We put the "fun" in funeral

[Goatee220]

A local radio station (Philly area) is playing commercials for a funeral home that specializes in non-traditional funerals. They do traditional ones too, but I kind of like the idea of a non-traditional funeral/viewing - like the Steelers fan who wanted to be in his recliner, with a Steelers jersey, hat and blanket, with a TV showing the Steelers Superbowl victories on a loop. That's how he wanted to be remembered.

What do you all think? I want beers/drinks served at mine - I like the idea of my buddies being able to have one last beer with me. And music. Lots of music.

[sloasdaylight]

I want to be cremated, and have people drink lots and lots of booze at my wake.

[two fingers]

All that stuff is great. I don't judge how people morn. However, for me, my funeral will be about those left behind, not me. So even though I might want a band and beers there, that might make my wife or kids feel ridiculous, sad, awkward, etc. In short, it's not really about me. It's about THEM being able to morn however it makes THEM feel good. (At that point, I won't care either way, right?) But, again, if you want to go out loud go for it.

[Clark Dark]

I listen to that sports channel in Philly too. LOL

[echoSE7EN]

I'm donating my body to the body farm in TN. My wife is being cremated. I'd just like my kids to remember being read to, playing together, sage wisdom and advice (hopefully once I become wise...and sage?), and the memories that we had as a family.

[jmattbassplaya]

I thought it'd be funny to have my casket used as the beer pong table at my funeral. Watch those elbows, gents...

[Chef FourString]

Burn me to ash and plant me a tree. When the tree is strong enough to support my bass, wedge that thing in the branches. Let the tree grow and engulf my bass. Hopefully they'll throw a party and blast a lot of fun music. Ska, punk, folk, funk, dance, stuff like that. And beer, a lot of beer.

[HaMMerHeD]

Cremation seems a bit....selfish, no? Why deprive the Earth of using your body as a resource when you have used it as a resource for your entire life?

Cremation, to me, smacks of a life spent taking, but then refusing to give back. I want to rot in a simple wooden box, with no cement sarcophagus, so that the plants and bugs that sustain larger life on Earth can put my resources back in rotation.

Anyway...there was a short-lived sitcom called Good Grief in the early 90s about a flamboyant funeral home director. The funeral home's motto was "We put the FUN back in Funeral!". Howie Mandel played the main character. I thought it was pretty good.

[Relic]

Originally Posted by echoSE7EN

I'm donating my body to the body farm in TN. My wife is being cremated. I'd just like my kids to remember being read to, playing together, sage wisdom and advice (hopefully once I become wise...and sage?), and the memories that we had as a family.

I like this post a lot, I feel much the same way.
My wife wants to be cremated as well. As for me, I'd actually like to go native American style - just be on a elevated platform and let nature and nature's critters take over. It's kinda gross maybe but nature is nature.

[hrodbert696]

Originally Posted by two fingers

All that stuff is great. I don't judge how people morn. However, for me, my funeral will be about those left behind, not me. So even though I might want a band and beers there, that might make my wife or kids feel ridiculous, sad, awkward, etc. In short, it's not really about me. It's about THEM being able to morn however it makes THEM feel good. (At that point, I won't care either way, right?) But, again, if you want to go out loud go for it.

I agree here. It's a bit of a custom in my Mom's family to say "no funerals, I just want the family to gather to read some Bible verses and sing some hymns." I always felt that failed to recognize that there would be other people out there who need the rituals to mourn and process their separation.

[Marial]

I want to be put through a wood chipper ala Fargo and used as compost. Then I want friends and family to have a huge party in a barn with music and booze and backyard ballistics.

[slobake]

No open casket for me, my family wouldn't want that anyway. The rest I don't care too much about.Probably lots of food and music, kids running around and people shouting so they can be heard. That's what we always do.
My wife and I have already bought our plot near where the rest of the dead family members are buried. It is nice to have a place to gather and remember family members. It is also kind of weird every time we pass our plot.
My father had pretty bad hay fever, flowers always made him sneeze. He also had a very large nose and a sneeze that could stop traffic. When he died he was in an open casket surrounded by flowers. I kept hoping he didn't sneeze and kill off other senior family members with a heart attack. I was talking to my five siblings afterwards in the lobby of the funeral home and we were all thinking similar thoughts. Some people were offended that we were laughing and joking around. My mom thought it was funny and I know my father would have been right there with us.

[hover]

Originally Posted by HaMMerHeD

Cremation seems a bit....selfish, no? Why deprive the Earth of using your body as a resource when you have used it as a resource for your entire life?

Cremation, to me, smacks of a life spent taking, but then refusing to give back. .

I disagree with this completely. No big whup, I just do, not going to defend that. I wish to being cremated as well. And I don't want a wake. I want anyone so inclined to gather to have a celebration of my life vs. mourning.

R

[Thick McRunfast]

I want a Rockabilly funeral when I die.

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by hover

I disagree with this completely. No big whup, I just do, not going to defend that. I wish to being cremated as well. And I don't want a wake. I want anyone so inclined to gather to have a celebration of my life vs. mourning.

R

I agree with you. There isnt anything selfish about being cremated, I think that notion is absurd.

[AmpedSilence]

Originally Posted by two fingers

All that stuff is great. I don't judge how people morn. However, for me, my funeral will be about those left behind, not me. So even though I might want a band and beers there, that might make my wife or kids feel ridiculous, sad, awkward, etc. In short, it's not really about me. It's about THEM being able to morn however it makes THEM feel good. (At that point, I won't care either way, right?) But, again, if you want to go out loud go for it.

Nice post!
I had not thought of it that way, though I have always agreed that those left behind are the ones who need comforting.

[Bloodhammer]

Originally Posted by HaMMerHeD

Cremation seems a bit....selfish, no? Why deprive the Earth of using your body as a resource when you have used it as a resource for your entire life?

Cremation, to me, smacks of a life spent taking, but then refusing to give back. I want to rot in a simple wooden box, with no cement sarcophagus, so that the plants and bugs that sustain larger life on Earth can put my resources back in rotation.

Anyway...there was a short-lived sitcom called Good Grief in the early 90s about a flamboyant funeral home director. The funeral home's motto was "We put the FUN back in Funeral!". Howie Mandel played the main character. I thought it was pretty good.

I think of it the other way around. If you are cremated, someone can spread your ashes on the earth (remember conservation of mass - those ashes ARE YOU as well as your casket) whereas, if you're buried, they put you in an air-tight, sealed up box that doesn't allow you to rot naturally into the ground.

Also, I think the practice of embalming is a scam to make your already aggrieved family spend exorbitant amounts of money on just interring you.

Anyway, if it could be done, I would want to be catapulted over a burning building that someone blows up right when I reach the apex of my arc directly above it, and then be shot out of the sky by friends with assault rifles and finally taken to the municipal landfill in a dumptruck.

[HaMMerHeD]

Originally Posted by Bloodhammer

I think of it the other way around. If you are cremated, someone can spread your ashes on the earth (remember conservation of mass - those ashes ARE YOU as well as your casket) whereas, if you're buried, they put you in an air-tight, sealed up box that doesn't allow you to rot naturally into the ground.

Except that the "ashes" you get from a crematorium are nothing but bone dust. Everything that would be of real to the earth value blows away in vapor and smoke during the cremation. So in order to have something to give the families, they grind up the bones and present them. I suppose spreading them would create a relatively high level of calcium in a particular spot, but not much more.

Cremation is less ridiculous than traditional preservation and sealed burial, but only a little.

[Smokin' Toaster]

I believe it was a very old Nitty Gritty Dirt Band record, and I'm not sure if it was their song or one they covered, but the lyric sticks with me:

"headstones cheer the living, dear - they're no use to the dead"

Same can be said of funerals too. I'm not too concerned at what will happen to my body. I do want to make sure that no one spends a lot of money disposing of it. I do want some of my meager estate to go towards a large party with very good beer and very good food, maybe some music. My one requirement of those who gather is that they must tell the absolute funniest story about me they know. Tripping, falling down, making an a$$ of myself, the best joke I ever told, the most embarrassing thing I did - something I did that made everyone laugh. I'm not sure how sad everyone will be at my passing, but if there are this will balance the scales a bit.

Edit - the song was titled "Buy for me the Rain"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAc-j-v1-vY

[Relic]

Originally Posted by Bloodhammer

Anyway, if it could be done, I would want to be catapulted over a burning building that someone blows up right when I reach the apex of my arc directly above it, and then be shot out of the sky by friends with assault rifles and finally taken to the municipal landfill in a dumptruck.

LOLOL! that had me laughing for like 10 mins straight...
I think you may be on to something there, I'm in!