Celebration of Life

A budget will help you plan the next steps and activities for the celebration of life. Usually, the surviving family handles the financial aspect of the celebration of life, while friends are also welcome to donate and contribute.

Choose your venue according to the style and feel of the event you would like to share. You can hold the celebration in a private residence, place of worship, catering hall, or community space. Remember to consider capacity, accessibility, parking, audio-visual needs, and food preparation. Let us know if you need help finding a location.

How are you going to invite or make people aware of the Celebration of Life? Ideas: create an evite, call each person or ask friends and family to reach out to their circles.

Consider asking the family for a few convenient dates before settling on arrangements. While you can hold the celebration of life immediately thereafter your loss, it’s acceptable to wait several weeks or even months. This allows out-of-state family members time to make travel plans.

A celebration of life is a meaningful event for everyone in attendance. Therefore, you may want to include music, readings, and speakers to set the right tone for the event. We recommend choosing music that your loved one enjoyed. If there is a family member or friend who is a musician, you can ask them if they’d like to sing or perform.

In addition, a celebration of life can include readings, prayers, or poems. However, it may be better for guests to share funny stories or touching memories of the fallen loved one. In any scenario, we recommend assigning someone to be the emcee for the event. This ensures everyone is given an opportunity to speak.

We highly recommend AMS Entertainment who we have worked with for years. They can provide the music, sound equipment and or emcee.

Photos of your loved one should be on display during the entire celebration of life. Find the most memorable pictures of your loved one and some showcasing them doing their favorite activities.

Programs are a wonderful keepsake for your guests and family. They can be as simple as a card with a photo, dates and a quote. Or more informational, letting people know the order of event and about the life of your loved one and who was left behind. They can also be very personal including, art work, writing or recipes from the deceased.

To set the right environment, the next step is to choose the venue decorations. The best way to choose venue decorations is by selecting a theme first. While you can choose an extensive theme based on your loved one’s passions, it can be as simple as their favorite color or hobby. From there, the only limit is your imagination.

You should also consider hiring a photographer or videographer event. This way, you can keep the memories for decades to come. If this isn’t within your budget, this job can be undertaken by a friend or family member.

The last step on how to plan a celebration of life is to set the order of events. Since you will most likely be renting the venue for a fixed period of time, setting the order of events ensures you’ll complete every planned activity. It will also help your caterers know when to prepare and bring the food.

We highly recommend working with a Celebration of Life Planner if budget permits.

 Lindsey Nickel of Lovely Day Legacies is incredible and will help you every step of the way.