Making the best of a bad day!

[Aberdeenplotter]

Brilliant way to celebrate someone's life BM. Although I can't play a note, I'm a guitar music freak and love anything twangy with a huge beat. My family have been told that Walk of life - Dire Straits Dire Straits - Walk of Life LIVE (On the Night, 1993) HD - YouTube and Live is Life - Opus Opus - Live is life 2008 (1985) - YouTube must be played when I depart. I've been a hell raiser in life, No intention of stopping when I'm dead.

[veggiechicken]

Cardboard coffins - they're brilliant. I've been to 3 send-offs where they've been used and each time the coffin has been decorated to reflect the occupant. One was painted with portholes in the sides, fish swimming by and the sky and stars on the lid - he lived on a boat and it was perfect.
For my husband, I had the coffin (empty of course!) on the dining table and all his friends came and wrote messages on it, stuck photos or drew on it. They were personal tributes and their way of speaking to him and saying goodbye. There was so much laughter in the house as we reminisced and it helped me so much too.
The undertaker made me laugh too. He told me that, under no circumstances was I to try the coffin for size, or put the lid on, as they were impossible to remove once fitted. As if I would

[Uber-Uncool]

Is there a maximum weight capacity for use of cardboard coffins?

I like the idea of having one, and as VC wrote, inviting people to write on it or express themselves on it, but i ain't no lightweight and it might have to be solid wood for me!

Rather fancy the idea of getting one and kleeping it in spare bedroom before i pop off, i like to be prepared for things!

[veggiechicken]

I don't think there's a weight limit and I think they come in different sizes. They are flatpacks so maybe you could keep it under the bed until needed! I wouldn't want to make one up though, must be very complicated. It would make a brilliant seed packet store, as long as you didn't put the lid on!
Edit: Holds up to 23 stone - this is the company I used Cardboard - White Coffin

[Uber-Uncool]

That's great VC, thanks for the link. I will ponder on it, am pleased it will take my weight. My kids have O'logies and A'logies so thems clever enough to put one together after i pop off....besides, it will be fun thinking of them swearing at me as they struggle to put it together!

I should probably get in a few dozen rolls of sellotape just in caase though...

[janeyo]

I want everyone to wear something pink, and no sad songs to be played, and loads and loads of flowers. I love flowers

[cardiffsteve]

When my Grandmother died I wanted "Ding Dong The witch is dead!" from Wizard Of Oz but the rest of the family didnt like that idea.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Flippin Hek cardboard coffins expensive. Theres a place down just down the road from me (Government Buildings, Chalfont Drive) for the locals, that was a massive underground nuclear shelter. In the buildings above ground were the stores for the aftermath of a bomb being dropped including thousands of flat pack cardboard coffins.

Might have to pop down and see if there are a few hundred still left. Well you got to make a shilling or two.

Colin

[Florence Fennel]

I think I've said before on here that my dad used to always say, "No funeral, just chuck me on the bonfire sitting in my old chair". Ironic that he died on Halloween and was cremated on Bonfire Night.

I love Saint Saens Dans Macabre. If it's played at my funeral it'll make everyone laugh because it's the theme tune to Jonathan Creek, a favourite of all the children.

[Piggle]

I worked with a guy who died recently and so many people turned up for his funeral that the hearse got stuck on the road and was half an hour late ...... plenty of jokes about being late for his own funeral of course!

I've not really thought about it which is mainly due to the fact my mother in law is obsessed with dying and we've had many happy nights of when I die will you ...... look after the cat, scatter me over the river severn, blah de blah de blah.

[dominic10]

When my dad died it was a bit of a problem choosing which flowers He liked growing veggies but was no gardener. The undertaker didn't laugh when I said he would have been happy with a sack of spuds on the coffin. Cheered me mam up tho.

[donnakebab]

I've got my Dad, my brother and my sister all buried in the same cemetery. They were all cremated and put into one of those little chest things and then buried with a memorial stone on top (not all at the same time I hasten to add). So you have the cremation then days and days later the burial of the ashes, and then going to look at the memorial stone. I tell you it was like having 3 funerals each time so there is no way I'm going out that way. And the cost of it all too!

I used to think I'd like to be buried in a wicker coffin and a tree planted on top somewhere scenic but I've come to the realisation that it will be too expensive. I want the cheapest option. I don't even really want a service as such. So my current plan is a basic cremation without a service and ashes scattered around the Pembrokeshire coast line at various points between St David's and Fishguard. I want to put enough money away for my immediate family to rent a cottage and spend a few days together enjoying all the things we do when we go to that lovely part of the world (we have been going there for about 20 years).

If my mother is still alive she won't be impressed. I certainly don't want my children feeling obliged to visit a piece of cold stone with my name on it, to place expensive flowers on it that will be dead in days. I want them to have some fun and remember the things that made us happy and made us laugh.

For example, one year we hired a car for our holiday and we were driving to a beach called Abereiddy famous for it's blue lagoon. Driving along the country lanes with the car windows down and sun blazing I spotted an owl sitting on a fence post. I said 'look at that owl!' and the kids turned and gasped at the site. OH stuck his head out to get a better look but leaned on the automatic button and shut his head in the window. We laughed so much I had to pull over to the side of the road for a good ten minutes.

Our holidays in Wales have been full of moments like that. Those are the sort of things I want my kids to remember.

[Florence Fennel]

I worked for a funeral director for years. You'd be amazed at the amount of uncollected ashes they have stored in the cellars

[binley100]

My OH went to a funeral where they had 'Always look on the Bright Side ' at the end.
Myself I don't want any hymns or prayers as it means diddley squat to me but I would like music ....probably 'too much too young' during and 'enjoy yourself' (both by the Specials) at the end. Re the cardboard coffin, youngest said I wasn't to have one incase it was raining and it got wet so I fell out and rolled away
She wants people to come in their pj's

[Pumpkin Becki]

When we lost my mother, Dad chose 'Stranger on the Shore' by Acker Bilk for her to come into the chapel to, and I chose 'I've had the Time of My Life' from Dirty Dancing to send her off She loved that film, and particularly the last dance.
It might have sounded odd to the rest of the congregation, but to me it was completely perfect