things to consider when planning your celebration

To get you started, here are 10 things we suggest you spend a little time thinking about before meeting the team at Celebration of Life Events.

1.         Who to invite?

Do you want an intimate gathering with close family and friends, or do you want something big and grand where everyone can attend? Is it a dinner for 20 or a picnic on the beach for 300? This may also come down to budget. Our team can think of clever ways to cater for larger numbers, but the most important thing is who you want to be there. 

2.         Timing

When do you want to have your Celebration of Life Event or Living Wake? If time permits, we suggest a longer time frame, around 1-3 months is ideal. However, we can create an event for any time frame when needed, no matter how short the timeframe is.

Although we can put together a celebration of life event at short notice, the more notice we have ensures us to create the best celebration possible.

3.         Budget

We can work to any budget, so have a think about what your budget is for celebrating the life of your loved one in this special way. To give you an idea, most funerals cost around $20,000.

We can chat about your budget and how we can create a special and unique event for your loved one within your budget.

4.         Venue

The venue or location you choose should reflect the personality and interests of the person being honoured. This will create a more meaningful send-off. You might choose the local bowls club where they spent the last 100 Sundays playing a game or a favourite restaurant. Or perhaps a food truck with fish and chips down along the beach as that’s where they loved to spend most Friday nights.

5.         Theme and entertainment

Beach themes, picnic in the park, a formal dinner, a yacht club because you loved sailing, BBQ at your local bowls club, the options are endless for theming. Likewise for entertainment. You may want someone you know to sing whilst playing the guitar, a band, string quartet, DJ, dance performance, or a comedian, because that’s more your thing. Or perhaps clowns and jugglers for those a little younger. The options are endless.

6.         Catering

There are so many catering options available, canapes, buffet, food trucks, picnic hampers, brunch menus and much more. This will ultimately depend on your choice of venue/location and your budget.  If you are a ‘foodie’ perhaps a sit-down degustation menu is for you? Or perhaps picnic hampers in the park are more your thing?

7.         Invitations

We can create a digital invitation for you that is based around your theme, venue and personality.

8.         Program of events for the celebration

Who would you like to speak on the day? A Life Celebration can be as formal or informal as you like. You might want dedicated guest speakers, or you may prefer something more relaxed with off the cuff speeches. Or you may want a celebrant or MC.

Roughly when do you want food served? If you are having entertainment, do you want this before, during or after food?

Celebrations of Life Events can schedule all the activities and take care of everything, so that you don’t need to worry about a thing.

9.         Logistics

How will people get there? Where do they park if driving, how do we transfer your baby Grand to the venue so you can perform for everyone? Leave all the logistics to us.

10. How to make it truly about you or your loved one

For those that prefer to celebrate with family and friends whilst you are still here, remember this is all about you. So you need to be brave and create an event that truly does you justice. Don’t be shy about what you would like and what you want on the day. This is your time to shine.

For those celebrating a loved one who has passed, what kind of send-off would they want. Be true to who they were. If they loved a good party, then perhaps some great music and dancing over some drinks and food would be more their thing. For those who were home bodies, perhaps something more casual at home in the backyard with a firepit and a few drinks is more their style. Whatever you decide, it’s about being true to who they were.