Crazy Coffins and Other Wacky Funeral Decor

Looks like people are starting to have a little bit of fun with the afterlife - good for them! Just like any industry, the funeral - and more specifically, the casket - industry is more than happy to translate that fun into dollar signs. Why not?

One example (of many, I'm sure) of a vendor willing to catering to your every post-mortem desire is MyFunkyFuneral.com. According to these spunky rascals, they are at the forefront of what they call the "designer funeral industry." As they put it, "people are choosing to have much funkier funerals." They then point you to the "Glamming up the Graveyard" section of their website, in which you can choose from a variety of fun(!) coffins - like the Crazy Coffins series (pictured below).





You can get coffins shaped like an egg, containing beautiful paintings of the ocean, or for festive folks, a picture of Santa Claus.

On the flipside, if you want to "keep it real," there is a simple cardboard box coffin (below).



Personally, I like the idea that it is biodegradable and saves a considerable amount of money for something that is ultimately just going to go in the ground ("Money you save on the coffin," claims MFF cheerily, "can may be go behind the bar at your ‘after tears’ party" - indeed!). However, I can't get over the fact that this particular model reminds me of a litter box.

I guess it's hard to criticize whatever people want to do for their ultimate send-off because it is the final personal decision one will make. It just seems like sometimes people can get carried away and over-sentimentalize something that will ultimately become basically a show for all of those they leave behind. The elaborate headstones, the "funky" or ridiculously expensive coffins, the fretting over who is buried where, the funerals that can cost into the tens of thousands of dollars - what exactly is the point? Once we are gone, we're gone and that silk pillow under our dead heads, or the fancy dress we're buried in isn't going to make a difference.

Ultimately, funerals are for the benefit of our loved ones, a final visitation before we leave them forever. But the fuss that we put into the entire process often seems to serve a different purpose - making money for the death industry, or whatever "zany" phrase you want to call it.