Funeral homes are employing a new twist.

[fuzzybuddy]

My first thought is... oh boy, not a good mix. People are emotional enough when they're sober.

It's a nice idea, I suppose, provided people can handle their alcohol.

Oh, yeah. just when people are super emotional, and don't know what's in the will, why not add booze? Funeral homes have all these rooms, so why can't they have a few with water beds, if some mourners feel frisky? Maybe the funeral home could have loaner guns for those who forgot to bring their own. Why not?

 

[chic]

I recall, after a relatives funerals, there was a reception with food, coffee & tea. Alcohol was not served, or missed.

We used to do that too in my family but alcohol was not forbidden if anyone wanted it.

I think it's nice for funeral homes to incorporate food and drink into their service. There are fewer places visitors have to drive to and no clean up for the family of the deceased. It's a win/win situation and the funeral home makes money.

 

[Twostep]

Funerals are for the living. Have a shindig on me.

 

[wisenior]

I would love to think that people are together raising a glass in my honor.

 

[January]

Oh, yeah. just when people are super emotional, and don't know what's in the will, why not add booze?

but again, how is that any different to the attendees meeting at a pub or restaraunt afterward??

 

[fuzzybuddy]

but again, how is that any different to the attendees meeting at a pub or restaraunt afterward??

Having the corpse in the room makes a difference.

 

[CooCooforCoCoPuffs]

I recall, after a relatives funerals, there was a reception with food, coffee & tea. Alcohol was not served, or missed.

That is typical here.

 

[CooCooforCoCoPuffs]

But how is that any different from the possibility of that happening if the family gathers in a pub or restaruant afterwards?

Perhaps they are more constrained in a chapel or funeral home before the pub? Thus, if you added alcohol at the chapel or funeral home, things may get a bit louder than preferred in such places. Take it to the bar...

 

[Nathan]

Wow, the typically creepy funeral home business just went to another level of creepiness.

 

[OregonGuy]

Ideally the one who passed left instructions regarding cremation yes/no, open/closed casket. wake yes/no. service yes/no, etc.

All I want is for my ashes to be spread over Yosemite National Park, the place my first wife and I were wed.

Spending thousands of dollars on services or excuses to drink is for the benefit of the living...
the dead could care less.

 

[January]

Having the corpse in the room makes a difference.

I was assuming the bar/ meal area would be in a separate room - just like the area in funeral homes here or in churches here which usually have tea/coffee and light refreshments afterwards - the funeral itself is in a separate room to the gathering afterward.

 

[Oldeagle66]

Some funeral homes are getting liquor licenses and catering to offer a bit more to grieving families.
Apparently many families would gather after a service and go to a bar to drink a toast to the departed, or to a restaurant for a family meal.
Seeing this as an opportunity and a service, a few funeral homes have decided to offer a bit more for their clients by incorporating these trends into their offerings.

I'm not buying into it. They'll just raise the prices for more profit. I'll stick to the good old home get together if I have to plan a funeral. As for my remains, they go to a body farm after my organs are harvested. My family doesn't need to worry about an expensive funeral.

 

[smiley]

this is a very emotive topic; I think we should have a drink on it first??

 

[KSav]

That is typical here.

It's typical here, too. At all the funerals I've been to here, the visitation at the funeral home takes place the evening before the funeral. After the funeral, the church provides a volunteer-supplied and -served luncheon in the church hall. No alcohol there.

[As an aside, my son and his friends, who were at the Catholic school attached to our church, often would be recruited as altar servers for funerals. Not only were they generously tipped by the family, but they also were able to eat at the luncheon afterward. One time, he said he'd had three sandwiches! I was slightly horrified: "Did you leave anything for the mourners?" ( ) But a friend of mine on the volunteer committee assured me that the mourners were fed first, and the altar servers were permitted to consume whatever was left over.]

I'm not sure alcohol at a funeral parlor is a good idea, but as others have already mentioned, people will be just as likely to drink at a bar or some other venue.

 

[Oldeagle66]

It's typical here, too. At all the funerals I've been to here, the visitation at the funeral home takes place the evening before the funeral. After the funeral, the church provides a volunteer-supplied and -served luncheon in the church hall. No alcohol there.

[As an aside, my son and his friends, who were at the Catholic school attached to our church, often would be recruited as altar servers for funerals. Not only were they generously tipped by the family, but they also were able to eat at the luncheon afterward. One time, he said he'd had three sandwiches! I was slightly horrified: "Did you leave anything for the mourners?" ( ) But a friend of mine on the volunteer committee assured me that the mourners were fed first, and the altar servers were permitted to consume whatever was left over.]

I'm not sure alcohol at a funeral parlor is a good idea, but as others have already mentioned, people will be just as likely to drink at a bar or some other venue.

I have never seen alcohol at a funeral, but we threw large parties afterwards. Part of our family history.

 

[smiley]

I think that the Scots and the Irish and the Welsh would have a different viewpoint on this - whilst agreeing with each other at the same time?

 

[Oldeagle66]

Having the corpse in the room makes a difference.

 

[smiley]

many years ago my MIL died and we organized her cremation funeral - we first visited her lying in state in her open coffin and my dear daughter rolled a fag and stuck it in her mouth because MIL did that all day long? - the attendees didn't move a muscle but one said " that won't last long in our furnace?

 

[CooCooforCoCoPuffs]

My dad's funeral was held at the fire station as he had been the Chief for 50+ years.
No doubt in my mind there was alcohol at that funeral. LOL.

 

[JustDave]

At a get together after the funeral, drinking is not all that uncommon, but at the funeral, during the service or at graveside, I don't think it's necessary.

 

[January]

I didn't take this to mean alcohol, or anything, was going to be served during the funeral service - more like the funeral home would, in a separate area, be the place of gathering afterwards, rather than moving on to another venue.

 

[MACKTEXAS]

To each his own, which varies a lot from one person to the next.

I had the unfortunate responsibility of arranging funeral services for both of my parents, then for my wife. I tried to do it with respect and in line with what I believe they would have wanted, but a funeral service does absolutely nothing for me.

All my needs are paid for in advance under contract. Included at the mortuary are specific instructions to my family that I want no funeral or memorial service of any kind, but I did request that my cousin be present at the opening and closing of my grave to make sure I was buried properly. I added a notation that if he might care to read a verse or say a prayer, that would be fine, but it is not necessary if it may make him uncomfortable.

 

[Jules]

For my mother, after the service and the burial, the funeral home opened up a secondary area with a kitchen. Since I didn’t live in the small town and had no place to entertain, we arranged for the them to make tea and coffee and have servers. We brought in catered cookies and sandwiches. Not too much fuss and muss; nothing to clean up afterwards. It wasn’t really expensive.

My cousin, who didn’t have the same choices in another small town, rented a space in a restaurant. The appetizers and drinks cost him a small fortune since many of his friends showed up unexpectedly to support him.

 

[January]

My cousin, who didn’t have the same choices in another small town, rented a space in a restaurant. The appetizers and drinks cost him a small fortune since many of his friends showed up unexpectedly to support him.

do you mean he had an open bar and paid for all the drinks and food?

When I have been to funerals and they have tea/coffee and light refreshments at the funeral place - these are paid for by whoever pays for the funeral and the cost known in advance - but whenever we have gone on to a restaruant or other venue people pay for their own meal/drinks

 

[smiley]

since I've been following this thread I have needed to consume a fullbottle of bourbon!