Share your funeral wishes with Co-op Funeralcare - £300 voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED

[EmmaMumsnet]

Thinking ahead to a time when you will no longer be here is undoubtedly not a pleasant thought. The majority of us plan other big life events such as birthdays, weddings, baby showers and/or anniversaries down to a tee, however when it comes to funerals very few of us have detailed plans in place. If there's something in particular you have in mind, whether it’s something beautiful, something personal, or even something humorous, Co-op Funeralcare would like to know.

Here’s what David Collingwood, Head of Operations for Co-op Funeralcare has to say: “Funerals are very much about personal choice and reflecting the personality and interests of an individual. This is becoming increasingly evident through the growth we’ve seen in people choosing to pre-plan their own ceremonies using a funeral plan.”

Do you have a specific piece of poetry that you want read out by a certain someone? Maybe you’d request that all of your friends and family turn up in fancy dress? Or perhaps you already have in mind a certain song that will put a smile on everyone’s face...Monty Python’s ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ and Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ are popular songs requested for funerals!

Co-op Funeralcare would like to know what your funeral wishes are, so please share them below and all who comment will be entered into a prize draw, where one lucky MNer will win a £300 voucher or their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

I'd like something simple and environmentally friendly, with bright colours and flamboyant flowers. I'd also like Funeral Blues by WH Auden read. Afterward: a free bar and great food for family/friends. What I'd like most though, is for loved ones to have no pain or grief - and for my funeral to be as far into the future as possible. These last two requests are harder to guarantee!

I’m not that fussed about the funeral itself but I expect a fair amount to be spent in the pub afterwards! Whilst there are readings I like I’m not so wedded to them that I would feel the need to insist that they were read. Ultimately I would be happy with whatever my family wanted as it’s really about them as it’s a bit late for me to care

I would prefer a burial and a wonderful church service with songs i would of chose on entering the service katerina and the waves walking on sunshine also some hymns preferred as the singing would help things to be joyful on leaving queen who wants to live forever would be very appropriate

Probably not what Coop want to hear, but I'd rather my family didn't waste money or time on arranging a funeral. I would like to be transported as economically (no coffin, is that possible?) as possible from my point of death to a crematorium, and cremated without ceremony. I like to think that my family would then scatter my ashes at sea rather than at one memorial point.

I'd prefer to have no funeral at all and quite happy to be cremated and then scattered in a wood with no fuss or ceremony. Or for the body to be donated to science if they have any uses for it.

I intend to have a novelty coffin shaped like the USS Enterprise.

I plan to be cremated, and am leaving it to my lucky executors to find a way to send at least a portion of my ashes into space, where I'd like them released into Earth orbit so they can return as a meteor shower.

Minimal fuss. Lovely music and anything that will make it as easy as possible for those who have to arrange it.

I'd like a great big party to celebrate the fact that I'm going to a better place.

An eco friendly coffin and burial somewhere beautiful and rural - maybe my childhood churchyard. A bench in my favourite park!

Colour themed funeral. Bright flowers on my coffin.
Music to be cheerful 😁
I want my husband to not worry about planning as I have already done it! 😃

Direct Disposal is the option for me. My body can go directly for cremation, with no fancy vehicle, no attendees, no funeral ceremony at all, and the cremation and disposal of ashes is solely the responsibility of the crematorium

This is what I want for myself and it's what both my parents want.

I think people will still get together following a death but the 'body' won't be involved.

I feel more relaxed that my parents have told me what they want and that they want direct to crematorium

Something eco friendly, I read about a new method where you're basically put in a big washing machine and dissolved so that sounds interesting. Not cremated, it freaks me out. Not too fussed about particular readings etc but I'd like canon in D, I walked down the aisle to it so it be nice to "walk" out to it too

I once saw on a website that you could arrange to be cremated and have your ashes buried underneath a new tree sapling. I love the idea of becoming a tree!

Wicker or cardboard coffin, humanist service, woodland burial.

I keep changing my mind about music. One Step Beyond by Madness I think.

Food & booze after that.

I just want it to be as easy on my DCs as po, so the more I can do beforehand the better.

It's important to me that everyone knows I'm on the organ donor register

This thread has been very informative as I didn't realise you could have a direct to cremamation order and then no need for a church service. That's what I want. I definitely don't want people at a service who weren't there for me in life. Bitch mother would make it all about her.

The nicest, most personal funeral, I've ever been to was a Humanist ceremony. I think I'd like something along those lines.

I make no requests apart from I would like to be cremated. If I were to die now I leave behind a young family, I'd want it to be as easy for them as possible. If there is something they wanted to happen,that's fine.

not something anyone likes to think about but I've always told my family that I want lots of forget-me-not flowers!

I'd actually want them not to worry too much about my specific wishes and just go with what they 'felt' was right.

I had to sort out my mum's funeral at a relatively young age (when I was 24 and none of my friends had lost their parents at that stage) and as I was making decisions somehow I just 'knew' deep down what she would have wanted even though losing her was totally unexpected and we'd never discussed plans beforehand.

I think it would give comfort to the mourners to know someone's wishes and be able to act on them, but to me it wouldn't really matter.

I'd choose a burial over a cremation though - that's probably the only thing I feel strongly about - not sure why other than i knew that is what my mother wanted for herself and was the only thing she felt strongly about.

Having lost a loved one suddenly this year we really struggled with knowing what to do. Both for the funeral and around the house. The password for the computer, where life insurance and bank details were etc. Sadly he was planning on retiring that month and getting all these things in order.
I have to say we were given a "to do" check list and lots of advise and support by Co-Op funeral directors and that was a massive help when our heads were swimming.
Since then I have produced a document for my loved ones with what I hope is all the information they would need to know. I found a template form from age UK.
I have details of all the accounts both personal and professional that would need to be sorted and of course my funeral wishes.
I would like to wear my faithful wrap around dress.
I have chosen 3 (what I consider to be beautiful) songs.
My hope is to make thinks as easy as possible for those who morn me. They all know I'm a planner!

Nothing formal. Good music and some half decent food! Lots of laughs and gin. Want to be cremated and loved ones know where I'd like to be scattered.

I would like to have my ashes put in a rocket and sent to the moon ! They have a massive celebration, I have made my will, pension goes to the little ones in trust, house goes to the other half, and I can be a space traveller.

I have told my family many times what my thoughts are! The cheapest coffin, a fairly traditional ceremony (if anybody wants to speak they can - because it is important to some people), the song I have already specified in my will and a cremation. No flowers.

Seems that the theme is that the majority are less interesting church / religion ceremonies.

I agree, I either like the idea of:
Straight to a crem - then a big celebration party of my life
or if there has to be a coffin, then a wicker number, which is disposed of asap then again a party to celebrate what has been.

Quite like the idea of the tree pod thing too...

Organs donated where possible, requiem mass with my favourite hymns, cremation and im liking the idea of an eva cassidy song playing, scattering somewhere beautiful.

I would like to be chucked in the sea without much ceremony!