Losing someone – be it a family member, friend or even a pet is undoubtedly a hard experience. When faced with grief, the emotions at play can be very overwhelming. From shock and anger to disbelief and profound sadness, all these emotions are normal. The intensity in which you feel these emotions, however, is dependent on how much you treasure and value the particular bond that was lost.

While it hurts to lose someone you care about, trying to repress your emotions (something a surprising number of people do) is an unhealthy and unsustainable way to cope with a loss. This is why we personally believe that when a death occurs, instead of dwelling in sadness at their loss, it would be better to celebrate their life. 

Though a loved one may be gone, they never really leave us as long as you keep their memory and legacy alive. With that being said, we’ve prepared a list of 6 Meaningful Bereavement Gifts that you can personalise to help remember your loved ones and celebrate all the good times you’ve had together. 

Framed Print

Celebrate the life of your loved ones with a framed print. Though it may seem like something simple, a personalised framed print has the potential of becoming a very thoughtful bereavement gift. Not only can it honour your dearly departed one’s memory, but by personalising the framed print with texts – such as a quote, lyric or even something that they always used to say, the seemingly simply framed print can help family members focus on the good times instead of the absence of the person.

Additionally, framed prints also make for great condolences gifts to send out to bereaved family members so that they would have a token to remember the person by. In doing so, not only are you helping to keep the deceased person’s memory alive, but you are also offering comfort to those who have been left behind.

Canvas Prints

Similar to the framed print, canvas prints also make for excellent bereavement gifts. They look classic, elegant and are a great way to showcase the kind of life a person has lived. Made with high quality materials, the canvas prints are also long lasting and can be passed down to the next generation so that the memories of the person can be cherished for years to come. 

Now when it comes to choosing the images to put on the canvas, one of the main concerns is with choosing just what image to use. We’d just like to point out that despite it being a bereavement gift, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you MUST use a formal-style photo for the canvas.

Instead, why not use a photo of the deceased doing something that they loved – like hiking, vacationing or just plain relaxing. 

Additionally, instead of using just one photo, you can also opt to create a collage of images paired with meaningful words for added sentiment.

Story Tag Cards

Now if you’re looking for something a little more subtle or a bereavement gift that can be given to multiple family members, try the Story Tag Cards. These printed photo cards give off the classy polaroid vibes that never seems to go out of style. Aside from that, you can include as many kinds of photos as you want. The beauty of the story tag cards is that they’re a lot less formal and can feature the ‘real stuff’ such as the smaller, quieter moments that you can’t help but smile about and think fondly of. 

Things like photos of your pets, goofy moments, trips and outings reunions, friendly get-togethers, and selfies. All the fun moments that can help give context to what kind of life that person (or pet) lived before passing on. 

Another great feature of the story tag cards is that you can also choose to digitally add on little anecdotes to them before printing or choose to write them down by hands once they’ve been printed – just to make the set of story tag cards feel extra special.

Photo Books

You don’t need to be someone famous to have an autobiography. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, an autobiography is a book that details a person’s life – from their childhood up until their death. Now while most autobiographies could span hundreds of pages, you can choose to create a memorial photo book with more or fewer pages depending on how much you’d like to share about the person.

Create a beautiful tribute by filling it your chosen photo book up with family photos, special memories, and a brief history about that special person. You can also collect stories from other family members to put into the memorial photo book as well; showcasing how that special person had affected the lives of others.

The process of making the book itself can also be a very cathartic experience and future generations of the family will also be able to flip through the memorial photo book and see all of the beautiful moments of that person’s life.

Photo Pillow

Honor your dearly departed pets or loved one with a personalised photo memorial pillow. This unique memorial keepsake is the perfect gift for yourself, family members or even friends to help pay tribute and celebrate the life your loved ones had lived. Made of plush and ultra-velvety material, the comfy and durable photo pillows make a beautiful and usable display piece.

Whether you use it for decorating the living room, bedroom or even the interior of your car, these photo pillows will hopefully bring you a sense of peace, joy and happy memories. Aside from putting in just a photo, you can also pair an image with a variety of sweet sympathy quotes and poems to pay tribute and honor your loved one.

Wood Prints

Rounding off our list of meaningful bereavement gifts to celebrate the life of dearly departed loved ones is the wood prints. Solid, sturdy and long-lasting, these unique and natural-looking displays can last for up to 60 years or more depending on how well you take care of them.

Featuring natural wood grains, no two wood prints are ever the same. So if you’re looking to create a tribute piece that was as unique and special as the person it was meant for, the wood prints are a very good option. In addition, the wood prints also come equipped with pre-drilled keyhole slots to make them easy to hang on the wall.

However, if you prefer not to damage the walls or would like to set up something closer to a shrine or an altar, the thickness of the wood prints also allows for it to stand on its own. This means that you can also opt to place them on shelves, tables or give them pride of place on mantle pieces so that they’ll catch the eye of anyone visiting.

To reiterate, bereavement gifts are something that can comfort and provide a source of healing for the living and those who have been left behind. But choosing the right bereavement gifts can be a bit tricky.

This is why if you’re considering giving someone a bereavement gift, you may want to visit our website and create something that can be personalised and customised. Those extra thoughtful touches will not only provide comfort during a tough time, but will also make your gift feel more precious.