Following the cremation of your loved one, you’ll have to choose a suitable urn for cremation ashes.
Having to choose an urn for your loved one’s ashes, however, can seem complicated, especially when you’re still mourning, but a cremation urn is a very important part of paying homage.
Choosing an urn won’t be a straightforward process—there are many things you need to consider when picking the right urn, such as the age and final wishes of your loved one. So let’s take a look at the most important factors you need to consider when picking out an urn for cremation ashes.
1. Size of the Urn
Urns are available in all shapes and sizes. That being said, you need to choose an urn that’s large enough to accommodate all the ashes of your loved one. For example, if your loved one was a child, you should choose a small child-sized urn.
Also, you’ll need to take into account your loved one’s body weight. For each pound of body weight pre-cremation, there’s one cubic inch of ashes. So if your loved one was about 150 lbs before they were cremated, the ashes produced will need an urn that offers at least 150 cubic inches of capacity.
2. Location of the Urn
Next, you will need to decide what you and the rest of the family will do with the urn. If you’re planning on keeping the urn at home, you may want to consider one that’s durable and comes with a good design.
Some good materials for urns that you can display at home are wood, metal stone, and composite resin. Also, consider getting a sealed urn as this will help prevent the ashes from spilling out should the urn topple over.
If you plan on scattering your loved one’s ashes, as per their wishes or your own, you should pick an urn that has a removable top to make scattering the ashes easier. Since this will be a temporary place to store the ashes, you don’t have to worry too much about the material the urn is made of.
Some families may choose to place their loved one’s ashes in a columbarium, which is a structure that allows urns to be stored at cemeteries. If you choose to put your loved one’s urn in a columbarium, make sure to ask the cemetery for sizes of the columbarium niches so that you can have an urn of suitable size made.
Ashes may also be buried after cremation. In this case, your loved one’s urn will be placed in a burial vault to protect it from the weight of the soil after burial. To make sure your loved one’s ashes survive underground for a long time, choose a durable granite or a biodegradable one if you want the burial to be more eco-friendly.
3. Design of the Urn
There are countless designs that an urn for cremation ashes can have, but if your loved one had a specific design in mind, you should oblige their wishes. If your loved one did not specify a design before their passing, you can choose a design that represents who your loved one was as a person.
For example, an urn with a patriotic design if your loved one was a military veteran, a religious design if they were a devout follower of their religion, or motifs that reference hobbies that your loved one enjoyed such as sports or watching movies.
Ask a professional about an urn for cremation ashes
Losing a loved one is never easy; neither is coming to terms with cremating your loved one and choosing an appropriate urn. However, you don’t have to do this alone—you can always work with a funeral home that provides cremation services to help you out with this challenging task.
