Home | Culture And Society | Death And Dying

Funeral Flower Etiquette and Flower Sending Tips

By: George White Click author's name for more of his/her articles

The proper Etiquette to sending flowers to a funeral depends greatly on the religion of the family. Flowers are not typically sent to a Catholic church or Jewish synagogues but are acceptable to send to a Protestant church. If you are unsure of the proper etiquette for a certain religion it is best to ask the florist or the funeral home director to find out.

When sending flowers you may send them to the funeral home prior to the funeral or straight to the family’s home. If you are a family member, friend or business associate the best form of flowers for you to send are a basket or fireside basket arrangement.

Sometimes a family will request that gifts be made instead of flowers. If this request is made the donor will provide the family’s name and address to the charity at the time the gift was made. The donor can then can either send a personal note to the family or it can be done by the charity or organization.

There are times when the obituary or death notice will state “in lieu of Flowers, please make a contribution to “charity or organization here”. It is mostly still acceptable to send flowers to the funeral home where the funeral is being held. Flowers add warmth and comfort to a solemn occasion and they play tribute to the deceased ones life. Flowers let the family know, noticeably, how much their deceased family member meant to someone and how they may have touched ones life.

Sometimes a family will request that gifts be made instead of flowers. If this is requested the donor will provide the family’s name and address to the charity at the time the gift was made. The donor can then send a personal note to the family or by the charity or organization.

If you must bring your children to a funeral please make sure to keep your children near you. Flowers for some reason attract little kids like they attract bees. Children have been observed pulling the flowers out of the baskets at many funerals while some people do not mind this it actually offends other people.

If you were notified late of a funeral and your florist can not have your arrangement delivered in time and you still want to bring flowers the proper way to do this is to show up early and give them to the funeral home personal who can then bring them in and set them up and not be to obvious that you brought them with you. It will look like a late delivery. Most florist are very accommodating in having funeral flowers delivered and this problem will rarely happen.

Sometimes there is confusion on when exactly to send flowers for a funeral. The viewing/wake is when most people have their flowers delivered. A high number of flowers were usually the indication of how large the funeral would be. Florists have a way of keeping funeral flowers alive and looking beautiful for a funeral that is a few days away. In the end flowers show how much love, appreciation, and respect everybody had for the deceased.

It’s also never too late to send flowers. A perfect sign to show someone that you are thinking of them and wish them the best through a troubling time is to send flowers to the families home to remind them how much they mean to you also.

Article Source: ABC Article Directory

About The Author: George White runs Morningside Florist, a highly regarded Sacramento florist for special occasions, thank you flowers, funeral flower arrangements, or corporate gift needs where arrangements can be made for same day flower delivery in Sacramento or timely delivery for anywhere else in the United States.