With cremation as a popular choice, we look at some unique and special ways to celebrate with your loved one’s ashes. Make decisions ahead of time and consider arranging a cremation from a trusted funeral home.
Going out with a bang
Some people are giving their loved ones a spectacular exit with an organized fireworks display. Cremation ashes – cremains – are added to fireworks, which are then fired off into the sky in a beautiful display. One UK company, Heavens Above Fireworks, can arrange a dramatic display synchronized with music or something a bit quieter using reduced-noise fireworks. They also provide self-fired rockets if you want to have your own fireworks ceremony at home.
Memorial jewellery
If you want to keep your loved one close to you after they’ve passed, you can ask your cremation provider to have their ashes made into memorial jewellery. Cremains can be added to colourful glass beads as a charm bracelet, included in a locket or set into silver for pendants and necklaces.
Up, up and away
When space fan Chester Mojay-Sinclare lost his grandmother he came up with a special way of seeing her off. He placed her ashes in a biodegradable urn and sent them up into the air attached to an environmentally-friendly meteorological balloon. Once it reached 100,000ft, a special mechanism opened the urn, releasing his beloved gran’s ashes into the stratosphere. Chester has since set up Stardust Ashes, which offers this service nationwide.
Diamonds are forever
An expensive but unique way to hold on to a deceased ashes is to have them made into a diamond. Created in a laboratory, a hi-tech process extracts the carbon from the ashes and compresses it at a high temperature, after which the molten material reforms into its natural state. It’s then cut and polished into a genuine diamond.
Space odyssey
If your loved one always had a hankering to travel into space, you can make their dream come true even after death. Cremains are put into a capsule and launched into space, where they float in the zero gravity environment before returning to Earth. The capsule is then mounted in a plaque with a launch photo and flight message, leaving the family with a novel keepsake. Other space options include launching the cremains into Earth orbit, where they could remain for up to 240 years before vaporizing like a blazing shooting star, or sending them to the Moon!
A memorable skydive
If sending your loved one’s ashes into orbit seems like a galaxy too far, you could have them scattered into the atmosphere as part of a skydive instead. British company Your Wings offers filmed skydives where they’ll take the ashes and release them into the air, letting the wind carry them far and away. If you’re feeling brave, the company also arranges tandem skydives so you can be there to witness the amazing moment the ashes are released.
* We’re here to help. If you’d like to talk to us about a cremation or burial, please contact us on 01438 316623.
