Folks, I never know when it is appropriate or not to add a cash gift to a card when attending a funeral. I believe my parents always did when we were younger but then I was told you should only add money when there is a need by the family. Just looking for some in put on what most of you do.
If it’s someone i would have a beer with i add money. Otherwise a card is enough. The exception is a widow left with young kids, then I will toss some cash in.
We always do $50 in a card for a funeral.
Same for weddings we attend, unless we are invited to the dinner and we eat, then we give $100. Those dinners aren’t cheap so we kick in extra for it.
Having just went thru the ripoff of final expenses for a death in the family. It should be illegal what they charge! That’s a whole other topic. I can tell you that most folks seemed to give either a card with no cash, up to $100. Lots of $5, $10 & $20 bills with cards. Every little bit helps. It all went toward the funeral expenses and was very much appreciated.
If you can give, make sure you write a check and put your mailing address on the envelope so the family can send you a thank you card & you know your gift got to the right place.
Timely topic as my cousin just lost her husband last week, and she’s left with two children. What an awful situation. 
**If you can give, make sure you write a check and put your mailing address on the envelope so the family can send you a thank you card & you know your gift got to the right place.**
Great point!
For Mom’s funeral one person gave us the money to donate to the DAV in her name. I thought that was great, whether the DAV or another organization the deceased cared for…again, depending on need.
My folk bought funeral insurance back in the ’80’s figuring $10k a piece would cover it. Nope. Took care of over 3/4 of the cost and that was with the stone and lot already purchased.
Which is why we always drop some cash in the cards.
We always give something from $10 to $25 depending on how close we are to the family and if they list a memorial to a charity. When they list a memorial we make the check to the charity notating on the check as “John Doe Memorial”.
If you can give, make sure you write a check and put your mailing address on the envelope so the family can send you a thank you card
Back in Jan when my mother passed, we went through this. I was quite surprised on the many $5 to $20 gifts. Helped out! However, I was very shocked on how many checks were written out to my Mother’s name. Not a big deal as I was able to endorse them as the Exect on her estate. But, it could cause a few issues
was very shocked on how many checks were written out to my Mother’s name. Not a big deal as I was able to endorse them as the Exect on her estate. But, it could cause a few issues
On a similar note with the checks, a few years ago when I got married, several of the checks were made out to husband first name and wife first name last name. We couldn’t deposit any of them until we had both names on our bank account, which we were planning to do but it took a bit of time to get one of our accounts closed, merged with the other, and new name added. We got a few phone calls of “making sure you received our check, it hasn’t been cashed yet.” If the check had an “OR” rather than “AND” then either of us were able to deposit it.
Everyone wrote their checks out to various daughters of my mother in law. All the daughters opened the cards together, cashed the checks and made sure it all went to the final expenses at the funeral home.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
