Celebration of Life Program: Order, Wording, Template

A celebration of life is a gathering that remembers someone through stories, photos and music, with less ceremony than a traditional funeral. It may happen weeks after the death, in a park, a hall, a restaurant or a home. The program does more work here than at a funeral, because guests do not know the shape of the event. It tells them what is happening, who is speaking and where to go after.

A sample order

1. Music as guests arrive. Their favorite songs, not necessarily sad ones.
2. Welcome. A family member or a friend thanks people for coming and says what the afternoon will be like.
3. Opening words or a reading.
4. Their story. The life story, read aloud, sometimes by two people taking turns.
5. Memories from family and friends. Three to five people, two or three minutes each. Ask them in advance.
6. Music. A song, live or recorded.
7. Photo slideshow.
8. Closing words. A toast, a blessing or a simple thank-you.
9. Reception. Food, drink and time together.

Keep the formal part to about 45 minutes. People stay longer for the reception when the program part has been short and full of stories.

Wording for the cover

• “A celebration of the life of”, then the name and dates.
• “Celebrating” with the name, for a lighter feel.
• A phrase they used to say, in quotation marks, under the name.

Readings and poems that fit

A celebration of life does not need scripture, though many families include one. These classic poems are in the public domain and can be printed in full:

• “Crossing the Bar” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1889).
• “Remember” by Christina Rossetti (1862), which ends: “Better by far you should forget and smile / Than that you should remember and be sad.”
• Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, “To every thing there is a season”, which many read as a poem.
• An Irish blessing.

More choices are on the funeral poems page.

Photos carry the program

At a celebration of life, photos are the point. Use one strong cover photo, then a page of photos across the decades, a child, a young adult, a wedding, a grandparent. Old prints that are faded or creased are worth restoring; the difference is clear on paper. A photo poster on an easel at the entrance gives people something to gather around.

What to put on the back

• A thank-you from the family.
• Where the reception is, if it is somewhere else.
• A charity for memorial gifts, if there is one.
• A QR code to a page with their story and photos, for people who could not come.

Make it

In the funeral program template, pick “Celebration of life”. The order above fills in, the poem prints in full, and the set includes the photo poster, thank-you cards and a phone page for the QR code. If you still need the life story, the obituary writer drafts it from six questions.