Human The size of the urn is one of the most common questions before making the choice what urn to buy. The answer to what size is quite easy to understand. The determining factor for the urn size is the deceased’s weight. Generally speaking, the ratio is a one to one.

A conservative estimate is. 1 pound of weight* = 1 cubic inch required of urn. Example: 175 pound individual = 175 cubic inch urn. * Note: Technically, one pound of body weight will result in just less than one cubic inch of cremains. A Cremation Urn can be too small, it cannot be too big*

General Size Ranges of Urn Type Categories:

Adult and Companion and Oversized Urns: 251+ cubic inches.
Adult Full-Size Urns: 176 - 250 cubic inches.
Keepsake and Child Urns: 11 - 175 cubic inches.
Token Urns: 1 - 10 cubic inch. inches.
Cremation Jewelry: .001 - .999 cubic inches.

Not Knowing the Weight of the Decedent Individual.

A time may occur that one would receive cremains from a crematory without the receiving person knowing the weight of the decedent. When people are presented with cremains from either a crematorium directly or through a funeral director, usually the cremains are in a plastic bag inside a plastic container/box- a temporary urn. The standard volume for most temporary urns is 200 cubic inches. Taking the volume size of the temporary urn and measuring the amount of inches distance there is between the temporary urn’s lid and the top of the cremains.

Every inch difference translates to approximately 25 cubic inches subtracted from the size of the temporary urn. To therefore derive the required size minimum o f the permanent urn.

Example:

Temporary urn’s displacement size is: 200 cubic inches. Distance measured between the lid and top of cremains is: 1.5”…therefore equals 37.5 cubic inches 200 – 37.5 = 162.50 cubic inches for permanent urn size considerations as a minimum. Again, 200 cubic inches temporary urn size is the standard from most crematoriums and crematories, either given directly to you from them, or through your funeral director.

Please be aware that some crematoriums and crematories utilize different sizes. Please inquire with crematory staff or with your funeral director. If you feel uncomfortable in performing the measurements themselves, please ask the staff at the crematory or funeral home.

A note on Infant and Child displacements. A guiding rule is to calculate 30 cubic inches for every inch of space.

Pets The same approach as from human calculations on weight and size ratio is taken when calculating for pets. The differences are normally the temporary containers from pet crematoriums or veterinarians are not as large as for humans. * We are generally referring in this section to dogs and cats, and similar size animals. A Cremation Urn can be too small, it cannot be too big*

With this in mind you can choose from our many urns provided with a pre choosen applique or plain for you to choose your own additions.

House of Urns products come with appliques shown on the urn included in the price or you may choose from one of our many Plain Urns, priced to reflect no applique, then choose your Appliques (an additional price with plain urns), visit our Name Plate Engraving Shop to complete your personalization.