Yes, you can. A lot of families only think of it once someone has died, and then worry they've left it too late. Usually they haven't. A handprint can be taken while your loved one is in your funeral director's care, right up until the funeral.
It's a gentle, quiet thing to ask for, and it gives you something you can hold: the shape of their hand, the lines of their palm and the whorl of their thumbprint. Here's how it works with us, so you know what to expect before you ask.
Who takes the print
Your funeral director's own team takes it. Nobody else comes in to do it, and you don't need to be there. They're the people already looking after your loved one, so it happens with the same care as everything else they do.
All you do is say yes, choose what you'd like made and fill in one short order form with your funeral director. If your funeral director doesn't work with us yet, send us their details and we'll contact them for you, so there's nothing extra for you to arrange.
When it needs to happen
The print has to be taken while your loved one is in your funeral director's care, so it's best to ask as early as you can, ideally when you first sit down to make arrangements.
Put the date you need the keepsake by on the order form, such as the day of the funeral, and we work to it. The sooner the print is taken, the more time we have. If the funeral is very close, the kit can go to your funeral director and the finished keepsake back to you by Royal Mail Special Delivery, guaranteed by 1pm the next working day, for £10 in all.
How the print is taken
We use an inkless kit. A gentle wipe goes over the palm, fingers and thumb, then the hand is pressed onto a sheet of special A4 paper. The wipe reacts with the paper to leave a detailed impression of every line and crease. There's no ink and no mess, which matters more than people realise.
The handprint and the thumbprint go on the same sheet, and the whole thing takes about five minutes. Your funeral director sends a photo of the sheet, with the order form, to your Memory Catcher™, or to our own team if there isn't one near you yet. The original prints never leave them: they keep them safe and give them to you, so you have those too.
What you can have made
A framed foil print. Their handprint, exactly life size, never resized, in real metallic foil using our Foil Fusion Technology™. You add two lines of your words, usually their name and dates, in Modern or Cursive lettering. Our studio tidies any smudges, keeping every line and crease, then frames it here in Wigan.
Thumbprint keyrings. A smaller keepsake to carry every day, engraved with their handprint or their thumbprint, with their name and one date. A thumbprint suits a keyring well: it's the fingerprint that was only ever theirs. Lovely for each of the children or grandchildren.
A digital copy. Every package includes a digital copy of the finished print, to keep and to share with family.
Packages start at £85 for one framed print, two keyrings and the digital copy, up to £320 for four framed prints and eight keyrings. An extra framed print is £55 and an extra keyring is £18. Prices include VAT, and you pay through your funeral director, with the funeral account. You can see every package on our memorial keepsakes page.
Seeing it before it's made
If you'd like to, you can see a proof before anything is made, and nothing goes ahead until it's approved. Some families would rather not look at a proof at such a hard time, and that's completely fine: tick "no proof needed" on the order form and we'll go straight ahead.
The finished keepsake comes back to your funeral home for you to collect, or to your home if you'd prefer.
If you'd like to talk it through
You don't have to work it all out on your own. Get in touch and we'll come back to you the same working day, or by 10am the next working day if it's after 3pm or the weekend. Or simply ask your funeral director, who can fill in the order form with you.