Guide to Getting a Cremation Keepsake with an Urn

With the interest in cremation on the rise (due to the cost of cremation among many other reasons), more and more people are being cremated and having their ashes placed in an urn. In addition to having a full-sized urn for a loved one, small urns, or cremation keepsakes, are also becoming popular. These keepsakes can make it easy for each family member or friend to get their own special memorial of the person who passed. Keepsakes can include a small portion of a loved one’s ashes or can simply be a beautiful reminder of them.

Pairing Cremation Keepsakes with Urns

There are thousands of different cremation urns available today, and each can carry special meaning and purpose to a family.  Below we highlight some of the more popular and unique urns and the types of keepsakes that are commonly chosen to go with them.

• Traditional Metal Urns with Miniature Metal Urn Keepsakes – Today, most full-size traditional urn manufacturers also make miniature keepsake versions. With this, you can keep a majority of a loved one’s remains in the larger urn and give smaller (miniature) versions with a small portion of the ashes to various family members or friends. 

• The Living Urn with Glass Keepsakes or Cremation Stones – Most people who love trees and nature also love the colors that trees bring. For this reason, the colorful glass cremation stones that are infused with a small portion of a loved one’s ashes are a great keepsake option to pair with Living Urns. People who love trees also feel a connection with nature. Given this, natural cremation stones that incorporate a loved one’s ashes can also be a nice complement that people can keep with them.

• Scattering Urns with Permanent Cremation Jewelry – Scattering our loved ones at home, a special place, or favorite vacation destination is becoming more and more common. With this, having a permanent piece of cremation jewelry is a nice complement to the natural scattering in nature. This jewelry piece can hold a small amount of ashes and, many manufacturers also offer engraving options giving you the ability to engrave names, dates, and even the coordinates of the scattering location.

• The Living Urn Indoors with Brass or Glass Songbirds – Many families love the idea of a tree memorial, but don’t have a special place in mind to plant or want the option to take their tree with them when they move. Many of these families opt for either The Living Urn Indoors and a bonsai tree or houseplant or The Living Urn Planter with a succulent. These are beautiful additions to any home, and both have special compartments for ashes. A great complement to both of these are the bronze or glass songbirds. Put a small amount of a loved one’s ashes in the songbird and place these on a shelf near the plant memorial.

• Eco Burial Urn with Fingerprint Jewelry – Many people who bury their loved one’s ashes also want to keep something permanent with them. My Living Touch’s fingerprint jewelry is a great option. Choose between a cross, oval, heart, or teardrop pendant and have your loved one’s fingerprint included on the pendant that can be worn with pride. There’s also pocket knife and ball marker fingerprint options that are coming soon!

• Wood Indoor Urn with The Living Urn Planter Keepsake – Families who choose to place their loved one’s ashes in a wood urn typically love the aesthetics of the wood. Therefore, a common choice for a keepsake is the small Living Urn Planter. This beautiful keepsake is made from walnut and cherry hardwoods with rich grains showing on the surface. It holds a small portion of a loved one’s ashes and a succulent or small plant on top. With its unique look, many people consider this beautiful keepsake to be a piece of the décor in the home as it doesn’t look like a ‘typical’ urn or keepsake.

Why Are Cremation Keepsakes Important?

As with urns, it’s important to pick out cremation keepsakes that are representative of your loved one. Many families choose keepsakes for the following reasons:

• To give out to family and friends so they each can have a beautiful small reminder of the person who passed.

• They chose to scatter a loved one’s ashes or bury the ashes in a biodegradable urn and want a permanent reminder of them.

• They chose to go with a number of smaller keepsakes instead of a full-sized urn. In this case, the keepsakes collectively hold all of the ashes, and they don’t have a need for a full-sized urn. If this is of interest, be sure to check the amount of ashes the keepsakes hold before ordering so you can make sure to have enough to hold all of the ashes.

No matter your reasons for choosing to get keepsakes there are no right or wrong choices. Some keepsakes have a chamber where you can include a small portion of the ashes, while others are simply personal items that serve as reminders of your loved one. Even if you choose not to get keepsakes at the time of your loved one passing, you can always do it at a later date so don’t feel pressured to decide on what to get at the time of cremation.