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Elegant Memorials Blog

Funeral and Memorial Templates Designs and Memorial Resources
2 minutes reading time (333 words)

Living Funerals

give flowers while livingOne of the growing trends in the funeral industry is end of life celebrations or living funerals. These events are often similar to traditional funerals, memorial services or celebration of life ceremonies, except the intended individual is not deceased. He or she typically has a terminal disease or another ailment and senses that his or her life will soon end.

Living funerals allow individuals to do more than just pre-plan a funeral. They allow people to reunite, say good-bye, show gratitude and mend broken relationships. A good example of a living funeral can be found in the 1997 classic, "Tuesdays with Morrie." The title character, dying from ALS, arranges his own living funeral because traditional ceremonies, as he states, are a waste. "All those people saying all those wonderful things, and [his friend] never got to hear any of it." Morrie invited his friends, students and family members to his living funeral so can say good-bye to everyone. He died without any regrets.

Living funerals can be whatever you want. There aren't rules or guidelines to follow. They can be large and public or small and intimate. Family reunions are a popular venue in which to hold an end of life celebration because they bring everyone together in a casual environment.

There are many benefits to this type of celebration. Having a gathering where everything is upbeat is good for a dying person's psyche. It boosts their spirits and helps their psychological well-being. It is also a good way to get someone's affairs in order such as finalizing the will and organizing the estate. Finally, a living funeral can help the dying person move on peacefully.

If you are thinking of holding a living funeral for yourself or a loved one, you can put one together just as you would a traditional service. A funeral home director can guide you or you can simply have your family and friends help with arrangements.

Also See:

Celebration of Life Service

Memorial Service Ideas

Memorial Poems

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Do It Yourself (DIY) Select -- Download -- Edit -- Print

  • Edit your template using MS Word, Publisher, Mac Pages
  • Add your photos, text and clipart
  • ALL text is editable. Include any information that you need.
  • Change fonts, font colors, border colors and styles
  • Add an Obituary, Order of Service, Funeral Poems or Scriptures
  • Print at home or take to a Print and Copy Shop to get as many copies as need

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Create a Funeral Program or Card -- Easy as 1 - 2 - 3

The funeral program is a document that is given out at funeral or memorial services or sent to loved ones through mail or electronically. It gives the key points in the funeral, memorial, or celebration of life service and summarizes the life accomplishments of your loved one. Elegant Memorials provides professionally designed, easy to use memorial and funeral program templates to help you easily create the perfect funeral program keepsake or funeral prints to share with friends and family. We also have an extensive variety of memorial bookmark templates, prayer card templates and clipart packages.

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Custom Clipart Helps You Create the Perfect Keepsake

Our unique memorial clipart helps you personalize your funeral program, bookmark or prayer card with religious, floral or memorial images that make your keepsakes one of a kind. Choose from a wide variety of crosses, flowers, borders, flourishes, separators and much more.

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See How Easy It Is...

Elegant Memorials Funeral Templates can be edited by using Microsoft Word, MS Publisher or MAC Pages or OpenOffice and are easy to edit.

  • Templates come with sample text...simply remove the sample text and replace with your specific information
  • Picture placeholder makes inserting a cover photo simple and easy
  • Add your own pictures, photos or clipart
  • Fonts, Font Styles, Borders are all editable
  • Purchase a funeral program template and get started!

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