Would You Personalize Your Funeral?

Personalizing our everyday necessities and our life itself is pretty common. To personalize our space and everything material that we own is part of our identity. Nobody questions our preferences – from the color choices of and in our house, vehicles and the details inside, the “outfit of the day”, everything down the tiniest detail inside our purse. 

Technology has helped everyone personalize. Printers and sewing kits, wallpaper and paint choices, there are even applications available for download to give you ideas on what and how other people across the globe put all their effort to personalize and customize their things making it a representation of themselves.

But, is it okay to personalize your funeral? How far from the “traditional ways” can you go that would make it “acceptable”? How could it be any different from personalizing when still alive anyway? And, does it matter?

Here are some tips when you consider personalizing your funeral:

•  Ask around and do some internet and social media research about a funeral company that can accommodate your thinking-outside-the-box. Even funeral celebrations now have their own personalized hashtags that it is easy to track those who think as you do. 
• Subtly discuss with your family/relatives, close friends and special people about their views on the kind of funeral that you want. Weigh in their answers – be empathetic and respectful. 
• Also ask the opinions of people who work in the funeral world – for example, the funeral directors, priests or pastors, people who work in the cemeteries or the church and chapels. Ask for pros and cons.
• Choose to meet halfway when you make a decision. Inform your direct family and closest few people about your choices and hope they’d respect it as well just like you did theirs. Sometimes a compromise is the best way to show love. Agree to disagree, and always choose respect and kindness. 

For baby boomers, the traditional way of saying goodbyes and remembrance is pretty common. Although cremation is still “new” to some, it has also become a trend. Some of them might not understand the concept of a customized funeral. 

But for Generation XYZ it is important. It is part of being a millennial – to show the world his/her own identity. It could be the type and color of flowers, the music played during the wake and procession. The colour and theme of outfit to wear in the coffin and clothes for the bereaved family to wear. The balloons being released or the sky lanterns and beautiful notes and a bouquet of flowers released down the rivers or the ocean. Even the decision as to who the pallbearers are and what they wear is included to personalize.

Then here comes the last and final basis – your budget. Personalizing your material possession while still alive is one thing, but to go way above budget for your funeral, especially when not covered by your pre-need plan, is another. 

The decision is yours. A funeral is celebrated in memory of you – it is your parade. 

Photo credits: Pixabay