually interact and share stories. This is also when you can begin to think about things like pictures, decorations, music, and food. Again the choice is yours, but we recommend selecting things that your loved one enjoyed, were passionate about, or reflects their personality. When you start to plan a celebration of life, you’ll realize that nothing is really off limits when it comes to personalizing it and making the event special.

Celebration of Life Ideas

If you would like some inspiration for possible celebration of life ideas, we’ve compiled some interesting and unique ideas to help get the creative process going.

The Sports Lover

If your loved one was a dedicated sports fan or enjoyed playing a certain sport, consider focusing the event around that love. A great idea for this could be organizing a golf tournament or exhibition softball or basketball game.

The Charitable Person

Was your loved one a caring and charitable person? If so, you could organize an event around celebrating the life of the deceased while raising money for a cause they were passionate about. The fundraiser could be an elaborate event or a casual party where people leave a donation to be pooled together and donated in the deceased’s name.

The Foodie

If your loved one was the type of person who loved to make or eat delicious food and appreciated trying new things, organize a dinner party that serves their favorite foods. Family and friends should feel a close connection when they dine on the food that your loved one enjoyed.

Preplanning Your Celebration of Life

Meet Malcolm Brocklehurst – an 81-year-old retired aircraft engineer from Cleveleys, England. He planned out an elaborate celebration of life that incorporated the deceased’s love of flying and professional soccer team - Blackpool FC. There’s just one thing though, the event was planned for Malcom. And he isn’t dead yet. That’s right, you don’t just have to plan a celebration of life for a loved one when they pass away, you can prearrange your own, just like you can preplan your funeral or cremation service.

Malcolm took the initiative to make sure that when he dies his family doesn’t have to worry about planning a service. He’s already done that for them, and even held a dress rehearsal. When his time finally does come, his family will be prepared to say goodbye.

Mr. Brocklehurst has been a long time supporter of Blackpool FC and a flying enthusiast. To reflect these passions he will be dressed in his favorite soccer team’s orange uniform and placed in an airplane shaped casket during his celebration of life. His casket will also be taken to Bloomfield Park which is the home stadium of Blackpool FC.

Afterwards, the plane casket will be loaded onto a truck to be taken to the crematorium. Before the truck leaves though, friends and family will be invited to share memories of Malcolm and spin his casket’s propeller to “fly him to the moon”.

Malcolm has also instructed that there should be no tears during the celebration of life. He does not want others to dwell on his death but rather rejoice in what happened during his life.

The plans Mr. Brocklehurst has made for his celebration of life should serve as the standard families hold themselves to when planning a celebration of life. The entire service is arranged around celebrating what he loved most and what made him unique. It celebrates what he loved in life; it does not involve mourning the fact that he is gone. 

Conner & Koch Plans & Creates Amazing Celebrations of Life 

At Conner & Koch, we like to refer to ourselves as a “Life Celebration Home” because we would rather help your family celebrate and honor the life of your loved one as opposed to allowing the sadness of losing a loved one to overwhelm you. Our staff possesses the expertise and creativity to help plan fitting celebrations of life that represent an individual’s personality, what they were passionate about, and what they valued most.

Browse below to see how we have helped many different families say goodbye to their loved ones with personalized celebrations that reflect the things the deceased loved and enjoyed.

Celebrating Greg Maynard's Love of Billiards and Ping Pong

Greg Maynard loved to play billiards and ping pong. To help incorporate this into his celebration of life, we had a billiards and ping pong table set up. Guests were encouraged to play these games in memory of Greg and share stories. This was a wonderful celebration and a great way to lighten the mood and get guests to interact with each other. 

Celebrating Janey Hacker's Love of Arts and Crafts

Janey was a dedicated kindergarten teacher that loved arts and crafts. To touch on this passion, a table was set up for guests to do a craft she did with her students every year. Afterwards, the guests were encouraged to present it to the family or keep it for themselves as a special keepsake.

Celebrating Lynda Fisher's Love for Cooking & Christmas

Lynda Fisher had a great passion for cooking and Christmas. Therefore we created two different backdrops to represent these two passions. 

Celebrating Joyce Risner's Love of Board Games

Joyce’s family told us they had great memories of playing board games with her. Therefore, we setup a tower of Jenga blocks. Guests were encouraged to leave notes on the wooden blocks. After the service the family took the game home with them. For years to come, they can play this game and think fondly of Joyce.

Sources:

Kelly, J. (2015). Happy funerals: A celebration of life? Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31940529

New Comer. (2016). Celebration of life ideas. Retrieved from http://www.newcomersyracuse.com/Blog/92/celebration-of-life-ideas