Choosing a Cremation Container

When considering cremation, one important decision to make is the selection of a cremation container, urn or remembrance item to memorialize your loved one. A variety of styles, colours and materials are available, along with customized embellishments, giving you the choice of selecting something as unique and special as the individual it represents.

Types of materials for cremation urns

Urns come in many materials like stone, wood and metal. Let’s look at a few popular options:

• Stone – An urn of stone is both utilitarian and inspiring, transforming a raw material into a work of art. Families may choose between smooth marble, tiger eye (dark in color) and natural textured stone.
• Wood – Possessing beauty, strength and warmth, a wood urn offers a classically elegant means of preserving a lifetime of memories. You can choose a smaller star or acorn shaped container or a larger chest with beautiful inlaid stone accents to complement the colour.
• Metal – Whether burnished to a fine sheen or antiqued to heirloom quality, metal offers lasting strength and unique beauty. Whether it’s a copper urn with red flowers, a nickel-plated urn with a dove design, or an understated polished pewter urn, your metal burial urn can represent your loved one’s personality.
• Glass -Glass urns exhibit a graceful motion and elegant beauty, representing a unique way to honour and remember. Consider a hand-blown glass bowl with a gilded crown or a beautiful, jewel-tone glass urn.
• Resin – An ideal example of resilience and beauty, resin-based urns combine man-made materials with handcrafted artistry.
• Ceramic – Whether it’s an understated earth tone or a bold rose bouquet, a ceramic urn is a beautiful way to commemorate a special life.
• Lamps – Imagine a traditional lamp or a stained-glass butterfly lamp holding the cremated remains of your loved one and resting on a small table.

Many urns can include a personalized engraving – from poems or writings to airplanes or birds – unique as the person remembered.

Alternatives and additions to traditional cremation urns

Scattering urns and biodegradable urns
Elegant scattering urns will allow you to reunite your loved one with the natural spaces they loved. Beautiful urns made of natural rock salt and other biodegradable materials, designed for sea burials, will dissolve after a few hours in the water. Our biodegradable urns allow you to place your loved one near a tree as a continuation of their love of nature. Please remember to check with your local government, as there are often restrictions on where scatterings can take place.

Cremation containers
A cremation container is similar to a casket and allows friends and family to say goodbye during the funeral ceremony, visitation or viewing before cremation is performed. After the viewing or funeral service, the cremation container is transported to the crematory where the cremation will take place.

Cremation jewellery
A wearable remembrance piece can bring comfort and peace wherever you go. Cremation jewellery products like charm bracelets and small containers worn as necklaces hold ashes and come in various metals. They can also be personalized by adding names or dates as space allows.

Plan with Dignity Memorial

These options, and even more, are available through Dignity Memorial®, and our planning professionals are equipped to help you decide what cremation container is right for you. Contact us today to find out more about the special savings and benefits available to CARP members and their families. Visit CARP.DignityMemorial.com to download our free guide or call 866-668-1841.