The holiday season can be an especially tough time for families who lost a loved one. It may remind them of all the traditions and special times they had with their loved one in years past. Now, it feels like the holiday season is incomplete without them.

That’s why it’s so important for funeral directors to go out of their way to show families they care this time of year. By showing warmth and compassion, you’re bringing a little light to some of their darkest days.

Below we’re sharing some ways you can go above and beyond this holiday season.

Give Them a Holiday Gift

One way to honor your client families’ loved one is to give them a holiday memorial gift. These gifts could be handed out at your holiday remembrance program, which we will elaborate on more later.

Here are a few ideas:

• A bag of holiday treats — Fill the bag with tasty treats such as cookies, candy canes, caramels, and fudge.
• A donation in honor of their loved one — Send out a survey to families asking what charity means the most to them. Then, donate to whichever charity was most popular among your families.
• A holiday recipe book — Have families submit their loved one’s favorite recipe prior to the holiday remembrance program. Then, compile all the entries and make a recipe book.
• A memorial candle — Use our Tribute Center software to customize a Life Journey Candle for your families.
• A remembrance ornament — Let’s learn more about the ornaments we have to offer below!

Remembrance ornaments are a simple, yet effective way to show families your funeral home cares. We offer a variety of hand-blown ornaments to choose from including an angel, a butterfly, a dove, or a snowflake.

All of our remembrance ornaments come with decals so you can personalize them with a name, date, short saying, poem, or scripture. Also, we offer ornament stands, so families can easily display the ornament year-round.

Host a Holiday Remembrance Program

Hosting a holiday remembrance program is a great way to provide a sense of community for grieving families. In our Holiday Remembrance Program eBook, we go over all the steps of hosting this event. We also have created a Holiday Remembrance Program media kit to help you market your event.

Your event is a good time to give away remembrance ornaments, memorial candles, or the other holiday gifts mentioned before. If you decide to give away ornaments, you could hang all of them on a Christmas tree for the service. Then, when the service is coming to an end, invite families to find the ornament with their loved one’s name on it.

Before the event, make sure to order extra ornaments in case more families show up or if one were to break. You could also buy additional ornaments and offer them for purchase if families want more than one. This could help you offset the costs of the event.

If you would like to request a free remembrance ornament sample, click here.

Send Them a Holiday Card

Spread some holiday cheer by sending the families on your mailing list a holiday card from your funeral home. You could include a group picture of your staff or a cute picture of your grief therapy dog curled up by the fireplace.

Share Meaningful Holiday Quotes on Social Media

Give families something to reflect on by posting meaningful holiday quotes on your funeral home’s social media accounts. Choose messages that will provide a sense of warmth and comfort during their difficult time.