When it comes to saying farewell to a loved one who has died, more and more people prefer organising unique memorials that celebrate their loved one’s life.
At Bare, we can help you create a memorial as a part of Bare Funeral and this can be a send off that is special and personalised. Every single one of us is different and unique in our own way, so it makes sense that each memorial is customised for each individual.
Holding the memorial after the cremation.
Many people choose Bare for their loved ones because they’re looking for a simple, affordable cremation without the fuss.
And for those wanting more, we can organise a beautiful memorial service in the weeks or months after the cremation, once the ashes have been returned to you.
Holding the cremation before the memorial allows for more time, and provides you and your family space to sit and work through the intensity of your grief. When you are ready, you can hold a memorial and celebration of love and life, while still acknowledging the pain and grief of loss.
It is also important to mention that choosing cremation does not mean you cannot have a traditional farewell. Families can still decide to have a more traditional service or ceremony where the coffin is present before the cremation takes place. Essentially, cremation offers flexibility in how you want to honour a loved one, whether that is through a memorial, a traditional farewell, or a combination of both.
Customer stories of unique memorials and ashes scattering.
We get countless messages and stories of beautiful ceremonies, ashes scatterings and memorials from our customers, many of which we’ve been able to help create and bring to life in some way, shape or form.
Keep reading to be inspired by these unique memorial and funeral ideas, shared by our dedicated funeral arrangers.
“A customer shared a story of the best funeral she ever attended. It was for a woman who loved Twisties (the chips) and ate them every day. Every guest who attended the funeral was asked to bring a packet of Twisties with them, and they all showered her coffin with Twisties instead of flowers.” - Georgie
“Another customer had a friend who loved giraffes, so much so that she had collected 187 ceramic and toy giraffes in her life. At the memorial, her family brought them all and sent one home with each of the guests as a special gift to remember her by.” - Georgie
If your loved one had a special hobby, or was a lover or collector of something, it’s great to incorporate these elements into their memorial. It creates an incredible special memory and helps bring people together in their love and grief.
“A prepaid customer is organising his farewell in a unique way. This man, who was a travel writer, has commissioned someone to create a personalised tiki of his own head. When he dies and is cremated, a friend will carry his ashes to Hawaii, where he has made special arrangements to have his ashes flown over an active volcano. They will be dropped in the volcano’s caldera along with a bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin as an offering to a local (and apparently fickle) fire goddess.” - Penny
“A customer who had her husband cremated with Bare called to share the plans for his ashes. Half of the ashes are going into fireworks, which will be set off on a barge in Redcliffe.” - Sarah S
“I have a customer that wanted something special for her husband’s urn. She purchased a plain urn from us and had a local Brisbane artist named Bec paint it for her. Her husband’s team was the Tigers so the artist Bec has hand painted and sprayed this urn.” - Bronnie
“I did a funeral for a lady who loved the snake lollies and everyone got a packet of snakes as they entered the chapel.” - Em
“We had a wonderful member who called to ask the dimension of the urn so he could build himself a Viking ship urn to have his own version of a Viking funeral.” - Alicia
Read: 13 unique memorial service ideas.
Other interesting requests.
Sometimes our customers surprise us with interesting requests for their cremation or ashes.
“I recently had someone cremated with a lasagna. He must have had a soft spot for lasagna! I’ve also had the request to be cremated with fresh fish and chips but I had to deny that one.” - Sofie
“More often though, I get surprised by what the family sometimes wants back. Sometimes we return the person's metal implants, pins, pacemakers etc… they’re the requests that make this job so interesting.” - Penny
“I spoke to my sister the other day, who has been thinking about her funeral now that I’m in the business. She told me when she dies she wants a mini me to be put into a snow globe, with the ashes acting like the snow, and when you wind it up ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’ by Cyndi Lauper plays. After updating her on the practicalities of the cremated remains not having the same composition as snow globe snow, we had a solid chuckle. I thought it was a great idea!” - Cale
Let us create a memorial that celebrates your loved one’s life, so you don’t have to stress about the planning. At Bare, we don’t believe there is a single way to say goodbye to a loved one, we also offer more traditional funerals if a memorial isn’t right for you. Give us a call on 1800 071 176 or head to our Funeral Services page to learn more about our memorials or funerals.
