Keepsake urn or full-size urn?

A full-size urn is sized to the whole of a person: roughly one cubic inch of capacity per pound they weighed in life. In our range those run from the smallest at 27.5 cubic inches up to 220 cubic inches for someone of about 200 pounds.

A keepsake is a different object entirely. Ours hold 6 to 10 cubic inches, which is a small share rather than a fraction you would calculate. It is meant to be picked up, and it sits on a shelf or a desk rather than commanding a mantel.

When the remains are staying in one place. That covers keeping them at home, interring them in a cemetery plot, or placing them in a columbarium niche. Cemeteries and columbaria often have their own size or material requirements, so ask before buying if the urn is going into one.

It is also the right answer when you simply have not decided yet. A full-size urn keeps every option open, and portions can always be moved into keepsakes later.

When several people each want something. Three siblings who all live in different states is the most common version of this, and it is the situation keepsakes exist for.

They also suit families who plan to scatter. Scattering is final, and a keepsake means someone can still have a small amount at home afterwards. Families often decide this at the last moment, and it is easier to have set one aside beforehand.

Size each urn for its own share, not for the whole. This is the step people get wrong. A person who weighed 160 pounds divided between two urns needs about 80 cubic inches in each, which is a considerably smaller vessel than most people picture.

Our size calculator does that arithmetic. Enter the weight, choose how many urns the ashes are being shared between, and it gives the size each one needs.

A crematory or funeral director will divide remains for you, and most will do it as a matter of course if you ask. It can also be done at home with a funnel and a steady hand, and there is nothing improper about doing it yourself.