Embracing Enduring Connections: Exploring Ways to Honour Cremated Remains
When choosing cremation, there are several ways to honour your loved one’s legacy. From traditional options such as interment in a columbarium or mausoleum or scattering the cremated remains to cremation tattooing and even space memorials, there’s a meaningful choice for everyone.
When navigating a recent death, grief is fresh, and it can be challenging to make these decisions immediately. One of the benefits of cremation is that most of these memorial options aren’t time-sensitive, which means that you can take the time to reflect on the right choice for you and your family.
We’ve compiled a list of both common and unique options for what to do with your loved one’s cremated remains.
Keepsake Jewellery for Cremated Remains: A Symbol of Eternal Love and Remembrance
Selecting keepsake jewellery for cremated remains can be a beautiful and tangible way to hold the memory of your loved one close to your heart.
These mini-memorials pay tribute to the person who passed while granting the wearer privacy through subtle and stylish design.
At Simple Choice Cremation, we’re proud to partner with Eternity’s Touch, a family—owned and Canadian cremated remains jewellery company. Together, we offer a wide selection of keepsakes, from personalized jewellery to hand-blown glass art.
Cremation jewellery can be made from gold, sterling silver, and leather to suit your style and budget. If you’d like something truly unique, some companies can transform cremated remains into diamonds.
With cremation jewellery, you create a precious family heirloom to be passed down for generations.
Creative Ideas for Cremated Remains
When considering ideas for cremated remains, there are countless innovative and creative ways to honour your loved one’s memory that go beyond a traditional urn. Let’s explore a few of them:
Cremation tattooing: Cremation tattooing, or ritual tattooing, is when the tattoo ink has been mixed in with cremated remains to create an infused ink. Across cultures, tattoos are meaningful and powerful, so this can be a unique and beautiful way to keep your loved one with you forever. You can choose whatever you’d like the tattoo to be. People often choose their loved one’s face, their name, or a phrase they’d always say. You can also use a soundwave of the person’s voice. Many tattoo artists will offer cremation tattooing, so it’s worth looking at businesses near you to find a good match based on the artists’ style and to confirm this service is available.
Cremation painting: Similar to cremation tattooing, a cremation painting uses paints that are infused with cremated remains. You can find artisans to commission a piece from, or if you’re a painter, you can paint it yourself—there are several YouTube videos to help you get started.
Vinyl record: If your loved one was a music lover, there are companies that press cremated remains into vinyl records. You can include their favourite songs on the record and have it designed however you’d like.
Artificial coral reefs: If the person was passionate about ocean conservation, incorporating their cremated remains into an artificial reef, sometimes called a “memorial reef,” can eternally memorialize them as they create a new habitat for fish and other sea life.
Space memorial: No longer simply a science fiction storyline, you can now send cremated remains into space to orbit around the Earth, the moon, or even to another galaxy. You can find companies that offer this service by looking into “space burial” or “space memorial.”
Glass art: For a subtler keepsake, you can choose hand-blown glass art pieces infused with cremated remains. These unique statement pieces can be made into jewellery, office, and home decor. Through our partner, Eternity’s Touch, we offer a beautiful selection in the Serenity Swirl and Serenity Glass.
Urns for Cremated Remains: Preserving a Loved One’s Life
A wide variety of urns are available to allow you and your family to make the most personalized choice. You can select an individual, companion, or keepsake urn. Companion urns are offered with a single or dual chamber to hold two sets of cremated remains. Keepsake urns are an excellent option if multiple people want to share the cremated remains, as they only hold a portion.
Once you’ve decided on the type of urn, you should consider other aspects, such as material, shape, and personalization.
Material
The first thing to consider is the material, which can inform choices for what to do with it afterwards. For example, marble, glass, ceramic, and porcelain materials are elegant but easily breakable. Finding a place to keep the urn, such as in a mausoleum or columbarium, can be a safe and meaningful option. It also provides you a place to come visit and spend intentional time remembering your loved one.
Different types of wood, such as oak and hardwood, are among the most popular materials for urns, while metals like brass and steel provide a distinct and durable tribute. Biodegradable urns are becoming more popular and are safe for ground and water burials or kept as a keepsake.
Shape
Traditional squares, rectangles, and vases can serve as simple and tasteful urn options, while you can also choose unique shapes that easily function as home decor.
If your loved one was a music lover, consider a treble clef, or if they loved fishing, you might consider a boat. There’s something for everyone.
Personalization
Personalizing your loved one’s urn is a thoughtful way to honour their legacy. Engraving their name or a quote are both popular options. An alternative to direct engraving is attaching an engraved bronze plate.
Planting Memories: Memorial Tree Urns and Eco-Friendly Alternatives
There are a few options for people who desire an eco-friendly choice that allows their loved ones to uphold a legacy of stewardship for the land.
Cremation tree urns are a beautiful way to create a lasting tribute. These urns are a living memory of the person where the cremated remains become part of a tree—a sapling or a pod.
Green burials are an excellent way to memorialize someone in nature in a low-impact way. For a burial to be a green burial, embalming is not permitted, and the remains must be interred using a biodegradable urn. The urn is typically interred in a forest with a communal marker rather than a monument.
Nature walks are a peaceful way for your loved one to rest in nature. Nature walks are on protected land, often within the grounds of a cemetery, creating an accessible natural space for community members. This is perfect if you’d like an eco-friendly option or a personalized monument to visit, such as memorial garden rocks. They also offer unique, above-ground monuments for urns, such as benches and bird baths.
Scattering Ceremonies: Honouring Wishes and Celebrating Life
A scattering ceremony is a profound way to say goodbye. For some, a scattering ceremony might be solitary or with immediate family, a part of a celebration of life, or a religious ceremony.
In Canada, it’s legal to scatter cremated remains in many places, including on your private property, on someone else's property with their permission, on unoccupied Crown land (including federal and provincial parks), and in unoccupied lakes, rivers, and oceans managed by the government. You can also check with your municipality. For example, in Toronto, the scattering of cremated remains is permitted on city land, including parks and public bodies of water like Lake Ontario, without permission.
During a scattering ceremony, consider having people say a few words about the person and integrate music and readings.
When choosing where to scatter the cremated remains, consider the person's wishes. If they didn’t have any specific wishes, here are a few ideas:
- A place that they cherished, such as a family home or cottage.
- The beach where they’d take their grandkids in the summer.
- If they loved being on the water, consider scattering their cremated remains at sea.
- Their favourite park—like Algonquin.
- Places on their bucket list to travel to (provided that the practice meets regulations in that area).
Can you fly with cremated remains?
If the person’s wishes were to be scattered in their home country or a series of countries they loved or longed to visit, please check local regulations in the appropriate regions before leaving.
According to the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA), you’re permitted to bring cremated remains with you on a plane in a cremation container or an urn. It’ll first be required to go through an X-ray and pass the security screening. Before going, check in with your funeral director or the crematorium staff about a temporary container because it’ll have a higher likelihood of passing security—this is important if the permanent urn is made of marble, stone, or ceramic, which are less likely to be permitted.
Can you mail cremated remains?
Yes, you can mail cremated remains through Canada Post. However, restrictions may apply when shipping internationally.
No matter where you’re shipping, you’re required to ensure:
- You’ve clearly written both the destination and return addresses.
- You have an inner container holding the remains. This can be an urn or cremation container and needs to be packed carefully with enough protection to ensure it won’t break.
- The external container effectively protects the inner container and is sift-proof.
- Include a certificate of cremation and secure it to the top of the parcel in a plastic envelope.
- A letter of contents may be required.
Honouring Legacies with Thoughtful Choices for Cremated Remains
Choosing cremation opens the door for a variety of thoughtful options to honour a person’s legacy. There are countless beautiful ways to create a tribute, and there’s no right or wrong. The choice is yours. To explore how you can memorialize the person’s legacy when selecting an urn, read our blog post, How to purchase an urn.
