Costs: When someone passes away people usually send flowers to the funeral home to show their concern and love for the family. This is a tradition that has lived on for a very long time, but these days flowers are very expensive, and most of them are disposed of at the cemetery. This is why some people opt to give a funeral gift other than flowers. Flowers are nice, but other gift ideas can be even nicer than cut blooms that will be thrown away before they have even wilted. Consider the following funeral gift ideas instead of flowers, and give the family something they can really use during the time of grief,
Perished family might request that a charity donation be made instead of flowers. Flowers might look exquisite but a charity donation can make a real difference in people's lives. There are different ways to determine which charity to give to, sometimes the family will specify a particular organization. Other times you can give to a charity associated with the person's illness such as a donation to a heart and stroke fund or diabetes foundation. You could give to a cause that was close to the person's heart such as an animal related charity if the perished was an animal lover. If you really have no idea, you could just choose a large one such as CARE or the Red Cross. Many places will send a card to the family to tell them of your donation.
If the person has younger kids, then you might want to consider giving a little trust fund for the kids. It could be money to help the kids go into college for instance. Of course, if the person is going to be in dire straits financially, you could look to getting practical items like diapers for babies, clothing and so forth. Find out what they need to try to get something that would be practical and valued by them.
If you knew the perished well enough and have pictures of them that their loved ones may not, make copies and share them with the family! This can be very comforting to them in spite of the tears they will likely shed.
One of the different gifts that is becoming more popular is to send a live plant. Flowers look ravishing and smell amazing but they die within a week. Potted plants such as ivy can be taken home and last forever. Other plants can be placed in the ground outside for the person to enjoy for years to come.
The family might like a gift basket of food. You can give this to them before or after the funeral instead of right there itself. For instance, you could give a gift basket of fruit. You could also make the family some comfort food such as hot soup or fresh home baked cookies. You could make them some meals as well. Make sure to adhere, whether they have to any dietary restrictions or not.
Sending flowers for a funeral can be very expensive and last only a short amount of time. Other gifts, which are mentioned above are more practical for the family and others. You can also combine your gifts with other people to make a more substantial gift.
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