Celebration of life program
A celebration of life program has the same parts as a funeral program: a cover, the life story, the order of the gathering, a reading and a thank-you. What changes is the tone. The cover often says “Celebrating the Life of”, and the order is built around stories, music and time for guests to share memories, usually without hymns or prayers.
There is no set order for a celebration of life. The sample below is a starting point. Move things, cut things, and add whatever sounds like them.
Make a celebration of life program
Updated October 27, 2026
How it differs from a traditional funeral program
- It may be held weeks or months after the death, often after a cremation, so there may be no casket, no pallbearers and no burial to list.
- It can take place anywhere: a family home, a park, a restaurant, a club the person belonged to.
- The order is looser. Family and friends tell stories, and there is often time for anyone to stand up and speak.
- Music is whatever they loved, not only hymns.
- Readings are poems or words they liked, not necessarily scripture.
- The back page often invites people to stay for food and drinks rather than to a church repast.
Wording for the cover
The heading is the line above the person’s name. Some that families use for a celebration of life:
- Celebrating the Life of
- A Celebration of the Life of
- In Celebration of
- Remembering
- In Loving Memory
Under the name, the dates can be written out in full (March 4, 1952 – October 2, 2026) or as years only (1952–2026). A short line can follow, such as a phrase they always said or the name everyone called them.
A sample order for a celebration of life
- Music as guests arrive
- Welcome, by the host or a family member
- Opening words: why we are here and what they would have wanted
- A song they loved
- Their life story, read by a family member
- Stories from family and friends (two or three speakers, a few minutes each)
- A reading or poem
- Photos or a slideshow
- Open sharing: anyone who wants to speak
- Closing words and thanks
- A last song, or a toast
- Food and drinks, with time to talk
In the program, put each speaker’s name beside their part, so guests know who is talking. For more sample orders, including religious services, see what goes in a funeral program.
Wording for the back page
A thank-you and an invitation usually fill the back. You can use these as they are or change them:
Thank you for being here to remember Ellen with us. She would have loved seeing so many of her people in one room.
Please stay for food and drinks on the patio. Bring a story to share.
In place of flowers, the family asks that you make a gift to the county animal shelter, where Ellen walked dogs every Saturday.
Readings that aren’t religious
These are old enough to be in the public domain in the US, so you can print them freely. The full text of each is on our funeral poems page.
- “Requiem” by Robert Louis Stevenson (1887). Eight lines, ending “Home is the sailor, home from sea, / And the hunter home from the hill.”
- “Remember” by Christina Rossetti (1862). A sonnet that asks those left behind to smile rather than be sad.
- “Crossing the Bar” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1889). A short poem about going out to sea at sunset. It mentions a “Pilot”, which many hear as God, but it isn’t a prayer.
- “Death is nothing at all” by Henry Scott Holland (preached 1910, printed 1919). Warm and plain, about being “just round the corner”. It was written by a priest and includes the words “pray for me”, so read it first.
- “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson (1890). Quieter and stranger, for someone who loved poetry.
You can also print song lyrics or a poem you wrote yourself, as long as you have the right to use them.
The life story
The inside left page usually holds a short life story. If you don’t know where to start, the free obituary writer asks you questions and writes a first draft using only your answers. Our guide on how to write a eulogy helps if you are also speaking.