Reply #5: My parents made all of their plans some years back.

[Dem2theMax]

So far, we haven't had to use them. Mom and Dad are 92 and 90! They will both be cremated when they pass.
They went with a company called The Trident Society.
Everything is paid for, we literally have the urns in the closet, the only thing left to do is cry when the time comes.
Seriously.
Both parents served in WWII, so they get free burial in a military cemetery. I'm the one who has to make plans.

Trident was very nice to work with. They came to our home, answered all of our questions, put up with our horrible (we think 'funny') sense of black humor, and everything was worked out in one afternoon. (We did almost scare the woman out of the house when I asked my Mom VERY seriously, "Mom, do you want to be regular or extra crispy?") Dad and I almost had to leave the room, we were laughing so hard. We all have cards that we carry with us, and should something happen, we call Trident and they take over. The only thing other than that phone call is that I would have to go and pick up the ashes and take them to the cemetery for burial. And the cemetery does the rest. Trident has two plans, depending on whether you travel a lot or stay in the same area. My folks, being the age they are, they don't go anywhere that isn't local, so they got the 'local only' plan.
If you travel a lot, they have a plan that works like this; if you die out of state, THEY pay for all costs to get your body back to your home state and their facilities. Otherwise, if you just have the 'local' plan, (as I call it,) your family would be responsible for getting your body back home.

As for the rest of it, for any type of ceremony, do you want your ashes to be buried or scattered? Start thinking about what feels peaceful to you. I had an aunt who was also in the military and we swore up and down that she would want to be buried in a military cemetery.
Lo and behold, when she died last November, she had changed her mind. She wanted to be cremated and have her ashes scattered at sea, near a local lighthouse. She LOVED lighthouses, and when she painted, that was her favorite subject to paint. Lucky for her, her oldest daughter was able to afford to rent a boat for the entire family to be there for the scattering of the ashes. They said it was lovely, other than the fact that EVERYONE on the boat got seasick. (My aunt had a wonderful sense of humor, so it just fit.)

I say search your soul for what feels peaceful to you, what touches your heart. If it comes from what you feel, it will be easier to figure out what is right for you, and it will help your family and friends when your time comes. Knowing that they are doing what YOU wanted, it helps the living to deal with the death of a loved one. Pick out favorite poems or write a funny story to have someone read. These are all really 'normal' things to do.

As for the cool or unusual, how about fireworks? This is something I have thought of doing for myself. I have always wanted to go into space and this, barring any sudden invites from NASA, would be the only way I'd be able to do it. This is just one of many companies that do this sort of thing.

http://www.angels-flight.net/

Whatever you do, make sure you have someone write a full obituary, with every family name they can think of, get it into every newspaper you can think of, put a memorial headstone somewhere - because some day, some nut like me is going to come looking for you and darn it, we will want to be able to find you.
Who are we? Genealogy addicts. ;-)

Edited to change the link. The original one was for the UK. Ooops. LOL.