Choosing a scattering or burial urn for a loved one involves making many small decisions. You need to choose a shape, material, size, and color, for example.
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Many believe the latter factor, color, is particularly important. Colors often have major symbolic and emotional meaning. The color of an urn says a lot about the person you’re honoring with it.
For instance, some people choose red urns because red is a strong color. It can represent love, passion, energy, and so much more.
Maybe you’re thinking about buying a red urn for storing or scattering a loved one’s cremains. If so, consider some of the options on this list. It covers various types of red urns, from traditional styles to unique designs, helping you better understand what’s available.
Tip: If you're looking for something very unique (think a game, their motorcycle, or instrument of choice), you can custom order an urn from a store like Foreverence. You submit a design idea or sketch, then the company designs and 3D prints your urn, so you get a 100% unique container.
Traditional Red Urn Types
Again, while some people opt for unique urns, others prefer traditional designs. Neither option is “better” than the other. If you’re among those who feel a traditional red urn is perfect for your goals, consider the following.
1. Brass red urn
One of the most common urn shapes resembles a combination of a vase and some form of drinking vessel. It features a flat circular base that extends upward to a larger circular top.
Designers use many different types of materials to create such urns, but brass is one of the more popular because it’s durable. This type of urn can be solid red, or it can include additional features, such as stripes or engravings.
2. Wooden red urn
A rectangular wooden box is another popular shape for traditional urns. Like brass urns, wooden urns can accommodate engravings and etchings, allowing you to memorialize a loved one according to your own specific preferences.
This style also tends to make for a particularly beautiful red urn because red-stained wood typically has a richness that conveys a sense of simple elegance.
3. Marble red urn
Marble urns come in many traditional shapes, including boxes, vase-shapes, and plenty more. Red marble urns are quite eye-catching, making this type of urn an ideal choice if you wish to display it in your home in such a way that it makes a strong impression on anyone who sees it.
For instance, if you were seeking an urn for Dad that honored both his memory and the significant role he played in your household, this is a style you might choose.
Types of Red Keepsake Urns
Many choose to keep traditional urns on display in their homes or other designated spots, such as columbariums in mausoleums. However, for various reasons, some don’t consider this to be ideal.
For example, someone who travels or moves often might prefer a keepsake red urn they can take with them on-the-go. If that sounds closer to what you’re looking for, keep the following styles in mind.
4. Small red scattering tube
Not every red urn needs to boast a distinctive style or design. Some people prefer keepsake urns to be subtler.
For instance, maybe you plan on scattering a loved one’s cremains, but you still would like to keep an urn as a way of remembering them, even after the scattering ceremony. If so, you might opt for a tube-shaped scattering urn. These small cylinders come in virtually any common color, including various shades of red.
5. Rose urn
A rose is a popular shape for a red urn because roses symbolically represent love in many cultures. Because roses are naturally small, such urns are often keepsakes as well. Some designers create small rose-shaped urns that include both the rose petals and the stem, while others discard the stem and feature only the petals.
You can choose whichever most appeals to you. For instance, if you want a keepsake urn you can display in a small vase or similar container, you might choose a rose urn with the stem. On the other hand, you might opt for one without the stem if you’re looking for something you can easily keep in your purse.
6. Heart necklace urn
It’s not uncommon for keepsake urns to double as jewelry urns. Both keepsake urns and cremation jewelry tend to be small and easy to take with you wherever you go. Additionally, some small urns for cremation jewelry come in the form of removable necklace pendants. The moment you remove such a pendant from a necklace, it essentially becomes a keepsake urn.
Thus, a heart pendant is a common type of keepsake red urn. Although there are also heart-shaped keepsake urns that don’t attach to jewelry, you may want one that you can wear as a necklace or bracelet when doing so feels appropriate.
Tip: Memorial diamonds are created from the ashes of loved ones, and are another beautiful option for keeping someone's memory alive. Some companies, like Eterneva, create lab-grown diamonds and allow you to pick from several cuts and colors for your gemstone.
7. Traditional keepsake urn
It’s worth noting that you don’t necessarily need to choose between keepsake urns and traditional urns. Many keepsake urns come in traditional shapes. They’re merely smaller.
Remember this if you find the style of a traditional red urn appealing, but you don’t think it’s a practical option based on your lifestyle.
Other Unique Red Urn Types
Anyone who spends more than a day or so researching urn options usually learns fairly quickly that urns come in seemingly countless shapes, sizes, and designs. It would be impossible to cover them all in a single blog entry.
These are simply a few unique urn styles that are particularly ideal for someone looking into red urns.
8. Biodegradable red urn
People choose to cremate loved ones (or request that their families cremate them after they pass) for numerous reasons. However, reducing their impact on the environment is one of the more common. Some people who champion environmental issues don’t like the idea of a resource-heavy coffin or casket taking up space in the soil.
In these cases, family and friends of the deceased might also choose a biodegradable urn to store or scatter their cremains with. As the name implies, this type of urn consists of natural materials that ensure it will eventually break down in the soil or water over time. This limits the number of resources necessary for creating and keeping an urn.
The shape of biodegradable urns ranges substantially. Anyone interested in this option has plenty of design styles to consider. Luckily, many of them come in red.
9. Book-shaped red urn
Sometimes, when choosing urns for storing or scattering a loved one’s cremains, people select urns with shapes that make them look like other basic household objects. This allows them to keep the urn on display in their homes without necessarily calling attention to it.
This might be someone’s goal if they want to honor a loved one by keeping their urn visible, but they don’t want people asking about it or visibly noticing it nearly every time guests drop by. Wanting to honor a loved one with their urn on display isn’t the same as wanting people to remind you of your loss on a regular basis.
If you can relate to this feeling, and you prefer creative urns, you may consider an urn that resembles a book. Specifically, this shape is ideal for a red urn because the color makes the book appear to have a red leather cover. This ensures it looks impressive enough to effectively honor a loved one’s memory while also blending in easily in most bookcases.
10. Red candle urn
Sometimes designers create urns that, at first glance, resemble traditional cylinder-shaped candles.
Like many of the urns on this list, this style can come in any color you like, but red is a popular option for candle-shaped urns because its vibrancy mirrors that of a flame.
11. Planter urn
An urn doesn’t merely need to serve as a means of storing or scattering the cremains of someone who’s passed on. In some instances, the right design can make an urn a symbol representing the idea that the deceased’s spirit continues to live on in some way.
For example, a planter urn allows you to grow a flower (or any other basic plant) from the urn itself after scattering cremains with it. The growth and life sprouting from the urn will contrast with the notion that your loved one is completely gone. Because red is a popular color for planters in general, it’s also a popular choice for planter urns.
Red Urns: A Symbol of Love
Whether you’re looking for an urn for Mom, a spouse, or just about anyone else, red is often a perfect color choice due to both its symbolic power and its basic visual appeal.
These are a few noteworthy types of red urns to consider if you think this color matches the spirit of a deceased loved one.