Planning a Funeral Reception

Many funerals at funeral homes in Solvay, NY have funeral receptions after the service. Funeral receptions have food and drinks and offer the grieving family and other mourners a chance to gather informally and share memories and stories of the deceased loved one.

Usually someone close to the family that has lost a loved one takes care of planning the funeral reception because the bereaved family is already overwhelmed with grief, loss, and making funeral arrangements.

There are many different kinds of ways to handle planning a funeral reception so that it doesn’t require extraordinary effort on anyone’s part, but that it provides a warm, welcoming, and comfortable environment for the family and the mourners to relax a bit after the funeral service.

If you have been asked to plan a funeral reception, it’s likely because you’re an organized person and you have many resources that you can use to create a great funeral reception.

So, where do you start?

First, you’ll want an estimate of how many people will attend the funeral reception. If the funeral reception will be held in the funeral home or at a church and is open to everyone who attends to the funeral service, then you’ll get an approximate seat count to determine the number of people who may be in attendance.

If the funeral reception is private and invitation-only, then you’ll know exactly how many people to plan for (whether the funeral reception is in a home or in a restaurant).

Next, you’ll want to decide what kind of food and drinks to serve at the funeral reception. This will be, in large part, determined by the time of day when the funeral service is held.

If the funeral service is held mid-morning, then you’ll want to plan a funeral reception that includes lunch. If the funeral service is held early-afternoon, then you’ll want to plan a funeral reception that features light snacks. If the funeral service is held mid-to-late afternoon, then you’ll want a funeral reception that includes dinner.

When funeral services are held at night, the funeral reception is usually planned for the next day after the graveside services, which are usually held mid-morning, so lunch should be provided in the funeral reception.

For food items, if you’re not planning to have the funeral reception in a restaurant, the easiest way to pull a nice selection together for a funeral reception is to enlist the help of others. By designating several people to provide food and designating others to provide drinks and to help with setup, serving, and cleanup, then you don’t have to try to manage the entire funeral reception by yourself.

For a large crowd that you’re serving snacks and drinks to during a funeral reception, consider having vegetable trays with dips, chips with dips, a variety of crackers with different types of cheese, fruit trays with yogurts or dips, cookies and dessert bars like brownies or blondies. Drinks can include water, juice, tea, and coffee.

For a large crowd that you’re serving lunch or dinner and drinks to at a funeral reception, consider having a potluck-type meal where you assign different people to bring meats, vegetables, breads, desserts, and drinks. Drinks can include water, soda, tea, and coffee. Use disposable containers for food and eating as much as possible to make cleanup easy.

Private funeral receptions that are held at a home or a restaurant take a little planning to. At a home, you can provide a potluck meal where everyone but the family of the deceased pitches in to bring food and drinks. At a restaurant, you’ll need to prearrange a table (or private room) setup that can accommodate everyone and you’ll probably be given a limited selection of menu items that can be ordered or preset meal selections with a preset price and gratuity included.

For more information about funeral receptions at funeral homes in Solvay, NY, our compassionate and experienced team at Bagozzi Twins Funeral Home, Inc. is here to help you.