Remember when nearly all weddings were held in a church? That tradition gave way to barns, beaches, and everything in between. At the same time, the traditional funeral has remained virtually unchanged.
Even as our society shifted from a casket burial to cremation, with cremations becoming the prominent choice in 2015, the services retained the same format. These services typically consisted of a church service, funeral home service, or some combination of both.
Today, over 80% of us will opt to have our bodies turned into ash. Cost and relaxed religious beliefs have facilitated this change, and we don’t see it changing anytime soon.
What is changing is the funeral service or lack of one. More and more Baby Boomers are skipping the traditional funeral. They are opting for something that feels more like them. In my seventeen years of owning a funeral home, I’d begun repeatedly hearing “I don’t want a funeral, I want a party.”
It makes sense. We don’t want to think about our friends and family feeling sad. Just the thought of that makes us sad. We want them to be glad we lived, tell stories, and share a laugh.
The term “Celebration of Life” has grown in popularity over recent years, and the formalities of traditional funerals are oftentimes going by the wayside. While some individuals still want to incorporate their church or a family tradition into their end-of-life celebration, they aren’t limiting their service to those expected elements.
We are seeing all kinds of ideas, including funerals that happen while the person being honored is still alive. These are referred to as “living funerals” and are held before death, perhaps on a milestone birthday or as end-of-life nears. Living funerals offer loved ones time to celebrate and pay their respects before it is too late. It can be a really beautiful thing to see someone showered with love before they leave this earth.
While not every celebration will be held while the guest of honor is still living, other celebrations of life are shifting, too.
An end-of-life celebration is meant to bring joy, healing, and even inspiration to families and their guests. We want each guest to walk away and feel at peace knowing the tribute they attended was on point for their friend or loved one. “That was so ____________; he/she would’ve loved that.”
That could mean a gathering at a golf course, a wine tasting, a casino night, sparklers at sunset, a pontoon parade, a dance party, or anything else someone can imagine. The sky’s the limit when it comes to possibilities. It can be as unique as the person being celebrated.
We are living in an age where the options are endless. We can get married in a barn and have a funeral on a beach. Life is meant to be lived and celebrated. That looks different for each of us. At Sendoff we’re setting it forth to make a real difference in people’s lives. It will be a game changer in the funeral industry, and we are grateful to be leading that charge.
With 25 years experience in retail, hospitality and funeral home ownership, Kelly Roberts was inspired to change the narrative in the funeral home space by creating Sendoff ~ Funerals Reimagined, a new and unique memorial brand curating highly personalized events within hospitality venues throughout the Twin Cities and beyond.
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The material contained herein is for informational purposes only, and is not intended to create or constitute an attorney-client relationship between Schromen Law, LLC and the reader. The views expressed in this article are not a statement of support or endorsement by Schromen Law, LLC. The information contained herein is not offered as legal or medical advice and should not be construed as legal or medical advice.
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