Want to spice up your own funeral? Join a coffin club


This article is reprinted by permission from NextAvenue.org.

After attending so manyfuneralsthat rarely reflected the vibrant lives of friends and familythey were meant to honor, a group of fed-up older people in Rotorua, New Zealand created what they call a Coffin Club.

In a short documentary video(with a whimsical musical number) from Loading Docs, members of the Kiwi Coffin Club gather to construct and decorate their own future coffins. They also have tea and support each other through the process of aging, proving that preparing for death doesnt have to be grim and dark.

Once you get past 73, funerals come too frequently so pricey and no personality, sings the star of the video, Jean McGaffin, a club founder. Whats the point of living a life thats colorful and bold, and then youre told, This is how your exits going to be: boring!

The concept is catching on


The Kiwi Coffin Club in Rotorua, founded in 2010, now has more than 60 active members rebelling against boring funerals, according to the filmmakers, and many clubs have sprouted up in other cities in New Zealand as well.

In the video, Coffin Club members dance and sing about forgetting traditional gold and mahogany for coffins and instead building lovely, affordable and unique coffins with nods to their individual interests and personalities. One coffin is decked out with Elvis imagery; another is covered in painted flowers and a poem called Wild Daisies.


Weve removed the mystique. Weve got the control. Cause face it, a funerals got to have soul, the group sings.

Whiletalking about end-of-life choicesis sometimes taboo or avoided, these New Zealanders are boldly and bravely taking decisions into their own hands before someone else does for them. And in their words, Its more than a club. Its a community.

Watch the Coffin Club video here.

Before coming to Next Avenue, Grace was the associate editor and social media manager for two different trade magazines at Macfadden Communications Group in New York.Grace graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with a BA in journalism and minor in gender, women and sexuality studies, and she was the editor in chief of the University of Minnesotas student magazine, The Wake.She volunteers as an editor for the local feminist quarterly, The Riveter Magazine. Reach her by email atgbirnstengel@nextavenue.org.

This article is reprinted by permission from NextAvenue.org, 漏 2017 Twin Cities Public Television, Inc. All rights reserved.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.