Britons are increasingly shunning traditional funerals in favour or more unusual send-offs, which last year included a McDonald’s-themed drivethrough event and a service for a magician where the undertakers wore red noses.
Two-fifths of UK adults now want their funeral to be a celebratory affair, according to Co-op Funeralcare, while soaring demand for personalisation means the provider has seen requests for alternative hearses, such as adapted Land Rovers and rainbow-hued vehicles, rise by a fifth in three years.
The trends are revealed in January – a grim month when there are typically 30% more deaths recorded in the second week than in any other week during the rest of the year – and a busy one for the funeral industry, now worth more than £2bn a year.
Last year the Co-op launched a large-scale national study into dying in the UK – in which more than 30,000 Britons were questioned – in an effort to break taboos around the subject and to encourage people to discuss their wishes.
That revealed that 41% want their funeral to be a celebration of life rather than a sad occasion. A further 20% say they will ask mourners to wear bright colours instead of traditional black.
The UK’s biggest funeral chain highlighted its “quirkiest” funerals from 2018, which included a Christmas in July send-off with Santa, Rudolph and Santa’s little helpers in attendance and family and friends dressed in Christmas jumpers despite the scorching summer heat.
Family and friends of Joshua Connolly-Teale at a McDonald’s drivethrough, his favourite fast-food outlet. Photograph: Chris Bull/Chris Bull/UNP
In a McDonald’s-themed send-off for teenager Joshua Connolly-Teale – a fan of the fast-food chain – the cortege travelled to the local McDonald’s drivethrough before stopping in the car park to allow family and friends to dispatch balloons. The family returned to the restaurant for the wake.
Heather Perry devised a humanist service “full of fun and humour” for her husband, Arthur, who died aged 86 last July after a lifetime as a magician and children’s entertainer for which he dressed as a clown. “The undertakers all wore red noses and at the end a traditional magician’s ritual was performed in which a wand is broken indicating that it is no longer needed as the person has passed away,” said Perry, of Polegate, East Sussex. “It was a day to remember and I am very glad I did it this way as it summed up Arthur’s humour and personality.”
The funeral of Arthur Perry, magician and children’s entertainer. A magic wand was symbolically broken in two as part of the ceremony. Photograph: Co-op
Other alternative funerals included a fancy-dress theme, – with the funeral director dressed as a He-Man and guests including Elvis Presley, Red Riding Hood and a ninja turtle – and an Only Fools and Horses send-off for a comedy enthusiast featuring a Reliant Regal hearse.
“We all lead unique lives and our final goodbye should definitely reflect that,” said David Collingwood, the Co-op’s director of funerals. “Personalised touches don’t need to be extravagant – it can be something as small as changing the funeral directing team’s ties.”
Meanwhile, specialist transport companies have also stepped into the breach by offering unusual options. VW Funerals, for example – based in Nuneaton – has expanded its fleet of adapted hearse-style VW camper vans which consumers can hire independently of their funeral director.
Co-op Funeralcare conducts almost 100,000 funerals every year for more than 1,000 regional funeral homes. The industry is under investigation by the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) to see if people are being charged too much when they lay their loved ones to rest.
The competition watchdog is looking at the rate at which funeral directors have raised prices in recent years and whether the information on prices and services is too confusing for people to be able to choose the best option.
No-frills cremations – as chosen by the late singer and musician David Bowie – are also rising in popularity as an alternative to traditional services.
The Co-op launched a no-frills service last year, while Simplicity Cremations (the direct cremation arm of publicly listed company Dignity) launched a new cremation package in October last year, to provide families with all the practical and essential elements of a cremation without expensive ceremonial extras.
[source_with_link url=”https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jan/21/funeral-survey-britons-uk-celebration-life-mcdonald-s-fancy-dress-vw-camper-hearse”]theguardian[/source_with_link]