‘We’re eating too much chilli then shooting dad into space because of AI’

A woman is organising a chilli-eating contest at a funeral before firing her dad’s ashes into space on what would have been his 60th birthday, because AI told her to.

According to SunLife’s latest Cost of Dying report, 15% of funerals now include personal and unusual requests – and that will include Bristol woman Paife Daley’s event for her dad. 91% of funeral directors say they have seen a fall in the number of traditional services, while the number of funerals described by the organiser as a ‘celebration of life’ has risen to 51%.

SunLife’s report shows that personal requests range from the fairly simple – and easy to do – like ‘no black’ or ‘everyone wear something purple’, to the weird and wonderful, such as asking the celebrant to dress as a Sheriff, asking the funeral director to lead the ‘Time Warp’ and putting pork pies in the flowers.

Paige Daley, 29, from Bristol, organised a Pure Cremation for her father, Andy, who passed away, aged 59. She used Pure Cremation’s free new AI tool A Fine Farewell to organise the ‘celebration of life’ for her father on Saturday, March 15, on what would have been his 60th birthday. She plans to incorporate a chilli-eating competition and send his ashes up into the sky in a firework after A Fine Farewell suggested the idea.

Paige said: “The tool was absolutely brilliant. It was like a sensitive friend, asking all the questions I wouldn’t have even known I needed to ask myself. It started off by asking about dad’s passions – he loved joking around and playing pranks, he loved fishing, and cooking – he had hundreds of cookbooks – and my mum and him used to do chilli eating competitions.

“Inspired by A Fine Farewell we will be holding a memorial tree planting for the scattering of ashes in Bristol. We’re getting a dog rose tree with beautiful pink flowers from the woodland trust and for a bit of fun we’ll be holding a chilli eating competition – it will be so funny, and will really align with my dad’s personality – he was such a practical joker! We are also going to put some of his ashes in a firework so he can be blasted up above us – he would love that.”

John Ware, managing Director of Walter C. Parson Funeral Directors in Plymouth said they are experiencing a growing demand for more personalised farewells. He said: “We are seeing a steady increase in requests for more personalised send-offs, including green funerals, vibrant coffins – we had a family who chose a personalised cat and butterfly themed coffin recently (pic attached) – alternative venues, and various types of hearses including fork lift trucks and Land Rovers (pics attached). It can be as simple as asking our team to wear coloured ties on the day of the funeral.

“I would encourage families to share their vision with their funeral director to ensure their loved one’s final farewell is a true reflection of their unique life.”

Below are some of the more unusual requests from this year’s report:

1. Lord of the Rings “I recently dressed up as Gandalf from Lord of the Rings – the deceased was young and into LOTR.”
2. Strike “He was in a bowling team, and everyone came dressed in bowling attire.”
3. Greengrocer “We recently had an interesting floral arrangement as the deceased was a greengrocer – it was all in the form of different vegetables.”
4. The funeral, the deceased and the Wardrobe “Last Friday I buried a man in a wardrobe as he was an antique dealer and it was an antique wardrobe.
5. Time Warp “I had to do Time Warp at the crematorium. Another funeral director and the celebrant had to do it at the front for everyone to copy.”
6. Norse Gods “A person followed Norse Gods religion and there had to be bread and a sword in the coffin.”
7. Forever blowing bubbles “The deceased was a West Ham fan and I suggested having bubbles blown.”
8. Pork Pies “Pork pies in the flowers.”
9. Peaky Blinders “We had an chaps dressed as Peaky Blinders.”
10. Roof rack “The deceased was taken from church to burial strapped to the roof of a Mini.”
11. Pile ‘em up “We did one recently where the man used to be a coach driver and he arrived in the back of a coach under the luggage.”
12. Clowning around “We did a funeral where the guy was a clown and all his mates turned up dressed as clowns.”
13. Wild West “I was asked to do a Wild West theme funeral. I dressed up as a sheriff and the celebrant dressed as a cowgirl. There was a specialised coffin as well as a horse and cart.”
14. Fruity flowers “The deceased loved Fruit Pastilles, so there’ll be a floral tribute in the form of Fruit Pastilles and everyone will be given them to eat after the service.”
15. Disney tea party “We did a funeral for a lady who was 36 years old. She has a little 4-year-old daughter and we had a tea party at the crematorium with Disney music playing.”

Mark Screeton, CEO at SunLife said: “Mark Screeton, CEO at SunLife said: “According to our report, more than half (54%) of us would like our own funeral to have a ‘personal’ element, including bright clothing instead of black, or a theme reflecting our likes and interests. But when it comes to it, most people don’t tell their loved ones of these wishes. In fact, 18% of funeral organisers have absolutely no idea about any of their loved ones’ preferences – not even whether they wanted a burial or a cremation. As a result, 64% of funerals are ‘traditional’ while just 15% of funerals contain a more, shall we say, unusual element.”