Tips For Maintaining A Memorial Garden Posted on May 22, 2023 by ilesfuneralhomes When you go with cremation services in West Des Moines, IA for a loved one’s final services, it’s an honorable thing to do for them. Once that process is complete, you can do whatever you want for them. Many families have a memorial service, for example. You might want to honor your loved one in other ways, too, like by creating a memorial garden. If you did just that, you will want to maintain that memorial garden as the years go by. Here are a few things you will want to do. Remove Leaves in The Fall The leaves are going to fall in the autumn and you are going to want to enjoy the colors, but also remove the leaves from the memorial garden area. You can blow them out of the garden, rake, or gather them in bunches and put them into bags for disposal. Leaves often make good mulch, so you could crunch them up and use them as plant coverage over the winter months, too. Protect Plants In The Winter Some plants are meant to die out in the winter and you will simply replace them when the spring comes around. Other plants might need to be dug up and stored over the winter. And then, there are plants that will come back on their own in the spring. However, the Iowa winters can be harsh and you might need to protect the plants that are more sensitive to the snow, frost, and cold temperatures. That might mean covering certain plants with insulated cones, placing mulch on top of the plants, or simply covering the area with a cloth and stamping it down. The plants can flourish the next season when treated right in the winter. Add New Life In The Summer During the summer months, you might want to add a little color and new life to the memorial garden. Add some beautiful annual flowers around the edges, surrounding the memorial bench, or in other areas of the garden. If you have bushes or other things that have died out, remove and replace them. Summer is prime planting time and a great time to make changes to the garden as a whole. Prune In The Spring In the springtime, it’s a good time to take notice of what winter did to the memorial garden. You will want to prune back dead branches, replace flowers that need replacing, and perhaps add some new things. This is a good time to plant seeds that can grow into the summer months as well. If you have created a memorial garden for your loved one after their cremation services in West Des Moines, IA, you are going to want to keep that garden looking nice as the years go by. It can be a great way to honor them in an ongoing way. Gardens can be a lot of work, though, and you can ask family, friends, and others to help you maintain things if you need the help.
Do You Need To Ship Cremated Remains? Posted on May 15, 2023 by ilesfuneralhomes When a loved one passes on, you want nothing but the best for them and that might mean moving towards cremation services in Urbandale, IA. Cremation is an honorable way to go and it allows you to have options that you wouldn’t have had otherwise. Cremated remains, for example, are very portable. You can take them wherever you want to go in a car, you can travel with them by plane, and you can even ship them. Here are some reasons you might need to ship cremated remains. The Next Of Kin Lives Elsewhere Perhaps you took care of a loved one’s cremation services, but that persons next of kin actually lives in another area and they can’t make it to your region to pick their loved one up. You can certainly ship the remains to their next of kin so that person can have a memorial, figure out the final resting place, and so on. You Want To Distribute Them To Other Family While you were in charge of the cremation services, you might want your loved one’s remains to rest among other family members. You can split their remains up into mini-urns and then mail them to the proper family members. Each person can display the remains in a place of honor, scatter them, bury them, or do something else with them that they feel that person would appreciate. Shipping the remains can help you cut down on your own travel while you get your loved one where they need to go. Someone You Know Lives Somewhere Special For A Scattering You want your loved one to have a final resting place in the ocean, or perhaps atop or near the mountains that they loved. But you live nowhere near those places and have no plans of traveling to them any time soon. If you know someone in those places, you can send your loved one to them and have them scatter the ashes in that final resting place. They can have you on a video chat to be part of the service or send you pictures of the process. Your loved one will ge the final resting place you wanted for them. You Want To Send Them Ahead To Your New Location If you are going to move, you might want to ship your loved one remains since the hustle and bustle of moving can be a lot. You want your loved one’s remains to be safe and secure the whole time and it’s important to ensure that they get where you are going without being disturbed. When you are going about getting cremation services in Urbandale, IA for a loved one, you will want to take your time figuring out what else you want to do for them once that process is complete. You could ship their remains for a variety of different reasons. Get details from the cremation provider or perhaps the mailing professionals. That will help you to get your loved one where you want them to go.
Do You Believe Certain Wrong Things About Funeral Homes? Posted on May 8, 2023 by ilesfuneralhomes There’s a lot of information out there about funeral homes in West Des Moines, IA and some of the things you might believe about these companies is true while other things are off the mark a bit. Working with the professionals is easier when you know the truth about them through and through. Here are a few wrong things that people often believe. Correcting those thoughts can make choices easier when you need to use professionals of this sort. All Funeral Homes Are The Same Funeral homes all have similar goals—to take care of the deceased and help families through hard times. But they are not all the same. Some funeral homes have been around for a long time while others are brand new. Some funeral homes offer fair, affordable prices and others overinflate prices or undercharge. They also offer varied services. When you need help from funeral professionals, it’s a good idea to look into how the various companies differ before moving forward. The Services Are Always Comparable While most funeral homes offer cremation services today, not all of them do. You are going to want to make sure you understand which funeral homes have which services before you make any decisions. You don’t want to hire a funeral home that doesn’t have the services you end up wanting. Check the service lists before you decide on a funeral home for any services. Prices Are The Same Prices between various funeral homes can vary quite a bit. You are going to want to ensure that you get fair, affordable prices, so it’s a good idea to ask for price lists from any funeral home you consider. They should be open and honest about their prices and once you have those costs in hand, you can compare them to other funeral homes. That will help you understand which companies charge fair, affordable, middle of the road prices, and which ones over or undercharge. You deserve fair prices and you will only get it if you look into the options. Each Professional Is Compassionate And Supportive Funeral home professionals are often known for being compassionate as well as supportive. You need both of those things when you are going through a hard time. However, some people are better at offering those things than others. It’s a good idea to get to know the funeral director you will be working with and go with your gut reaction. You might feel comfortable with them and appreciate the treatment or you might feel like something isn’t quite right in the way you feel around them. Listen to the way you react to them in your subconscious. When you are looking for funeral homes in West Des Moines, IA to help with a family member’s final services, you need to know the truth about these companies in the way they are like and the way they are different to make the best decisions for your loved one’s services.
Do You Want Cake At The Funeral? Posted on May 1, 2023 by ilesfuneralhomes You almost always see cake at a wedding, graduation parties, and yes, often even at receptions after final services in funeral homes in Urbandale, IA. When you are trying to figure out what the final services for your loved one will look like, you might want to consider cake. Here are a few things to think through as you look at those ideas and options. Cake Can Be An Important Tradition When you have a family funeral, think about the past services. Was there cake at those receptions? If so, the cake can be an important part of the overall tradition for your family. If it’s worked before for everyone in question, why mess with a good thing? Your family might expect cake at the reception and having it there is a sweet treat that is also a comfort to them. You Can Put Symbolic Meaning Into It There are ways to make the cake unique to your loved one’s style by putting meaning into it. If they liked chocolate cake, for example, have that kind. You can have certain colors in the icing to showcase their preferences. And you can even have something written on top of it to remind everyone of their personality. The meaning behind the cake can be simple, or rather meaningful for the family. It’s Easy To Order And Have Ready When you order a cake from a local bakery, you don’t have to worry about making the dessert yourself. You can order it by phone, or in person, and simply ask them to have it ready by a certain time. You can pick it up, have a friend grab it, or even perhaps have it delivered. It’s an easy way to take care of the dessert table in a quick manner. It’s Something A Friend Can Make And Bring If you have a friend who loves to make, they might ask what they can do to help with your loved one’s services. It could be that you would like for them to make the cake. Making the cake can give them a way to help you out and it can take the burden from your shoulders at the same time. You can ask for specifics, or let them do whatever they want. Either way you will have something delicious for your family at the reception. Cakes Are Nice Desserts There are many different desserts you can have at a funeral reception, and there’s really nothing wrong with any of them. Cake is a nice way to go. It gives someone in your friend group something to do as they can serve the family, too. You are including them and they are helping you, which is nice in both directions. Whether you decide to have cake at your family member’s funeral reception or not, the professionals at funeral homes in Urbandale, IA are here to support your decisions and implement the choices you make for the services to relieve burdens from your shoulders.
