Monthly Archives: January 2022

cremation service in Washington Crossing, PA

Decorating a Your Lost Loved One’s Gravesite

Looking for a great way to celebrate your lost loved one’s life, honor their passing, and ease your feelings of loss? Decorating their gravesite after their cremation service in Washington Crossing, PA is a great place to start. Here are some fun, uplifting, and unique gravesite decoration ideas to inspire you for your loved one’s final resting place.

  • Floral Saddle

    A cemetery saddle is a flower arrangement resting on a metal “saddle.” It has legs so it can balance on top of the headstone.  

  • Solar Flowers

    Solar flowers are fake flowers that light up at night after charging throughout the day in the sun.  

  • Personalized Flower Vase

    Instead of a standard vase, invest in a personalized one that features a special message to your loved one, an etching, or any kind of meaningful inscription.  

  • Fresh Flowers

    Even a simple, fresh bouquet that you leave once a week mean a lot. Plus, they give you a chance to visit the gravesite often. 

  • Preserved Flowers

    Keep the flowers on your lost loved one’s grave fresh forever by preserving them. Order a custom preserved bouquet in resin, or purchase a paperweight orb with flowers inside.

  • Memorial Candles

    Flameless battery or solar powered candles are just as beautiful as real candles, but are much safer and longer-lasting.  

  • Personalized Photo Lantern

    You can order custom lanterns that are printed with a photo of your lost loved one. Place a flameless candle inside the lantern and leave it on the grave to light up at night.  

  • Candle Figurines

    Buy a candle figurine that holds any candles you choose and represents a meaningful image, like an angel, animal, or symbol. You can even repurpose an old jar or mason jar by filling it with candles or twinkle lights.  

  • Memorial Stones

    Stones have been used in memorialization for centuries. There are even examples in the Bible. Paint a stone yourself or order one online.  

  • American Flag

    If your lost loved one was a veteran, plant an American flag or the flag of their armed forces division.  

  • Grave Blankets

    Grave blankets are painted with grass, foliage, or flowers so they can make the grave green and lovely even in the winter months when it’s too cold for fresh plants. 

  • Personalized Flag

    Place a flag in the ground near the gravesite with a personalized photo, message, or image. Add dates to make it even more personal.

  • Memorial Benches

    If the cemetery allows, place a memorial bench near the gravesite so you always have a place to sit and remember fond days when visiting.  

  • Homemade Tributes

    Nothing is more meaningful than a homemade tribute like handwritten notes, paintings, drawings, or even typed-up poems or memories.

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These are just a few of the many ways you can decorate your lost loved one’s gravesite. J. Allen Hooper Funeral Chapel is here to help if you want more information on Oakland, CA cremation services. Call or visit us today to learn more about what we can do for you in your time of loss.

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Decorating a Gravesite After Funeral Home Services

You can recognize your lost loved one’s passing and celebrate their life by personalizing their graveside with decorations after a funeral home service in Washington Crossing, PA. Keeping your lost loved one’s grave beautiful can also go a long way towards helping you work through your grief and loss.

But how do you decorate or personalize a gravesite?

Use these tips to help guide you as you decorate your lost loved one’s gravesite and honor their memory. But remember, at the end of the day, whatever décor you choose should be focused on the deceased and their life. 

  • Consider Faith and Culture

    Another great way to find gravesite decoration inspiration is to look to the deceased’s faith and culture. Honor their heritage and beliefs with décor, and be sure not to leave something that would be offensive to their faith.  

  • Check Cemetery Rules

    Most cemeteries have guidelines for what can and cannot be left on graves. Be sure to check with your cemetery before leaving any decorations.  

  • Consider the Weather

    You want to avoid leaving something that will spoil in the hot sun during the summer, or something that will freeze and break during the cold winter. Think about the season and the weather when choosing your décor.  

  • Think About the Season

    A great place to start with gravesite décor is with the season. For example, create a Christmas or Hannukah decoration around the holidays or set up a pumpkin-inspired scene in the fall.  

  • Choose Durable or Permanent Decorations

    Don’t leave anything on the grave that will become dirty or damaged if left outside in the elements. Instead, opt for materials that are tough in the face of wind, rain, sun, heat, or cold.  

  • Come Back and Check

    If you choose to leave décor on your lost loved one’s gravesite, be sure to come back and check on it regularly. Replace worn out or damaged decorations so the grave doesn’t become an eyesore.  

  • Keep It Well Lit and Visible

    Small items left on gravesites are often accidentally stepped on or destroyed by the cemetery caretakers. Make sure your items are either big enough to attract attention or well-lit.

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While every cemetery will most likely have their own unique rules and guidelines for what can and cannot be left on gravesites, there are common items that you should always avoid using in gravesite décor, like glass can break and cause injuries. You should also avoid unsecured or lightweight décor. If the decorations won’t stay put, they could end up all over the cemetery, which is disrespectful to other mourners and causes extra work for the staff.

Don’t forget to skip mylar or latex balloons as well as fences. These materials are very dangerous for animals. Instead, try blowing bubbles, leaving garden spinners, or using biodegradable materials. Don’t put up a fence or blocker of some kind around the grave as it will prevent the employees from performing maintenance.

Do you want more tips on decorating gravesites or Washington Crossing, PA funeral homes? J. Allen Hooper Funeral Chapel is here to help. Call or visit us today to learn more about what we can do for you. 

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Cremation Vs. Burial

There are many who prefer cremation services in Newtown, PA even though traditional burial is still very popular for many reasons In fact, some might argue that cremation is quickly becoming the standard for final disposition. But why?  

To better understand cremation’s popularity and to help you decide if it’s the right choice for you, here are some of the benefits of cremation over burial 

  • Saving Land

    The world’s population is only growing, but the world itself is not. This makes land a very valuable resource that, in some people’s view, shouldn’t be used for burials. Cremation is a wonderful solution to this issue as it does not take up any land at all.

  • Choosing the Service Time

    With traditional burial, you’re pretty much limited to the standard service timeline of a few days to a week after the death. This can feel like a ticking clock that only adds to the stress of a death. However, cremation allows for much more flexibility when it comes to scheduling a service, providing you with the time and ability to plan a service that works with your needs.  

  • Choosing the Final Resting Place

    A burial means that your lost loved one’s final resting place will be a cemetery. Cremation, on the other hand, allows for a low more flexibility when choosing a final resting place. From an urn kept at home or in a columbarium to scattering at sea or in a special location, your loved one’s final resting place can be almost anything with cremation.  

  • Portability

    Since cremation reduces remains into the smallest possible components, the process makes remains incredibly portable. This means that, unlike with burial, cremation allows you to bring your lost loved one with you if you so choose, whether that means on a hike for you to scatter them in a favorite spot or even when you go on vacation, so they’ll be always near you.

  • No Embalming

    Embalming is almost always required for burial, but many embalming techniques use a chemical called formaldehyde that’s very bad for the environment. Cremation allows you to skip embalming entirely, which helps the planet in the long run.  

  • Cost

    In many cases, a full-service funeral with a cremation can cost about half as much as a full-service funeral with a traditional burial. Direct cremations and cremations with memorial services can bring that total cost down even further. 

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  • Keep Loved Ones Near

    Cremation also allows you to make cremation jewelry so you can always keep your lost loved one close to you. Cremation jewelry can be one of two things one, a jewelry item made with some kind of container that holds a small portion of the cremains or two, a jewelry item that was made with some of the remains infused with the metal.

There is nothing wrong with burial and it’s still a wonderful final disposition method if it’s what you want. J. Allen Hooper Funeral Chapel is here to help if you want to learn more about Newtown, PA cremation services. Call or visit us today for more information on what we can do for you.  

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Prolonged Grief After Funeral Home Services

There are many different kinds of grief that people can experience after a loss and a service at a funeral home in Newtown, PA, including prolonged grief.

Prolonged grief is when you continue to feel overwhelming or debilitating feelings of sadness and mourning over a loss that happened several months or years in the past. This kind of grief is very common when you lose a very close loved one, like a child or a spouse, and is sometimes referred to as Prolonged Grief Disorder because of its devastating effects on health, mental state, and overall wellness.

Here are some fast facts on prolonged grief to help you better understand the condition and its impact on someone going through a loss. First, the symptoms of PGD vary. The symptoms of prolonged grief include difficulty accepting the loss, irritability, loss of trust in others or oneself, and numbness to emotion as well as extreme anger or bitterness, loss of self-identity or self-worth, loss of purpose or direction, debilitating or unreasonable fear of more loss, overreactions to minor losses or issues, and fixation on the loss. You can also recover from PGD. While you may never “heal” from a loss, you can recover from prolonged grief disorder and be able to cope with the loss while living your life. The best ways to recover from the condition is to seek professional help, join a support group, and put an emphasis on your own personal stress and grief management.

Counseling goes a long way. One of the best ways to get through PGD is by seeking professional help early and often. Talking through your grief can help you accept it, which in turn can help you move forward in life. There is no shame in seeking help for any kind of mental distress, including grief. Also, some people are more likely to experience PGD than others.  Some people are predisposed to prolonged grief, such as parents who have lost a child, women, people who have lost someone suddenly or violently, and those that are already suffering from other hardships like divorce or depression. Time doesn’t necessarily heal. The old adage “time heals all wounds” might be true for some, but it isn’t true for all people or all grief. In fact, for most people, grief over a loss is never fully “healed,” but rather it just becomes a part of life that they carry with them.

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Also, Prolonged Grief Disorder is a real diagnosis. Prolonged Grief Disorder, or PGD, is a real diagnosis recognized by the World Health Organization and most mental health professionals. It’s defined through symptoms, their severity, and their length. In fact, PGD is well on its way to being classified as a mental disorder. It has been suggested for inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or the DSM. Finally, prolonged grief isn’t just about death. People who have suffered other kinds of losses besides death can suffer from PGD. These losses can include loss of a job, divorce, or even loss of a dream.

Loss is never easy, but with the right support, you can get through prolonged grief. J. Allen Hooper Funeral Chapel is here to help if you want to learn more about grief, loss, or Newtown, PA funeral homes. Call or visit us today.