Edible arrangement basket for a sympathy

[curious3069]

What? You work somewhere that there's food left over at the end of the night?

It's because it's fruit. If it were a chip or a twinkie bouquet, it would be gone in a flash!


That said, I'd go for a fruit basket too, only becuase it would last longer. If it is a huge family however, I would go for it. It seems like people send mostly comfort food when there's a death in the family and fruit would be a nice change...

 

[Pea-n-Me]

What? You work somewhere that there's food left over at the end of the night?

Strange, I know. I do work with what are usually human vacum cleaners, lol. Maybe it's just that they leave the wilted fruit??

 

[Nancyg56]

I hope that they are okay to send because I sent one yesterday. I send them instead of flowers but send them after the funeral services are over. I liked them when friends havve sent them to me.

I agree with a PP who said that any expression of caring is appreciated by the family. We do try to follow up with a meal a few days after the services. By then I needed some normalcy in my life but was too fuzzy to be able to figure out dinner. I appreciated those meals and so I try to do the same.

 

[scrapquitler]

We got one when my Dad passed away last year...it came to Mom's house the day before the wake, and everyone gobbled it up within an hour of its arrival. It was pretty and the fruit was very yummy.

I think it is a great thing to send, especially if there will be a lot of hungry people at the house

 

[Amy&Dan]

I think it would be nice. There are for sure pros and cons to each and everything you could send. Sure some people might be allergic to strawberries, but to me whole fruit is sort of awkward if you have a lot of people coming over whereas those arrangements are on skewers and easily put on a paper plate and consumed. But its the thought that counts and honestly, to me anything is wonderful to receive.

My favorite things I got when my mom died:

Huge, huge, HUGE bag of peanut m & m's!
Flowers from a friend. The only flowers I got, they were white tulips and just lovely.

And my most favorite, my friend Kirsten coming over with a few boxes of Kleenex, and two coconut cream pies from Marie Callendar's (my mom's all time favorite dessert).

Me and my girl cousins dug into those m & m's and those pies and used the kleenex to dry our happy and sad tears!

 

[luvsJack]

Will the family have a big meal/gathering after the funeral? If so,i t would be helpful and useful for that. It may also come in handy after the viewing (if it is done the night or day before the funeral)

When my Dad died food started coming in very early the next morning. And continued until the day of the funeral (which was 2 days later), the church provided a meal after the funeral so we didn't need food for that so we had a huge amount of food all over mom's house.

The most useful things? doughnuts and everything to make coffee and hot chocolate. sandwich trays, meat and cheese trays, vegetable trays and fruit trays. The only casseroles that were really useful were the ones that came ready to freeze if needed (and most were). The viewing was the night before the funeral and when we came home it was just me and my sister and my mom at her house and the fruit tray was the only thing we got mom to eat--she would not have eaten from a fruit basket but it looked appetizing in the tray and so would an arrangement.

As for flowers and plants? We did split all the plants and they were nice, but the silk arrangements were the most useful. We told the funeral home not to put all of them at the grave site and we put them in storage. Over the next 12 months we were able to keep nice flowers on the grave without having to constantly buy new ones.

 

[clh2]

My parents received a fruit basket (i.e. whole fruit) after my grandma passed away, it was greatly appreciated, and although it is just my mom and dad, nothing in it was wasted.

 

[antmaril]

My dear friend lost her husband on Monday. I just returned from the funeral home a few minutes ago. There was an Edible Arrangement sitting on one of the tables just like it was a flower arrangement. It was fine. The family will take it home when they leave tonight. I'm not sure sending an Edible Arrangement to a funeral home would be my choice, but I don't think anyone thought too much about it.

 

[minkydog]

It's because it's fruit. If it were a chip or a twinkie bouquet, it would be gone in a flash!


...

I'm just picturing a twinkie cake.

 

[minkydog]

When my Dad died food started coming in very early the next morning. And continued until the day of the funeral (which was 2 days later), the church provided a meal after the funeral so we didn't need food for that so we had a huge amount of food all over mom's house.

The most useful things? doughnuts and everything to make coffee and hot chocolate.

Alright, I have to tell my doughnut story here. When my grandfather passed away we got tons of food--casseroles, ham, potato salad, cakes, fried chicken. The manager at the local Dunkin Donuts knew our family so the next morning he dropped off 2 dozen cinnamon donuts for the kids. Nice thought, except someone had replaced the sugar&cinnamon dusting with SALT and cinnamon. Gah! Of course, the manager was mortified and immediately sent over fresher fresh doughnuts. Unfortunately, we had lost our appetite for doughnuts of any kind.

 

[JessicaR]

Someone sent one to us when my FIL passed away. Also a very nice basket of cookies from http://www.floriesfinales.com/.

Those are the two things that stand out and people remembered. They were very appreciated. I think the Edible Arrangement would be great.

 

[charming23]

When my dad passed away last June we got one of those to serve after the funeral and it was pretty good. I was glad we got it to serve then cause if it had just been for the 2 of us it would have gone bad quick.

The best thing that was done for my mom and I was our neighbors got together and grocery shopped for us. They bought enough stuff for the week and it was nice to have as we did not feel like going out and shopping.

 

[kacaju]

we recieved two of them when my Dad passed away and I loved it.

 

[powellrj]

Someone sent one when my DFIL died, while it was pretty, it was a pain in the neck. They delivered it to the funeral home right before the funeral. Someone had to take it to the grave and then take it to the church after the service for the meal. It was June, so we had to be careful leaving it in the car during the service. Then we had to deal with it again after the meal.

Whole fruit would have been much easier.

 

[carmiedog]

Makes a lot of sense - even more than the traditional fruit basket - especially (but not solely) if the deceased's religion's practice is to NOT send flowers.

Are there religious practices that don't traditionally do flowers? I'm ignorant in that area. My first thought was that the fruit basket would be fine as a food gift but IN ADDITION to traditional flowers, but from my background flowers are an important part of the ritual. I'm curious now as to what practices don't do flowers.

Someone sent one when my DFIL died, while it was pretty, it was a pain in the neck. They delivered it to the funeral home right before the funeral. Someone had to take it to the grave and then take it to the church after the service for the meal. It was June, so we had to be careful leaving it in the car during the service. Then we had to deal with it again after the meal.

Whole fruit would have been much easier.

um...yeah, I guess they should be delivered to the family's home or reception area (if one) instead of the funeral home, eh?

 

[puffkin]

I've sent bagel baskets w/ cream cheese spreads a couple of times & have been told more than a few times since then just how much they were appreciated.

When my brother died we were overwhelmed with food...it was actually really stressful trying to figure out what to do with it all. The fruit was especially difficult due to the spoilage...relatives were sent home with bags of fruit. If you really want to send fruit...I think a whole fruit basket would be better.

I do remember the Bagel basket someone sent was a HUGE hit as well as the person who brought 2 of those large boxes of coffee from Dunkin Donuts. I know that my dad sent me to the store to buy cases of soda, coffee, creamer, and those disposable coffee cups with lids the day after he died because we had so many people at the house.

 

[FergieTCat]

My sister and family received a basket of chocolate, and it was greatly appreciated. In fact, we dubbed it "Best Gift Basket Ever."

I think anything to show you are thinking of the family would be appreciated.

 

[Ohiodislover]

We have received them. It just goes on the table with all the other funeral food. In our families, everyone gets together and eats after a funeral. It was nice to have some fresh fruit ready to eat. So many bring cakes, muffins, noodle dishes, meatloaf, lasagna, etc. While those are great, and yummy, fresh fruit is good too.

 

[Crystal0608]

I think an edible arrangement would be a nice sympathy gift.

My grandpa (dad's side) died last March and it's all I could do to get my grandma out of bed, fixing herself something to eat was out of the question. There was a houseful the first three days. My mama got a rotiserie chicken deli meal one day. She also bought disposable plates, forks, cups, and napkins. My mama's sis did a hot swiss steak meal the next day. I made & froze pancakes at my house so they could be microwaved for breakfast. Flowers are appreciated as well, but besides cash, ready to eat food IMO is more useful when your having to deal with everything else the first few days.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

When my FIL passed, friends of ours sent a small one to our house, a few hours after we got home from the funeral luncheon. It really hit the spot! I think whatever you send will be appreciated.