Choosing A Final Outfit Posted on April 24, 2023 by ilesfuneralhomes As you go through the details with funeral homes in Des Moines, IA, they are going to have a list of decisions for you to make. The funeral director is not going to make choices for you, but they will support whatever you decide. They will also give you all of the information you need to make the right decisions. And they will act as advisors and give you ideas and options whenever you need them. When the time comes to decide what your loved one will wear to their final service, here are some options to consider as you choose that special outfit. Have Them Wear A Favorite Your loved one, like the rest of us, might have had a favorite go-to outfit that they wore every chance they got. It’s what you picture them in when you think of them. It’s in many of the family pictures. It’s simply their style. That might be the perfect thing for them to wear when they have their final service. They will look just how people remember them. However, keep in mind that whatever you choose for their funeral and burial is something you can’t get back. If that favorite outfit is something you want to hold onto, you might want to consider another option. Dress Them To The Nines There are many people who like to dress their best for every occasion. If your loved one liked to match their clothing from head to toe, even when they were going to play tennis with a friend, then you know dressing them to the nines is the best option available to you. Choose an outfit that they would appreciate and make sure it’s stylish and perfect for this special occasion. Give Them Comfort Other people don’t like dressing up, but rather prefer to be comfortable in whatever they wear. You might place them in jeans, a track suit, or even pajamas. You want them to be comfortable, even if that idea sounds somewhat silly. If that is what their personality dictates and that is what you feel they would choose for themselves, then there’s nothing wrong with going that direction. Make Them Look Like Themselves Above everything, you want your loved one to look like themselves. They had a certain style and you want to go along with that, whether that means dressing up, being casual, or something in between. You can also have them wear certain accessories that they often wore so people recognize them. If they wore glasses, for example, they can have those on at the funeral. They can also wear their wedding ring and other such things. These items can be removed and returned to you before the burial, if you so choose. Consider Appearances For The Event Ahead Keep in mind that your loved one is likely going to show at their visitation and funeral. You want to dress them in something that is appropriate for the event ahead of you. The professionals at funeral homes in Des Moines, IA can help with advice.
Things To Avoid Wearing To A Funeral Posted on April 17, 2023 by ilesfuneralhomes As you think about what to wear to funeral homes in West Des Moines, IA for a final service, many people go to the black items in their closet. Black is a typical, classic color to wear to an event of this nature. It’s also not required. There are other colors and things you can wear for funerals and you will fit in just fine. However, you can weed your closet out and rule out a few things that you definitely should not wear. Here are a few things to avoid. Bright Colors While you don’t have to wear black, you also don’t want to wear colors that are too bright and eye-catching. Avoid bright blue, neons, vibrant red, and other such colors. You are there for a somber event and you don’t want to draw attention to yourself for any reason. Instead, you want to blend in however you can. Disruptive Patterns Patterns, when small and muted, can be just fine to wear to a funeral. But patterns that are super bold and busy are not the best thing to wear. If the patterns are something that catch your eye, then they are best left at home for this event. You don’t want to disrupt the proceedings or seem out of place for any reason. Ripped Jeans There are some funerals that call for a decent pair of jeans, perhaps, but you should never wear ripped, worn-looking jeans. These items of clothing are definitely in style now, but showing off your knees through a hole in your jeans is not something you want to do at a funeral home. You might be comfortable, but it can be seen as disrespectful and you certainly don’t want to go down that path for an event this important. Ratty T-Shirts Like the jeans, this is something to leave in your closet for other events or just for being around the house. If you don’t have many nice clothes, and you really want to go to the funeral, at least choose a shirt that doesn’t have stains and rips in it. Something fresh and pressed is always best when showing respect to someone who passed on. Uncomfortable Shoes When you go to a funeral, you might be emotional and you will likely have to traipse through a cemetery for the burial portion of the service, too. You don’t want to have to deal with shoes that are going to get stuck in the dirt, or ones that will hurt your feet during the process. Wear something clean, and comfortable, instead. Too Much Makeup Women should wear muted makeup, if they wear makeup. Certain things might run and make you look and feel like a mess during the emotions that come up at the funeral. And too much makeup can come off as tacky as well when you go to funeral homes in West Des Moines, IA for final services. Keep things natural all the way around when getting ready.
Reasons To Journal When Grieving Posted on April 10, 2023 by ilesfuneralhomes When a loved one of yours passes on and you have cremation services in Des Moines, IA for them, you might want to take up journaling as a way to help yourself through the grieving process. Here are a few reasons you might feel that journaling will work well for you, or, at the very least, is worth a try. -To Give Yourself A Safe Place To Vent You are going to be talking to family and friends a lot, and perhaps venting your emotions to them quite a bit. But you might also want to have a safe place to vent other things that you can’t bring yourself to say out loud. You might want to complain about the burdens you are under right now, talk about how angry you are at the situation, and other such things. The journal is a safe place where you can let it all out. -To Record What You Are Going Through Grief is hard and it’s going to take whatever path it wants to take. As you journal, you are recording what you are going through, and that can help you to understand what stage of grief you are in, perhaps show you how things are going, and simply give you something you can look back on when you want to remember memories of your loved one that you recorded in writing. -To Allow You To Look Back And See Progress It’s never easy to grieve and you are going to go through good times and bad times as you chart your path to a new normal. But you are going to progress, even if you can’t see the progression upfront. Look back through your journal, perhaps, and see the progress you have made. You might recognize that when you first learned your loved one passed on, you couldn’t sleep at night and now, you are getting a full eight hours in on a regular basis. When grieving was at its worst, you couldn’t go an hour without crying and now, those crying bouts are reduced to a few per day. Seeing the progress can help you motivate yourself to continue down your path to healing. -To Help You Cope On The Bad Days When the rough days come, and they will, having your journal can help you to get through them. You can look back at how things were and the progress you made. You can read through memories you recorded of your loved one. You can write out what you are feeling and wonder why you feel like you are going backwards down the wrong path again. You can cope when you have something to turn to and the journal can give you just that. When you are grieving, the professionals that helped with your loved one’s cremation services in Des Moines, IA are there for you, no matter how much time has passed. They have resources that can help you, like counselor suggestions, grief support group times and locations, and other such things
Unique Things To Do To Celebrate Life After Cremation Posted on April 3, 2023 by ilesfuneralhomes When a loved one passes on, and you have cremation services in West Des Moines, IA for them, you might put off their memorial for a bit so you have time to process things and plan out something special. Everyone wants their loved one’s services to be unique and one way to make it so is to have a celebration of life. You can celebrate a life well lived in a variety of unique ways. Here are some of the special things you can do that can help you to celebrate that special life. Shoot Fireworks With Remains Fireworks shows can be very special and impressive. They can be a nice way to cap off a life celebration, and your loved one’s life. While you can get and shoot off fireworks of any kind, you can also have your loved one’s remains included in the fireworks. You can shoot their remains up into the air as you celebrate them. It’s a nice way to give them a resting place and allow them to go out with a bang, so to speak. Fly Kites With Messages If there are going to be a lot of kids at the celebration, you are going to want activities that they will enjoy. Get some kites, perhaps, and allow them to color them. Others can write messages on them and then, the kites can be flown throughout the celebration. It can feel like letting go of that person as the messages to up and float around in the sky. Lots of kites flying together can also be a beautiful sight to see. Launch Lanterns And Goodbyes When the celebration goes into the waning sunlight hours, lighting lanterns and launching them into the sky in honor of your loved one can be nice, too. You can write messages, memories, and well wishes on the lanterns for your loved one before casting them out, too. Have a Potluck Meal Your family members and friends likely want to know what they can do for the services, and you want include as many of them as you can. Ask them to bring a dish to share at the celebration and you can have a nice, potluck meal. You can assign dishes, or certain areas, or you can leave it up to chance. If you end up with all desserts, so be it, right? The potluck can be a nice way to feed everyone and it’s also a great way to include more people in the planning. Plant Seeds Together One nice way to honor your loved one is to allow everyone in attendance to plant some seeds for that person. You might clear out a garden area and have some people plant flowers while others plant vegetables or herbs. As the garden grows, it will remind you of your loved one, but also the love of your family and friends who took a hand in planting things. As you think about celebrations after cremation services in West Des Moines, IA, there are lots of options to consider.
