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Honoring the life of your loved one is so important when they have passed on. And when your loved one has opted for cremation, there is the question of what to do with their ashes. There are many ways to honor a loved one’s ashes that speak to the beautiful legacy they’ve left behind.

Incorporating their ashes into jewelry or works of art creates a piece that can forever hold their spirit. Spreading their ashes somewhere meaningful can be a fulfilling journey. Planting a memorial garden can help their legacy to grow on. And a custom urn is a way to memorialize them in a way as unique as they are. 

Here are five unique ways to honor your loved one’s ashes and their legacy.

1. Cremation Jewelry 

Jewelry that incorporates a loved one’s ashes honors them and allows multiple individuals to have something to hold onto. Incorporating a loved one’s ashes into a cherished piece of jewelry can allow them to be with you always—when you travel to places they loved or wanted to see, at special events, and just with you for the little moments of everyday life.

Ashes can be incorporated into jewels, pendants, or other elements of your jewelry. Work with your individual jeweler to come up with the perfect tribute. 

2. Custom Urns 

Your loved one was like no one else, so why should you be limited by just a few urn options? Custom urns memorialize your loved one in a way that celebrates their life. An urn can be customized into the shape of your loved one’s favorite stadium, hobby, musical instrument, car, or anything you can think of. A customized urn can represent so much more for your loved one. 

With a custom urn, you are showcasing the things that made their life full and unique. Our lives are made up of all the little things that make us who we are. This option celebrates those little special details! You can think of it as a celebration of their life, rather than a representation of their passing. 

3. Spread Them Somewhere Meaningful 

Maybe your loved one moved here from somewhere far away to give your family a new life, and they never got to return to their birthplace. With cremation, you can bring them home. Spreading your loved one’s ashes in a place that was important to them can be a significant experience for your own life. 

Taking a pilgrimage to a place that was important for this special person in your life can be its own important journey. Perhaps you didn’t know this person when they lived in this place, and this can be a way to connect with them on a deeper level and better understand their legacy. 

4. Planting Ashes 

How better to celebrate life than by growing life out of it? Did your deceased loved one have an excellent green thumb? Even if you’re a complete beginner, planting some flowers with your loved one’s ashes can be a memorable way to commemorate them. Maintaining a garden can be a wonderful activity for the whole family, and these flowers can grow for years to come so that other family members may be able to celebrate their legacy even if they did not know them. 

Every year when the flowers spring up again you can remember all of the wonderful memories you have and build new ones by getting into the dirt and helping that love continue to grow. 

5. Make Art

Perhaps you’re an artist, or you know one whose work you love. You can incorporate your loved one’s ashes into paint for a painting. A beautiful painting can be emblematic of their life and the relationship they had with you. A painting is something that can be seen every day, admired, and not necessarily feel like a representation of passing. Incorporating ashes into a piece of art creates a memorial to be cherished and is another way to ensure that multiple family members can have a piece of this special memorial. 

Grief and mourning are a lifelong journey. When people have changed our lives in a big way, their impact is never gone. These unique ways of building out a memorial for your loved one can help incorporate the memory of them into your everyday life. These ideas can also help families have multiple tokens that remind them of their loved ones. 

Honoring the life of a loved one is an important, emotional, and multi-faceted journey that will look different for each member of your family. Coming together to collaborate on a way to celebrate a legacy can be a healing and beautiful journey for all. Your loved one was like no one else; honor their memory as such.