How to Choose a Keepsake to Keep a Loved One’s Memory Alive

After a loved one has passed, you may choose to honor and remember them by carrying around a keepsake. There are many different types and styles of keepsakes you can choose, and each one carries a slightly different significance.

How do you choose the right keepsake to keep your loved one’s memory alive?

The Many Types of Keepsakes

A keepsake can come in many forms. There are small trinkets that you can keep with you at all times, as well as massive memorials that can be seen from a great distance away. There are personal items, like watches or stuffed animals, that once belonged to the deceased, as well as new items that can be forged or created in memory of them.

According to Rick Fraser, owner of In The Light Urns, “People are increasingly choosing cremation, for its practicality, versatility, and inexpensiveness. After a loved one has been cremated, surviving relatives can scatter some of the ashes in a favorite or spiritually significant location – and then keep a portion of those ashes in a small piece of jewelry.”

This has become a massively popular option, due to the beauty, portability, personality, and customization potential of jewelry. You can choose a piece of gold, silver, or platinum jewelry, or even fashion something out of wood. You can choose something minimalistic and relatively discreet, or you can design something from scratch that embodies a creative vision or represents your loved one in some way. In any case, you can end up with something fashionable, beautiful, and yet bittersweetly reminiscent of the person you loved so much.

Of course, jewelry isn’t the only option. You can also customize and 3D print an urn to contain some or all of the ashes of your loved one. You can keep a favored possession of your loved one as your own, carrying on their spirit. And if you’re the creative type, you can create a piece of art or a totem of your own design – the options are truly limitless.

Choosing the Right Keepsake

So with truly limitless options, how do you make this heavy decision?

1. Explore all your options.

Before you make any snap decisions, it’s a good idea to explore all your options. Review the many types of urns and jewelry that are commercially available, as well as the customization options available to you. You may even be in a position to get your hands on some of these materials so you can see how they feel to wear or display in your home. Take your time with this decision; it’s not something you have to rush, especially if you’re still dealing with grief and the complexity of emotions that naturally follow a loved one’s passing.

2. Consider your loved one’s personality.

Many objects can function as a sobering reminder of the value of both life and death. There are no right or wrong answers for what you choose, but many people feel compelled to choose something somewhat in line with your loved one’s personality. If they were simple and minimalistic, a minimalistic piece of jewelry could perfectly represent them. If they had a driving passion, you can choose something in the form of that passion, like a charm in the form of a motor vehicle, a favorite animal, or the symbol of a specific hobby or activity. Of course, you can also design something that abstractly represents or embodies their personality, especially if you’re creatively or artistically minded.

3. Think about how and where you want to remember them.

The keepsake is also about you. It’s about how you want to remember your loved one, and it’s about how you want to engage with their memory on a daily basis. Some people like the idea of wearing a piece of jewelry that they can keep on them at all times. Others like something more stationary and permanent that they can visit periodically, like an urn, sculpture, or monument.

4. Customize.

Your keepsake will probably mean more to you if you take the time to customize it. Depending on your desires and your budget, that could mean designing something totally from scratch, including a photo or ashes of your loved one in the piece, or simply engraving your chosen keepsake with a memorable quote or message.

5. Don’t limit yourself.

There are countless ways to remember your loved one, and you aren’t limited to only one. If you find yourself torn between multiple options, consider purchasing and using more than one. For example, you can customize a beautiful urn to keep at home, and still keep a portion of your loved one’s ashes in a piece of jewelry that you can wear at your discretion.

Choosing to remember a loved one in the form of a keepsake is an honorable, fulfilling, and emotionally difficult task. It’s not easy to wade through all the options available to you, nor is it easy to keep confronting the idea that this person is now gone. 

However, if you find a keepsake that adequately represents who this person was in life, and one that bears deep significance to you, personally, you’ll be able to remember the love you held for this person for years, if not decades to come. 

With the right keepsake, you can even keep their memory alive for generations.