Suggestions for Honoring Your Loved One

  • Take flowers to the grave site, memorial site, or other place where you go to remember your loved one.
  • Look at old photos and home videos.  Do this alone and have a good cry or reminisce over photo albums with family and friends.
  • Turn digital photos into a photo album on Shutterfly or Snapfish.
  • Donate a few of your loved ones old belongings to a shelter or other charity.  If you don’t want to give away any of their things, just make a charitable donation in their name.
  • Volunteer with a charity or cause close to your loved ones heart.
  • Plan a memorial service or candle light vigil.
  • Reach out to someone else grieving the loss via letter, card, phone call, or e-mail.
  • Host a dinner party and invite those who knew your loved ones best.
  • Cook your loved ones favorite dish, use one of their recipes to prepare a meal, or host a pot luck and ask people to bring a dish your loved one liked.
  • Light a candle in honor of your loved one.
  • Visit or spend time in a place where you feel close to your loved one.
  • Take the trip you had been planning or dreaming about.
  • Read old notes, letters, or e-mails from your loved one.
  • Treat yourself to a massage.
  • Distract yourself by getting together with friends, going to the movies, or taking a short trip.
  • Watch your loved one’s favorite movie.
  • Make a mix CD of music that reminds you of your loved one.
  • Create a new ritual to celebrate the life of your loved one.  Choose a ritual that can be repeated in the years to come.
  • Do something your loved one would have enjoyed.
  • Build a memorial with portraits, personal items, and objects that remind you of your loved one.
  • Spend time journaling about your loved one.
  • Make a toast or say a prayer or blessing in their honor.
  • Plant a tree in your loved one’s name.
  • Establish a scholarship in their name.
  • Celebrate the strengths you have developed as a result of your loved one’s death.
  • Search for joy and feel gratitude
  • Make a keepsake box of things that remind you of your loved one.
  • Finish a project your loved one was working on.
  • Continue to work towards a cause your loved one was involved with.
  • Tell a story about your loved one to a stranger.