Cremation Caskets - All Aspects Explained

Death is both emotionally challenging and something we cannot avoid. Funeral, caskets, or funeral rituals don’t make a common topic, but it's better that we have all things taken into account before it happens. When someone in the family dies, the family members have to deal with both the emotions and the preparations for the funeral; it makes sense that we spare them some of the problems and leave at least indications about which type of funeral we want.

Should cremation be your final choice for the funeral, collecting information about all aspects is very useful. From the type of casket, the process and alternatives you have for caskets, you need to collect all useful information before making a decision.

What’s to say about cremation caskets in a nutshell?

Cremation caskets are typically lighter than burial caskets; by all means, they are just as beautiful and sometimes even more ornate than standard caskets. These caskets are embellished, may come with plush cushioning and even pretty external trimmings. Many people choose cremation caskets for the final goodbye as they provide a secure embrace for the deceased.

Depending on the budget, sometimes people use a “rental casket" from a funeral home instead of a personal cremation casket. Keep in mind, to rent a casket from a funeral home on average would cost $600-800, yes this is pretty expensive for a carton box which they putting inside of the rental casket. And the prices for a beautiful personal cremation casket that can be bought online start from $700-800, so everyone makes their own decision on what is the best option. You can easily check how much do caskets cost from your home or mobile device any time. 

If the body is cremated, the body must be put in a cremation casket, sometimes called an "Alternative Container" that will ultimately be burned. A typical casket can work as a cremation casket, but not all of them, there are certain requirements for a cremation casket. Typically, the casket shouldn’t have any large metal elements, only small metal parts are acceptable. A traditional casket will also be more expensive than a cremation casket.

The kind of funeral service that you choose will significantly affect the type of casket you may use for cremation.

With or without a funeral service?

As we’ve mentioned, there will be many questions to answer regarding the funeral ceremony with cremation. Keep reading for the details.

Will a traditional funeral service occur the cremation?

Suppose you know that a traditional funeral ceremony will occur before cremation. In that case, you may go with a combustible casket for displaying the body at the public viewing and/or religious ceremony. The casket can work as a cremation container later. Caskets made from flammable materials (wood veneer, cloth-covered wood, hardwood, bamboo, teak, wicker, and so on) make good options, but only if they don’t have metal parts or contain only small metal parts.

Alternatively, you can rent a casket for the funeral ceremony proper and have the body moved to a more affordable recipient for the cremation phase after the casket was moved by the pallbearers. It’s the “alternative container," resembling a basic box made of plywood, cardboard, composite wood materials, or plastic.

Will a memorial ceremony happen after the cremation?

Funeral services happen before the cremation process, whereas the memorial service will occur after the remains were placed in a funeral recipient (urns). A photo of the departed will accompany the urn, along with some flowers.

If you opt for direct cremation, the casket won’t be necessary as there will be no services where the body is displayed.

What if the cremation follows a Jewish funeral?

Caskets made for Jewish funerals make an excellent choice for cremation containers as they’re made of wood and have no metal elements whatsoever. However, cremation is not typical of the Jewish religion, but the people who believe in other religions often use these caskets for cremation.

Read also: Giving Money to a Funeral - Is It Appropriate or Not?

What’s the decisive factor for choosing cremation instead of a traditional burial service?

If you still have to decide on the type of funeral service, the budget and personal opinion are the decisive factors, at the end of the day.

If the person who died comes from a family that struggles financially, the choice is more straightforward. Many people select cremation as the final disposal of the remains as it’s effective and more affordable than any other funeral service type. Cremation makes the right choice for many families with financial issues.

What are the cremation containers?

The cremation container helps the family respectfully display the body in the cremation chamber. The cremation casket will be cremated with the body and burns throughout the process. If a funeral service takes place before cremation, the cremation container can be used during the service as well.

The basic, low-cost cremation containers could be made with cardboard, and if you looking for more pleasant-looking containers, take a look at cremation caskets from other materials (various woods or wood veneers) can also work. A cardboard container won’t come with a lined interior, whereas most of the cremation caskets will have lined interiors and include a pillow.

What happens with the casket after the funeral?

Once the funeral service is completed, the casket is taken to the crematorium, where the paperwork and the deceased's identity will be verified once more by the funeral director and/or crematorium director. It depends on the crematoriums how many steps they take for checking; it’s understandable why scrutiny is so severe, after all.

The nameplate on the casket will be removed to work as an identifier during the cremation procedure. It depends on the embellishments' material on the casket are made from; some fittings or handles will have to be removed before the cremation procedure. The crematorium will take care of destroying these elements as well.

The casket will be put in the cremator, whereas the nameplate is set in the holder outside the cremator.

When cremation is completed, the remains are taken to a cooling tray, together with the casket nameplate. The tray will be moved to a preparation room, where the metal parts are removed, and a machine turns the remains into ashes. The ashes are put in a container/urn, labeled and accompanied by the casket nameplate.

Most caskets used for cremation are made of wood materials, but environmentally friendly materials such as wicker, or bamboo also work.

Is renting a casket a good idea?

Our days, a cremation casket can be bought from third-party companies or online, this is an affordable choice for people who also want a funeral ceremony before the cremation process. A rental casket provided by the funeral home would cost about the same price as a personal casket made out of wood, but after the ceremony, the body of the deceased is moved out from a rental casket to a cardboard box, and go to the crematorium with only a cardboard box.. Online casket shops provide caskets at prices covering budgets of all sizes, so caskets aren’t as expensive as they used to be.

Is the rental casket different from the traditional casket?

The rental casket looks almost like a regular casket and usually, it is made of wood with a nice shine to it. However, the funeral home will use the rental casket over and over again, sometimes they use the same rental casket several times a day for different services.

You may rent a casket for the service, along with a removable inner cardboard box. The inner cardboard box is used for sanitary reasons, allowing the funeral home to use the same caskets plenty of times.

One last thought

Every year, funeral and cremation become more and more expansive. Funeral homes always have very high markups on all the funeral merchandise, and especially on caskets. Renting a casket from funeral homes become less popular our days since the prices for that service are about the same compared to the personal casket, which usually looks better and can be bought from other sources.

Whether you go with a rental or cremation casket, you need to formulate a decision. Ideally, it would help if one wrote down their final wishes regarding the final disposal of their remains. And if you have to decide in place of the deceased, you should gather all the information before buying the casket.

  Blog Author: Tim