After a loved one has been cremated, you need to decide what to do with their ashes. There are a few different options that you can consider. This post takes a look at all the different ways to honor your loved one after they have been cremated.

Keep them in an urn

Many people choose to keep the ashes in an urn and place them in their home. You could put the urn on a mantlepiece or a windowsill, or you could set up an altar area or room with other photos and memories. Urns come in many different styles – including personalized urns.

Bury them

Another popular option is to bury the ashes. A lot of people bury ashes in a cemetery – custom headstones or urn burial vaults can be used to honor them. Alternatively, you can bury ashes at your home or your loved one’s home. Instead of a headstone, some people prefer to plant a tree as a memorial. This can be seen as a way of creating new life from their death. 

Scatter them

It’s also possible to scatter ashes. This could be in a location that was special to your loved one – which could include anything from a public park to their favorite beach. There are certain rules as to where you can scatter ashes, and in some cases you may need permission from a local landowner. It’s worth doing your research beforehand.

Turn them into jewelry

You can also turn a loved one's ashes into jewelry. There are necklace pendants that you can buy that can serve as tiny urns to carry around your loved one’s ashes with you – keeping them close to your heart at all times. Alternatively, it’s possible to turn your loved one’s ashes into a diamond that can be put into a necklace or a ring. This costs quite a bit more to do, but could be a beautiful way to memorialize them by transforming them into something beautiful. 

Explore other options

There are so many other alternative options to consider when it comes to memorializing your loved one after their cremation. A few examples include:

• A vinyl record: Your loved one’s ashes can be pressed into a vinyl record. This could contain their favorite song or a recording of their voice. 
• Tattoo ink: Some of their ashes can be mixed into tattoo ink. This could then be used to create a memorial tattoo – physically ingraining a part of them into you.  
• A painting: Ashes can also be combined into paint, which can then be used to paint a portrait or a landscape.
• A firework: You can even put your loved one’s ashes in a firework and send them up into the sky.

Some of these alternative options are likely to cost more. But they could still be worth looking into if you feel your loved one would have appreciated them. Some of these options may only require using a tiny portion of their ashes, in which case you may still need to decide what to do with the remainder of their ashes.