It’s easy and inexpensive to purchase the perfect cremation urn for your loved one. 

Below are a few easy tips for making the best choice. 

Tip #1 – Usually, $100 is the maximum you should pay. 

$100 is more than enough to purchase the highest quality urns manufactured anywhere in the world (other than specialty urns). 

Even so, most funeral homes charge a small fortune, have a narrow selection, and charge a fee to pack an urn purchased online. If this describes your funeral home, find a different funeral home. 

You can see a broad selection of cremation urns that cost less than $100 on eBay, and Amazon, or visit our website at https://shop.sunshinecremation.com/

Tip #2 – Don’t accept a cheap plastic, cardboard, or artificial wood urn.

It is disrespectful to the deceased to place them in an ultra-cheap container.

If your funeral home suggests that this is an acceptable practice, find a different funeral home.

Tip #3 – Wooden urns are “not forever” and have limited uses.

Quality wooden urns are beautiful but have a limited life span. Over time wood wooden urns will rot. Worse, if you drop a wooden urn, it will break.

Wood is a fine choice for burial, but if burial is not your plan, avoid wood.

Tip #4 – Metal urns are usually the best choice. 

Metal urns will last forever and will not break if dropped.

Metal urns can be used for scattering (simply by unscrewing the top), burial, placement in a mausoleum niche, keeping at home, or any other use.

Even better, high-quality metal urns come in an infinite choice of sizes, styles, colors, and decorative designs.

Many of the metal urns we offer at Sunshine Cremation are works of art and many other beautiful urns can be purchased on the internet for less than $100.

Tip #5 – If you select a metal urn, stick it with aluminum. 

The weight of the urn is a factor if you ever need to carry or transport it.

Aluminum is a lightweight metal that never corrodes and is very strong. Many of the metal urns sold in the United States are aluminum.

On the other hand, steel or brass is also used for urns. These materials are much heavier and because of their weight difficult to handle.

Brass and steel urns look the same as aluminum urns and have no strength advantages over aluminum.

Even better, aluminum urns are less expensive.

Tip #6 – Purchase an urn that reminds you of, and will honor, your loved one. 

Perhaps this is an obvious tip, but so many families are too upset to realize that they have hundreds of urn choices from which to select, and if selecting a metal urn, there is an urn that can be purchased for under $100 that will honor their loved one. 

Tip #7 – One size fits all.  Only purchase a full-size adult urn. 

All adult-sized urns have the same interior size and hold the same amount of cremains. When purchasing an urn, only purchase a full-size adult urn. Smaller urns offer no meaningful cost, size, or other advantages.
Do not judge how large an urn you need to be based on the size of the deceased. The weight and size of the deceased before cremation is not a predictor of the volume of cremains that needs to go into the urn after cremation.

Tip #8 – Avoid stone urns. 

Stone urns tend to be very heavy and, despite being made of stone, fragile. If a stone urn is dropped it may shatter while if an aluminum urn is dropped will be structurally undamaged. So, my advice is to avoid stone urns. If you have urn selection questions, please call us at 561-717-2876.