By Melissa Petruzzi.

Decorating graves to honor our loved ones who have passed makes us feel close to them. This practice is an important part of the grieving process for many of us, especially during the holidays. Unfortunately, when the holiday season is over those lovely grave decorations become nothing more than a pile of litter strewn about an otherwise orderly cemetery. This is extremely frustrating when you are striving to keep your cemetery looking its best. Make this the year you get it all under control by incorporating some of these suggestions to make decoration removal a breeze! 

How to Stay Organized:

You can go about handling holiday decorations at your cemetery in a few ways. Restricting certain items in order to avoid safety concerns and a tedious removal process is often very helpful. Some commonly restricted items include: fences/borders, glass containers, stuffed animals, large flags and banners, light-up decorations, and living plants planted at the gravesite. 

Another innovative way to curb the amount of grave decorations left behind is offering alternative options for your guests. Biodegradable greeting cards, fresh flower arrangements, and non-artificial grave blankets are all great, eco-friendly options that won’t require you removing them after the holiday season is over.

One of the most popular ways to deal with grave decoration removal after the holidays is by creating a removal schedule. Recruiting volunteers from the community makes clean-up days go much faster, and it gets everyone involved. No matter how you choose to do it, having a definitive plan of action for removing decorations can make the process smooth and even fun.

Remember these tips to take some of the stress out of the holiday season at your cemetery, and rest assured your grounds will be clean afterward. 

Ask us how you can use the CemSites interactive calendar to easily schedule your holiday clean-up!