Life and death happen to be the two sides of a coin. The amount of happiness that we get at the birth of a baby cannot even be compared to the extreme sadness one undergoes at the loss of a loved one. The thought of death itself sends extreme shivers and chills down our spine, then just imagine the extreme pain, anger, and sorrow that one might be going through upon losing a dear one. While no one can take away the pain, at least a few presents should help. So we are going to list some gift ideas for grieving friend.
As I said, nobody can ever describe the tremendous loss and pain of a grieving person, but all you can do is provide sympathy and comfort along with words of hope and encouragement. Helping a grieving friend is only something you can do as a friend and you offering sympathies and apologies can be cathartic to the person who is grieving.
Before We Talk About Gift Ideas for Grieving Friend, Lets Us Talk About Grief
When you think about gifts for someone who lost a loved one, then remember, this is a gift whose value cannot be defined by money. It is more about providing emotional support and an immense amount of help to go through their grieving phase. One cannot define or describe the pain and loneliness that affects the grieving person.
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At this moment, the best effort, as a friend, can do is simply stand by your friend’s side, always, no matter what. You should be the shoulder that he can cry upon, or be the person who is ever ready to listen to his upset mind and grieving thoughts. You may be afraid that you might say the wrong thing, or it may feel like you are intruding in someone’s personal affairs. Maybe you are going through an emotion that says that you cannot make things any better.
However, try to leave your discomfort aside and reach out to your friend to heal things for him and try to make the situation a little better, by imparting some positivity and offering complete support to him to remove him from this grieving stage. But the most crucial thing for you to do is to be there beside your sad and grieving friend. Here are a few other non-materialistic gift ideas for grieving friend who requires your immense strength and support to transform his life back to normal.
Understanding the Grieving Process
Grieving does not come in an orderly fashion. It is a complete roller coaster of emotions having its ups and downs. To help your bereaved friend get out of this intense situation, it is necessary that you first understand their grieving process before giving any advice. This will help in the betterment of the healing process. The grieving process may also give rise to some extreme emotions of anger, guilt, and despair.
Your bereaved friend may cry for endless hours, curse the heavens and death, and may even lash out on you and his other near and dear ones. The first thing you need to do is stop judging. Do not judge their actions or take them personally in this situation because it is certainly not intentional. Maybe what you can do is reassure them that what they feel is normal.
Avoid telling them what “should they do and what they shouldn’t.” Additionally, also understand that the recovery period from this hurtful process will be different from one person to another. Some people may recover within a few days, while some may take months. You need not pressurize them to simply walk out of this situation or make them feel like they have been grieving for too long. Just give your grieving friend a little time and support him immensely throughout his complete grieving journey.
Help Out and Reach Out to Your Grieving Friend
Keep checking in with your grieving friend now and then. Do not use phrases such as “It’s God’s Will”, or “It’s for the best.” This might just worsen their condition. Call frequently and express your sympathy along with offering to help them. Do not just say that you will help with this or that.
A bereaved person might be reluctant to ask for your support. Instead, specifically, tell them how you are going to be there for them. Be it preparing dinner, or going grocery shopping, or be it helping out with cleaning the kitchen, or simply passing on the information about the funeral rituals. Keep checking upon them through calls or messages or sometimes even make a few visits till they get over with their grieving period.
Offer Sincere and Reassuring Hope
One of the best gift ideas for grieving friend is to simply offer them support and hope that everything will be normal once again. Offer them the sincere hope that things will certainly get better with time. They will certainly remember your gracious presence and encouraging words which helped them pass this devastating phase and starting a freshly renewed life. Although, you need to be careful before making any statements and you should not be very casual or shallow while talking as it might affect the grieving person in the long run.
However, you can offer them support and hope by making some positive assertions like, “Though the grieving may last long, yet we know that you will emerge out as a strong person, and we are always with you.” These sorts of statements encourage them to gain their strength back and the positivity reassures them they can start up a new life from scratch even after the huge loss.
Lend an Ear to Their Thoughts
Sometimes offering a sympathetic ear works wonders when you are trying to help a bereaved person come out of his grave situation. Listen to what they have to share. Be it the same story of someone’s one’s death over a hundred times with a few variations over here and there, just simply listen carefully. Sometimes, people struck with grief and trauma try to get past the grieving stage by telling the same story of death over and over again.
It is said to be a way that helps them to process the death of their loved one. Be patient. Every time they let out their story of grief, their pain, and troubles ease a little. Do not be quick to pass your advice and simply try to understand their emotional roller coaster.
Watch for Warning Signs of Depression
It is quite common that a grieving person may look quite depressed, confused, and completely disconnected from others. But, this will happen only during the initial grieving period. However, if you still tend to see some prolonged signs of depression, along with length talks about death then this is not a good sign, and you need to immediately try and seek professional help to get your friend out of this grave situation. Some common symptoms of this depression are:
- Alcohol or Drug Abuse and Neglecting Personal Hygiene.
- Excessive focus on death.
- Unable to enjoy little things in life.
- Extreme guilt and inability to focus on certain tasks.
- Inactive and not willing to do anything useful in life.
These are a few common symptoms that are clear signals that the bereaved person is traveling towards depression. You need to consult a psychologist to improve his mental health along with giving them some positive vibes and encouraging them to move on and telling them to start a new life ahead.
Different Types of Gift Ideas for Grieving Friends
All of this is simply fate and destiny. All you can do is console your sorrowful friend and be there with him no matter what. Apart from offering help and lending an ear, here are a few emotional gifts that you can send to your bereaving friend which are supposed to be sincere, thoughtful, and some memorial gifts. A few heartfelt condolences cards and messages, along with some traditional flowers happen to be some unique gift ideas for grieving friends.
The Bright Hour: a Memoir of Living and Dying as Condolence Gifts
This book is an exclusive memoir describing how to live your life, live your life, and have fun in your life, along with knowing the fact that “death is just sitting right next to you.” Maybe it sounds creepy, but that is the actual truth about life. We live, laugh, have fun, and finally die one fine day. But, nobody till today has an answer for this factual question, “What was dying like for them?” in this fascinating book, Nina Riggs, a poet and the direct descendant of Ralph Waldo Emerson tries to explore this genre of life as she lives her life every day suffering from terminal breast cancer.
It happens to be one of the great gift ideas for grieving friends who may find it to be a moving read. This book might help him change his perception about the way of living life and he may find some consolation after reading this deeply moving book.
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Memorial Picture Frame – Keepsake Plaque Is a Good Sympathy Gift Ideas
Lending your constant support along with offering to do the good deeds, help the person to cope up with his tremendous loss. Convey your sympathies to the person by presenting him this extraordinary memorial picture frame. Personalize the photo frame with an amazing picture of his/her choice on one half of the frame while penning down an inspirational quote or message that gives them the courage to emerge out of their hard sad shell.
This photo frame also happens to be a nice physical reminder of their loved one which will prevent them from breaking down at difficult times and gives them the courage to fight back. This happens to be one of the courageous and beautiful gift ideas for grieving friends.
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Beautiful Keepsake as Gifts for Bereaved
Express your condolences to your bereaved friend by gifting him this beautiful Keepsake Remembrance Gift. Remind them that no matter what, you will always be with them in any good or bad situation. This is one of the best gifts to convey your support for the grieving friend.
Unlike some temporary food or flowers, this sympathetic keepsake lasts for a lifetime. Your friend can count on you for his entire life and this keepsake also make an amazing tribute to the lost loved one in your friend’s life.
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Memorial Sympathy Blanket Will Work as Condolence Gifts
Help in providing comfort and warmth to the grieving soul by gifting them this warm, cozy, and comfortable faux fur blanket. Additionally, customize this blanket with a heartfelt message embossed on the dark brown leather patch of the blanket.
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This blanket is made of super fluffy as well as super sturdy materials which provide extreme comfort and relaxation. This cozy blanket makes one of the ideal gift ideas for grieving friends who will be wrapped up in the warmth and coziness of the fur blanket reminiscing the happy memories of their loved one who just passed away.
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A Sympathy Gift Idea Could Be a Basket Offering Heartfelt Condolences
Losing a person is a bitter moment in life. You cannot seriously imagine your life without that special person around you. This happens to be the saddest, sorrowful, and annoying phase in the life of a person. Especially for the one who has to go through this completely alone. If this has happened with your friend, it is your responsibility to be with them and support them through this tough phase.
Cut out the bitterness in his life with homemade sympathy gift basket ideas that comes in with a complete assortment of sweet snacks. This should help your friend and his family to munch on while facing these passing tough times and trying to cope up with them. You can also write down a condolence message on the customized gift card that comes in with the gift basket. This happens to be one of the sweetest gift ideas for grieving friends.
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Memories Bloomed Sympathy Garden Stone
How about gifting a pretty garden stone to your grieving friend which has the name of the person he has lost along with the birth year and the death year. These sorts of lovely and unique garden stones surely make long-lasting and appealing gift ideas for grieving friends who would be surely touched by your gracious move.
This stone is made of highly durable cast iron and measures about 11 x 6 x 3 inches. It gives a personal touch and essence to your grieving friend who had recently lost a dear one.
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Sympathy Flower Lavender Calm
It seems to be a tradition of sending flowers and bouquets to the grieving houses that have lost their loved ones. Well, you could also follow this tradition and send in a bunch of beautiful Lavender Long Stem Roses. These charming beautiful flowers happen to be releasing a calming effect at the house where someone passed away recently or if you have taken this pretty bouquet to the funeral site it would release its natural scents which would help in creating a soothing environment.
This would also help in providing great comfort to the people around who seem to be mourning and experiencing extreme sadness. Add in a personal note or message to provide support and help to the grieving family.
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The Book of Comforts for Hard Times
One of the most difficult things to do is providing comfort to a mourning person who had recently had to say goodbye to someone special. It is difficult to find the appropriate things to say that put them at ease. However, gifting this amazing Book of Comforts for Hard Times has got everything from words of comfort, hope, and encouragement during the most difficult times.
A highly comforting book based on some religious examples and events to guide the bereaved person through such tough and testing times. This is one of the most meaningful gift ideas for grieving friends.
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Mom Remembrance Heart Key Chain
The bond between a mother and a child just cannot be explained or described in words. For your friend who had recently lost his mom, this remembrance key chain happens to be a sincere gift idea that will keep reminding him of the connection and bond he had shared with his mom.
It will also remind him that his mom is always looking upon him and guarding him like an angel from heaven. The meaningful engraved message on this alloy key chain will keep him safe and hopeful that things will be better and that will always have his mom by his side.
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Wind Chime – a Gift From Heaven
A pleasant, quiet, and subtle chiming sound with the breeze may also remind us about our near and dear ones who we had recently lost. This happens to be a sincere heartfelt keepsake that would ring like a bell in their heads with the pure reminisces about the loved one who had recently moved to Heaven.
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A precious condolences gift that comes in beautifully decorated with a bow and two heart-shaped symbols on which you can find words of hope engraved upon it. Along with it comes a bookmark with similar words of hope printed in a calligraphic manner to try and relax your friend’s mind. Also, provide them with extreme comfort. This happens to be one of the perfect memorial gift ideas for grieving friends.
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Conclusion
These were a few comforting gift ideas for grieving friends. You can lend your aid and words of encouragement to these bereaved people. This lessens the pain of this extremely saddening and extremely tough phase of their lives. Grieving over somebody’s death is too obvious and also is the question, “How are you?” When you meet somebody who had recently lost someone close, never ask this question because it is too obvious that they will certainly be sad and upset with their huge loss. You can never fill somebody else’s position in someone’s life, but you can always offer them aid and send them positive vibes to make them feel a little happy and help them in returning to the normal happy life.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
You need to avoid statements such as, “Maybe he is in a better place,” or “Everything happens for a reason.” You will simply be making the grieving person even sadder and these statements are quite upsetting and sometimes even be taken to be offensive.
On average, we can say that the grieving period lasts for about 6 months- 4 years. Initially, there is an intense grief-related period for about 4-6 months, and then gradually it starts settling down. However, the loss of someone close hurts you from deep within and this healing process may prevail over longer durations.
Prolonged grief can cause inflammation and various health problems. One can suffer from high blood pressure and is prone to a high risk of blood clots. The body also tends to lose immunity and the immune system is prone to several new infections.
