What is a celebration of life?

A service that remembers a person through the things they did and the way they did them, rather than through a set liturgy. It usually has more speakers, more music and more room for laughing than a traditional funeral, and it is often held later — after a cremation, or when family can travel.

How long after a death can it be held?

There is no limit. Some families hold a small committal within the week and a celebration of life a month or two later so people can travel and so the planning is not done in the first shocked days. Others do it on an anniversary. Neither is unusual.

Who speaks at a celebration of life?

Whoever wants to, within a running order agreed in advance. The celebrant writes and delivers the main eulogy, holds the thread between speakers and steps in if someone cannot finish — which happens often enough that it is planned for rather than improvised.

Does it cost more than a funeral?

No. Both are $750, including the family meeting, the eulogy and full script, liaison with your funeral director where there is one, and the PA. A graveside or ashes committal on its own is $450, which is what families choose when the larger gathering is happening separately.

Planning a celebration of life

A celebration of life is a funeral service built around stories rather than a formal order of service, and it can be held whenever suits the family — the same week, or months later after a cremation. It costs $750, including the family meeting, the writing and the PA, and there is no notice period of any kind.

How the running order is built

A traditional funeral has a shape people recognise, and that recognition does a lot of work on a day when nobody has the capacity to follow something unfamiliar. A celebration of life gives that shape up deliberately, so it has to be replaced with a written running order: who speaks, in what order, for how long, and what happens between them.

The celebrant carries the main eulogy and holds the thread — introducing each speaker with the context the room needs, and stepping in when somebody cannot finish, which happens often enough that it is planned for rather than improvised. An open microphone sounds generous and is the single most common thing families regret; a short invited list with two or three names held in reserve does the same job without the risk.

Holding it later

Because there is no legal deadline, a celebration of life can wait. Families commonly hold a small committal within the week and the larger gathering a month or two afterwards, once people can travel, the cremation has happened and the arrangements are not being made in the first shocked days. Anniversaries work too, and so does a birthday.

Later gatherings are usually held somewhere with a kitchen rather than in a chapel — a hall, a club, a backyard, a beach — and there is often no funeral director involved by then, so the run sheet and the sound are arranged directly. An ashes committal can be built into the same day, which many families find is the right place for it.

Questions people ask

What is a celebration of life?: A service that remembers a person through the things they did and the way they did them, rather than through a set liturgy. It usually has more speakers, more music and more room for laughing than a traditional funeral, and it is often held later — after a cremation, or when family can travel.
How long after a death can it be held?: There is no limit. Some families hold a small committal within the week and a celebration of life a month or two later so people can travel and so the planning is not done in the first shocked days. Others do it on an anniversary. Neither is unusual.
Who speaks at a celebration of life?: Whoever wants to, within a running order agreed in advance. The celebrant writes and delivers the main eulogy, holds the thread between speakers and steps in if someone cannot finish — which happens often enough that it is planned for rather than improvised.
Does it cost more than a funeral?: No. Both are $750, including the family meeting, the eulogy and full script, liaison with your funeral director where there is one, and the PA. A graveside or ashes committal on its own is $450, which is what families choose when the larger gathering is happening separately.

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