Replying to Sympathy Flowers

When someone in the family dies, it is usually very tough to face other people and act as if you are okay even if you are not.

Many friends and even families will send you funeral flowers with cards in them. These sympathy cards will contain their condolence messages and as the immediate family of the deceased, it will be your job to respond. Flowers may arrive during the memorial service or sometimes after the basic cremation procedure.

Unfortunately, because your mind is a bit off due to the loss of a member in your family, this task can easily be forgotten. These cards and flowers are sent to you as sign of another person’s sympathy to you and your family and it is just right for you to reply to their kind gesture.

To help you in this process here are some suggestions:

• You can collect all the cards from the flowers and place them inside an envelope. This way, you know who sent you something and you know who you should send a thank you card to. Because these cards have the names of the sender, it would be much easier for you to base your send out list with this process.
• Saying thank you does not only come in cards. You can immediately thank the giver as you receive the flowers during the service.
• Different types of flowers can be given but most of them are specifically arranged for a funeral or a memorial service. This means that you can display the flowers right beside the casket or the cremation urns depending on the type of funeral that you have chosen.

As you receive the flowers, you can give them a simple nod.

A simple thank you would also do.

If you are really distraught, you do not necessarily have to smile but you should always show politeness throughout this experience.

• To make the job easier, you can assign a close friend to keep track of the flowers that are coming in. This would also help you get focused on other things aside from this.