If your funeral home offers additional services to families grieving for a lost loved one or you're in charge of memorializing someone who has passed away, consider creating a program. A funeral program is a small booklet mourners receive when they attend the service and can take home as a lasting memory. Your computer's Microsoft Publisher software offers templates which will help you create funeral programs quickly, customizing them in just a couple of steps.
Step 1
Open Publisher and click "Publications for Print." Click the "Programs" option and double-click any template; you can completely personalize all of the images and text. An untitled, pre-formatted document opens in the Publisher workspace.
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Step 2
Highlight the placeholder text on the cover of the program and type directly over it with your own message, such as the person's last name and dates of birth and death.
Step 3
Right-click the placeholder graphic on the program cover and select "Change Picture." If you have an image to use, such as a photograph of the person who has passed away, select "From File" and browse to the digital image file on your computer. Double-click the picture, which appears in place on the cover. If you don't have an image, click "Clip Art" and type a word or phrase, such as "flowers," "wreath," "funeral wreath," "casket" or "cross" into the "Search for" box and click "Go." Scroll through the results and double-click an image to add it to the program.
Step 4
Replace any other placeholder text on the cover of the program with details such as the day of the funeral, names of surviving family members and the name of your funeral home.
Step 5
Click through the pages of the document. Add an agenda for the funeral, including any Bible passages, songs, hymns, chants or special readings, and the names of the people who will be speaking or singing.
Step 6
Type the words to songs so that attendees may participate if they wish, or include the text of passages people will be reading aloud together.
Step 7
Include inspirational quotes; you can find remembrance-themed sayings on websites such as Memories are Forever, The Funeral Planner and Planning a Funeral. Create breakout boxes, which are small text boxes framed and set aside from the regular text of the brochure, to capture readers' eyes.
Step 8
If you wish, you may include information about the funeral home, such as contact details, services and inventory such as caskets and draperies.
Step 9
Pull down the "File" menu, click "Save As," name the program document and save it to your computer.
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