18 More Real Examples of Unique Celebrations of Life
There were so many great ideas on the r/Askreddit and r/AskWomen subreddits, I had to create another post to highlight them all! If you’re interested in reading my first post about inspirational celebrations of life, click here.
These users’ thoughtful memorials are so moving and all are great ways to respect and remember their loved ones’ lives and passions.
1. Movie Theatre Rental
“My dad loved movies and having friends over for dinner. When he passed away, we hosted a movie screening at a local independnt theater; got his name up on the marquee; and had a potluck on stage before the show. Friends shared some hilarious stories from his youth, including a few I'd never heard before. I'd like to think he would have appreciated that :).”
-u/serenidade
2. “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”
“My brother died suddenly and he loved the Minnesota Twins. So, I ran to Walmart and bought as many Twins shirts as I could -- or if people had one, they wore it -- and at the cemetery we sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and took a picture with all of our Twins shirts on around his burial plot. I think he would have loved it.”
-u/imightnotbelonghere
3. Cookie Jar
“My Gran's funeral. She didn't want to be buried. She requested cremation and interment at the church she was a lifelong member of, so that's what we did. She wanted her ceremony to be called a ‘celebration of life’ and didn't want anyone to dwell on the sadness – instead she wanted us to share stories and crack jokes. She had also asked my dad to perform a couple of songs. He doesn't write himself, but he played a couple of songs that she liked. My Gran was a baker and she liked roosters, so we put her ashes in this ridiculous rooster cookie jar because we knew she'd find it funny. She was interred in a nice urn – the jar was just for the ceremony.
We had the ceremony at her church, and almost every pew had people in it. Some people danced in the aisle as my dad played the songs. A lot of stories were shared – people I'd never even heard of before stood up to speak. My Gran was on her church's vestry and the congregation loved her - a big part of the crowd was made up of people she'd shared her faith with. The rest was family, friends, and even a few neighbors who lived in the area [and] came to pay respects because she'd been friendly to them over the years. After the main part of the ceremony, we went into the parish hall for some food and drinks. The whole event felt like a big party and I know it was exactly what she would've wanted. She didn't want to be mourned; she wanted to be celebrated and looked back on fondly. Of course, we were all filled with grief, but her funeral was.... actually pretty fun.
I miss that woman so much.” -u/scrapcats
4. A Ball
“One of my sisters was killed by a drunk driver, so as a family, we were trying to figure out what to do for her funeral/memorial. She was cremated, so we had a lovely memorial at my dad's place outside, and planted a couple of trees for her. My sister had a big personality in life and she loved to have fun and make people laugh. My other sisters and I decided that rather than wear black, we would wear the most outrageous ballgowns we could get our hands on. Mine ended up being black with peacock feathers embroidered all over. One of my other sisters wore an enormous orange tutu.
She would have absolutely loved it. It helped make the day a little less bitter and a little more sweet. -u/vaegren
5. Tagging It
“A well-known graffiti artist from Queens, NY died and his wife organized to have a white casket… Everyone who was there caught tags on it before it was buried. Was super dope.” -u/A_Trustworthy_Person
6. Lion King Sendoff
“Met with the parents of a 16-year-old girl who had died in a car crash.…[We] talked about what she (the deceased) would've wanted. Ended up re-arranging the funeral home so that the lobby had crock pots of boiled peanuts and a lounge with the Lion King playing. Inside the main parlor was a purple-themed dance party. The pinnacle of the evening was the girl's mom leading everyone in doing "the wiggle." It was amazing and I am still floored by this family for being able to really celebrate their daughter's life in this way.” -u/flynnen
7. Hot Rods
“When my grandad passed, he had been big into classic cars and had a large group that all brought their cars to car shows together across the region.
So at the funeral, the procession to the cemetery was a line of about 70 restored classic cars led by my dad in my grandad’s ‘47 Ford truck hotrod. It was a bad*** sight to see.” -u/FarewayFrank
8. Concerning Hobbits
“I'm hired frequently to play violin at funerals.
…Woman died in her late 80's. Her entire family was there, including 3 or 4 great grandkids, even. She had a big family and was well liked in her community, so there were about 100-150 people there. Everyone was dressed super nice, and from talking to everyone, it was clear no one knew what was coming...
Turns out, their grandmother was a huge LotR fan. So, she had a Lord of the Rings themed funeral, with me playing “Concerning Hobbits,” “Gandalfs' Fall,” and the like. It was fun, but the shock on everyone's faces was hilarious!” -u/[deleted]
9. May the Force Be with You
“The guests were all asked to wear Star Wars shirts and hats.” -u/izzieforeons22
10. Autobiography Reading
“My grandma just passed away in October. A few months before she died, we found her life story that she had handwritten back in 1995, which chronicled her life up until that point. She made the comment that whenever she died, it would sure be nice to have someone read it at her funeral. I volunteered to do it thinking I had quite a while to prep. However, the time came much too soon. I got up there and read 19 pages of her life to everyone in attendance. We laughed, we remembered, and we cried. It was the happiest and most memorable funeral I’ve ever attended.” -u/Jenjen413
11. Country & Cinnamon Buns
“When my Grandma passed, rather than a funeral, we gathered in her apartment. Just the women of the family were there, and we made her famous cinnamon buns and played her country tapes and laughed and reminisced and giggled and cried. We all wore pink, which was her favorite colour. It was perfect. She would have loved it. Miss you Grams 💖💓.” -u/theworldizyourclam
12. Canoe
“The most interesting [funeral] I personally organized was [for] a young guy in his early 20s who loved to fish. So, we put him in his canoe for the viewing/service.” -u/JimboDanks
13. NASCAR Lover
“One guy had a NASCAR themed funeral. The coffin had headlights and in the middle of the service, the kids in attendance got to slap stickers onto the coffin. They also played car noises as the pallbearers moved the coffin.” -u/lomplok
14. Lorry Ride
“When my dad passed away suddenly, myself & my family tried to make it the best send off for him. I really didn’t want him going in a hearst, so I came up with the idea that he should go to the crematorium on the back of a lorry. (My dad was a lorry driver and mechanic). One of his best mates sorted that and put vinyl stickers on the lorry saying ‘Bombers Last Ride’ and his coffin and flower arrangements were all on the back. We got a lot of stares on the way there but I did get a laugh from it because I knew my dad would’ve loved it. He was a big fan of Ian Dury so we had “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick” [playing] as we walked in. Everyone said it was the perfect send off for him and we’d done him proud.”
-u/gothicc_20
15. Karaoke Nights
“Growing up my dad LOVED karaoke. He threw great parties and sang all the time. He was definitely an entertainer.
On his viewings, during his memorial video, we put songs that were his favorites to sing. On day 2, we … asked everyone to sing along, because that's what he would have wanted.” -u/Awkwardpenguinperson
16. A Roast
“My mom’s cousin died a few years ago. She was young, about 50. Cancer. She didn’t have much family but a lot of friends. After the church, we went to a little event hall and there was an open bar and we had a roast. Not like a pot roast, like a “Roast me” roast. The stories were hilarious and it was so clear how loved she was by how her friends talked [about] her. Everyone was drunk and merry and reminiscent.”
-u/luvnps
17. Band Tees
“One of my uncles. He was a hoarder and was very reclusive for the last ten years. But when his cancer was clearly terminal, he suddenly had much more energy and reconnected with many old friends.
His funeral was in a beautiful country pub by a forest. The room was packed with so many old friends, and the emphasis was on sharing stories of what a kind, funny and intelligent man he was, not on the last portion of his life. We covered the walls with photographs and put his collection of band t-shirts on a table for everyone to take one.
Mine is an Arctic Monkeys t-shirt he got from a show. He showed me their music and it means so much to wear it. It sounds morbid, but I really hope my funeral is as full of joy and love as his.” -u/PeachPuffin
18. Three-in-One
“[I’m] a former newspaper obit writer. I attended a funeral for a long-lived Polish-American firefighter who had 13 children. The Catholic church was crammed with firefighters and relatives, down to great-great grandchildren.
I thought I could smell sauerkraut -- it was September or October -- and suddenly a group of people in Polish costume popped up in one of the pews and started playing a polka as the priest entered the center aisle.
It was a polka funeral. I'd never heard of such a thing. I'd been to gang funerals where mourners wore T-shirts with the dead man's face on them. I'd been to a cowboy funeral, with a cowboy-themed casket and bales of hay and a rope and the decedent's boots on display. I'd been to a police officer's funeral where attendees were told to wear Hawaiian shirts, and for those who had none, boxes of the officer's collection of Hawaiian shirts were available to wear and keep. But a polka funeral. It was beyond belief. Every time the response was sung, it was sung as a polka.” -u/Milieunairesse
