What To Do With Funeral Flowers After A Funeral

Funeral flowers carry profound significance, representing sympathy, respect, and love for the deceased and their families. Deciding what to do with these flowers after the funeral can be a delicate matter. You can do many things with funeral flowers to create beautiful sentiments that will help you remember your loved one. In this article we will take you through all of the things you can do with funeral flowers after a funeral, from creating beautiful keepsakes to donating flowers to organisations.

Table Of Contents:

How To Preserve Funeral Flowers
How To Use Preserved Flowers To Create Memorial Keepsakes
How To Make Framed Floral Art With Funeral Flowers
How To Make Resin Jewellery With Funeral Flowers
How To Make Candles With Funeral Flowers
How To Make Ornaments With Funeral Flowers
How To Make Candle Jar Holders With Funeral Flowers
Making A Scrapbook With Funeral Flowers
Making Placemats or Coasters With Funeral Flowers
Add Funeral Flowers To Photo Album
Donating Funeral Flowers
Repurposing Funeral Flowers For Special Occasions
Using Funeral Flowers As Home Decor
Creating Memorial Gardens With Funeral Flowers

Advertisement

Preserving Funeral Flowers: Methods and Techniques

Before you can create memorial pieces with funeral flowers you will first need to preserve them. This will mean either pressing the flowers or drying them out so that they do not rot. Below are our tips on how you can make funeral flowers last so you can create beautiful memorial art or crafts with funeral flowers.

1. Pressing Flowers

Pressing flowers is an easy way to preserve the beauty and sentiment of funeral flowers. Pressing flowers will remove all the moisture from the flowers over a period of weeks and allow you to be able to use the flowers to create different keepsakes.

Steps to Press Funeral Flowers

1. Select Flowers: Choose the freshest flowers with intact petals.
2. Prepare Materials: Gather blotting paper or paper towels, a heavy book, and additional weights.
3. Press Flowers: Place the flowers between sheets of blotting paper inside the book. Add more heavy books or weights on top.
4. Wait: Allow the flowers to press for 2-4 weeks, checking periodically for dryness.

Here is a video on how you can easily press flowers at home.

2. Drying Flowers

Drying flowers is another popular method to preserve funeral flowers. This method can be done through air drying or by using silica gel.

Air Drying

1. Prepare Flowers: Trim excess foliage and tie the stems together.
2. Hang Upside Down: Hang the flowers upside down in a dark, dry, and well-ventilated area.
3. Wait: Let the flowers dry for several weeks until completely dehydrated.

Silica Gel

1. Prepare The Flowers: Prepare the flowers by removing stalks or leaves depending on your needs.
2. Submerge Flowers: Place the flowers in an airtight container filled with silica gel.
3. Seal and Wait: Seal the container and leave it for 1-2 weeks.
4. Remove: Gently remove the flowers and brush off any remaining gel.

Here is a video on how you can use silica gel to dry flowers

Creative Uses for Preserved Funeral Flowers

Once you have pressed or dried the funeral flowers you will then be able to use them to create memorial art or keepsakes. There are many things you can do with funeral flowers and below we have shared some of our favourites.

Framed Floral Art

Creating framed floral art is an easy and beautiful way to preserve funeral flowers. All you will need is some thick card, a frame and your flowers. If you are creating a large piece then you may want an adhesive like PVC glue to help stick the flowers in place.

1. Arrange Pressed Flowers: Create a design with your pressed flowers on card.
2. Glue (Optional): If you feel it is necessary you can glue the flowers to the card using a PVC glue and a small paint brush.
3. Frame: Place the arrangement in a frame to display at home.

Floral Resin Jewellery

Creating jewellery can be a great way to create a keepsake you can wear on a daily basis. You can embed funeral flowers in earrings, necklaces and bracelets, you will just need to buy the right materials.

Things you will need:

• Preserved Flowers
• Toothpicks
• Resin – find it on Amazon here
• Jewellery Moulds – find it on Amazon here.

Instructions:

1. Embedded Flowers: Place small dried flowers into your chosen resin jewellery moulds.
2. Place The Flowers: Use toothpicks to delicately move the flowers in the resin to your chosen spot
3. Cure Resin: Follow the resin manufacturer’s instructions to cure and set the pieces.
4. Assemble Jewellery: Use jewellery findings to create necklaces, earrings, or bracelets.

Here is a quick and easy video to show you how to make resin earrings

Incorporating Flowers into Memorial Crafts

Memorial crafts allow you to incorporate funeral flowers into items that can be used daily or during special remembrance moments.

Using Funeral Flowers To Make Candles

Making candles can be a unique and creative way to use funeral flowers. By adding funeral flowers to a candle it can be a beautiful way to remember your loved one as it could be lit on anniversaries, memorial masses or even your loved ones birthday.

What is needed to make candles:

To make a candle you will need to purchase the following:

• Candle wax – find it on Amazon here
• Double boiler to melt the wax – find it on Amazin here
• Candle mould – find them on Amazon here
• Wicks – Find them on Amazon here

Instructions on how to make a candle with flowers

1. Melt Wax: Use a double boiler or a safe alternative to melt candle wax.
2. Add Flowers: Place dried flowers around the inner edges of a candle mold.
3. Pour Wax: Pour the melted wax into the mold, embedding the flowers.
4. Set Wick: Insert a wick and allow the candle to harden.

Memory Ornaments

Creating memory ornaments can be an easy way to create a beautiful keepsake to hang in your home to remember your loved one. Memory ornaments can be made to hang around your home or can even be made for your Christmas tree. All you need is some clear ornaments and some ribbon to hang them.

Instructions to create memory ornaments:

1. Fill Clear Ornaments: Place small dried flower petals inside clear glass or plastic ornaments of your choice.
2. Seal and Decorate: Seal the ornaments and decorate them with ribbons or inscriptions and hang them in your home or keep them for your Christmas tree.

Candle Jar Holders

Another great way to use preserved funeral flowers is to create tea-light holders from old jars. You can decorate the outside of the jar with flowers from the funeral, creating a unique memorial keepsake you can use to light candles in memory of your loved one.

What you need:

• An old clear glass jar with the outside label removed will work for this.
• Glue
• Paintbrush
• Blunted Toothpicks (Optional)
• Preserved Flowers

Instructions:

1. Preparation: Wash and clean your jar, making sure you have removed all glue from the label that was on the jar previously.
2. Glue: Brush your glue onto the area of the jar where you want to place the preserved flower and place your flower. Use blunted toothpicks to delicately move your flowers into the right place.
3. Cure: Once your flowers are in the right spot use a small amount of glue to brush over the flower and let it completely cure before using the jar as a tea-light holder.

Creating a scrapbook with funeral flowers

Creating a scrapbook with memories of your loved one while also using the preserved funeral flowers can be a great way to commemorate your loved one and keep their memory alive.

Create Resin Placemats or Coasters

Creating resin placemats or coasters can be a unique and unusual way to keep your loved ones’ memories alive. If family meals were a big part of your day-to-day life, then using your loved ones’ funeral flowers within placemats or coasters can be the perfect way of making sure they are always with you during this time.

What you need:

• Resin
• Preserved Flowers
• Resin Moulds For Placemats or coasters

Instructions:

1. Embedded Flowers: Place small dried flowers into your chosen resin moulds.
2. Prep & Pour Resin: Prep & Pour resin into the moulds on top of your dried flowers
3. Place The Flowers: Use toothpicks to delicately move the flowers in the resin to your chosen spot
4. Cure Resin: Follow the resin manufacturer’s instructions to cure and set the pieces.

Video on how you can make resin coasters or placemats

Add Flowers To Photo Album

You can add your flowers to a photo album along with pictures of your loved one. After the flowers have been dried and preserved, you will be able to slide them into the photograph holders where they can be kept safe along with photos of your loved one.

Sharing Funeral Flowers with Others

Another way to do something special with funeral flowers is to donate them to a charity or organisation. By donating funeral flowers you can help to brighten up someone else’s day or help someone else out who has lost someone but cannot afford to buy flowers for a funeral.

Donating Flowers

Donating flowers is a generous way to spread joy and beauty to others, ensuring the flowers’ impact extends beyond the funeral.

Hospitals and Nursing Homes

Many hospitals or nursing homes may accept donations of flowers to put on the wards or give to families who cannot afford to buy flowers.

How to donate flowers to a hospital or nursing home

1. Contact Facilities: Call local hospitals or nursing homes to see if they accept floral donations.
2. Prepare Bouquets: Arrange the flowers into smaller bouquets.
3. Deliver: Drop off the bouquets at the agreed location.

Community Centres and Shelters

Similarly, community centres and shelters will also accept funeral flower donations to help brighten up office spaces and make the organisation a brighter place.

How to donate flowers to community centres or shelters

1. Reach Out: Contact community centers or shelters about their floral donation policies.
2. Arrange and Deliver: Create small arrangements and deliver them to bring comfort to those in need.

Repurposing Flowers for Special Occasions

Reusing funeral flowers for other events can bring continuity and celebration to life. Using flowers for wedding days or even at events like baptisms, communions or for birthdays can be a great way of including the memory of your loved one on special occasions.

Weddings and Anniversaries

Preserved flowers can be added to wedding bouquets, helping to keep the memory of a loved one alive. This adds a very personal touch to the days a loved one cannot be there physically.

Ideas on how to use preserved flowers for a wedding:

1. Bouquet Enhancement: Incorporate preserved flowers into wedding or anniversary bouquets.
2. Decoration: Use the flowers as part of the décor for the special event.

Home Décor

Preserved flowers can also be used to create bouquets at home. Dried flowers make beautiful bouquets and when placed in a vase can be the perfect way to keep the memory of your loved one preserved.

Ideas on how to use preserved flowers for home decor:

1. Floral Arrangements: Create new floral arrangements for display in your home.
2. Wreaths and Garlands: Make wreaths or garlands to hang as a reminder of your loved one.

Commemorative Planting: A Living Memorial

Planting a living memorial is a beautiful way to honor a loved one, allowing their memory to grow and flourish. You can add flowers to the soil of the memorial or add them to the bottom of planters to help the other flowers thrive. Doing this will ensure that your loved ones’ funeral flowers are part of creating new growth.

Selecting the Right Plants

Choosing plants that thrive in your climate and in your garden soil is important. Willow trees can be a popular choice when it comes to creating a memorial garden however willow trees will only thrive in marshy or very wet soil.

It is important to pick a plant or tree that will thrive in the conditions your garden provides.

Steps to Create a Memorial Garden

1. Plan: Design a layout for the garden, considering sun exposure and soil conditions.
2. Prepare Soil: Amend the soil to ensure it is fertile and well-draining.
3. Plant: Plant the flowers and other chosen plants, spacing them appropriately.
4. Maintenance: Water and care for the garden regularly to ensure it thrives.

How To Incorporate Funeral Flowers

Use preserved flowers in the initial stages of the memorial garden.

Mixing with Soil

1. Grind Dried Flowers: Grind the dried flowers into small pieces.
2. Mix with Soil: Combine the flower pieces with the garden soil before planting.

Adding to Planters

1. Layer with Soil: Place dried flowers at the bottom of planters before adding soil and plants.
2. Plant and Decorate: Add plants and use additional dried flowers as a decorative mulch.

Conclusion

Handling funeral flowers with care and thoughtfulness allows us to honor the memory of our loved ones meaningfully. Whether through preservation, creative repurposing, donation, or planting, each approach offers a way to keep their memory alive and cherished.

Disclaimer: The videos we have shared on this page have been created by different creators therefore the instructions in the videos may differ slightly. The instructional videos shared were shared as they help to provide visuals for the instructions shared. Trusted Memorial Planners do not own the videos shared on this page and all rights belong to the creators who originally made the videos.