How to Honor Your Pet During the Holidays

To honor your pet during the holidays, pick one small thing you can repeat: an ornament with their name, a candle lit at dinner, a story told at the table, a tree planted in their name, or a donation to a shelter. One gesture can give them a place in the season.

Maybe your pet was underfoot in the kitchen, keeping watch from a favorite spot or waiting in the barn. When they’re gone, those moments can feel empty, and it can help to bring them back into the season on purpose instead of only noticing the gap.

We think the easiest traditions to keep are small things you can return to each year, such as an ornament or a name said at dinner. The ideas below work for every kind of household and every stage of grief, from the first season without them to a pet you lost years ago. If this season is hard in other ways too, our guide to getting through pet loss during the holidays covers gatherings, kids, and the comments that sting.

Key Takeaways

• Small rituals can help. In research on rituals after different kinds of loss, not pets specifically, people who completed a new ritual reported lower levels of grief, even if they didn’t believe rituals work.
• An ornament, a stocking, a candle at dinner, or a photo on the mantel gives your pet a spot in the season without asking anything big of you.
• A memorial tree planted in your pet’s name comes with a certificate showing where it was planted, and it can also be a gift for a friend who’s grieving.
• Giving in your pet’s name, like a shelter donation or treats for a rescue, carries a tradition you shared into help for other animals.
• If other animals live with you, keeping their meals, walks, and bedtime regular through the holidays helps them feel secure.

Why It Can Help to Honor Your Pet During the Holidays

A small ritual gives what you’re carrying an action with a beginning and an end. Lighting a candle, hanging an ornament, or saying their name at dinner is something you choose to do, on your own terms, and that can feel steadier than waiting for reminders to catch you off guard.

In research on rituals after different kinds of loss, not pets specifically, people who were asked to complete novel rituals after experiencing losses reported lower levels of grief. Part of the effect came from a greater sense of control, and it held even for people who didn’t believe rituals would work.

Staying connected to a pet who died is often part of this. For people grieving a pet, identifying appropriate bonds can be useful to moderate the intensity of grief. However, those bonds can sometimes deepen grief too, especially when the people around you don’t recognize the loss.

So choose what steadies you, and let go of anything that makes the day harder. The ideas below are meant to be picked from, not worked through.

Memorial Ornaments, Stockings and Photo Displays

A single decoration with your pet’s name or photo is one of the simplest ways to honor them. It goes up with everything else, takes a minute, and gives them a spot in the room all season. It also comes back out every year, which makes it an easy ritual to keep.

Try one of these:

• A photo ornament, or one with their name painted or engraved.
• Their collar or tag, hung where it catches the light.
• A small toy of theirs tucked in with the decorations, in the spot they always went for.
• Their stocking can hang with the others, or somewhere quieter if that feels better.
• Set a small photo of them near the menorah, kinara, or centerpiece.

Photos work well too. Pull pictures of your pet from past holidays, like the year they sat in the wrapping paper or wore a sweater for exactly four seconds, and set them in one spot: a mantel, a bookshelf, a corner of the table. A few pet memorial picture frames can hold the favorites, and a small box nearby can hold their tag, a toy, or anything else of theirs you’ve kept.

If seeing their things is too much this year, one photo on your nightstand can be their place instead of a display in the living room. You can add more another year, or not.

Lighting a Candle in Your Pet’s Memory

A candle is a quiet way to honor your pet, and it fits into any evening. You can light it at a holiday meal, on the anniversary of their death, or for a few minutes each night of the season while you think about them.

Some people say a few words when they light it, like “[Pet’s name], we miss you tonight,” and some just let it burn while dinner happens. One in their favorite color, or one of our pet memorial candles, can make it feel like theirs.

With other pets or small children in the house, a flameless candle gives you the same glow without an open flame near curious noses and tails. Set it where your pet liked to settle, whether that was by the window, in their favorite spot, or next to your chair.

At a gathering, you might light it before the meal and say one sentence about your pet, then let the evening go on. It can also give others an opening to share a memory.

Planting a Memorial Tree in Your Pet’s Name

Planting a memorial tree gives your pet something living that carries their name. You plant it once, nothing ships to your house, and you get a certificate that shows where it was planted, which you can print, frame, or keep with their things.

Mayo Clinic’s grief guidance suggests starting a new tradition: make a donation to a charitable organization in your loved one’s name on birthdays or holidays, or plant a tree in honor of your loved one. For a pet, the tree can become its own tradition, remembered each year after.

Through our pet memorial tree program, we plant a real tree in your pet’s name at a mangrove restoration project along the Kenyan coastline. The certificate lists your pet’s name, the tree species, and the exact GPS coordinates of where it was planted, and Veritree verifies the planting. One tree is $12, and you can plant a grove of 5, 10, 25, 50, or 100 in a single pet’s name. The certificate arrives by email.

A tree also works as a sympathy gift when someone you love is facing their first holidays without their pet, since the certificate carries their pet’s name. If a backyard tree or a potted plant feels more like you, our guide to planting a tree in memory of your pet covers choosing a tree and planting it at home.

Giving Back in Your Pet’s Name

Shelters and rescues can use help in your pet’s name, and giving carries the love you shared into care for animals who need it. A donation, a bag of supplies, or a few hours of your time are all ways to do it, and the holidays are a natural time to do so.

A few ideas, depending on your budget and time:

• Donate to a shelter, rescue, or veterinary assistance fund in your pet’s name.
• Bring food, blankets, beds, or toys from a shelter’s wish list, if they have one.
• Sponsor an adoption fee for an animal who’s been waiting a while.
• If you have a few free hours, volunteer to walk dogs or socialize cats.

Used to bake treats for your pet at the holidays? You could keep the recipe going for other animals. Call the shelter first to ask what they can accept, including whether homemade treats are okay, or give a tin to a friend’s pet after checking about ingredients and allergies.

If the rescue sends a note about the gift, it can go right next to their photo. It’s a small reminder that their name helped someone else this season.

Sharing Stories and Saving Memories

Stories keep your pet’s personality in the room. At a holiday meal, you might ask everyone for one favorite memory, like the time they stole a dinner roll or the way they greeted every guest. It can bring laughter and tears in the same few minutes.

You could keep a memory jar on the counter all season, where anyone can drop in a note about the pet, and read the notes aloud on the last night. A shared document or group chat can do the same for relatives who live far away. You might also record an older relative telling their favorite story, so their voice and the memory stay together.

Writing can help when saying things out loud doesn’t. A short letter to your pet on the holiday itself, tucked into a stocking or a card, can say whatever you’d like them to hear. Our pet loss journaling prompts give you somewhere to start when the blank page feels like too much.

Keeping Your Pet’s Holiday Traditions Going

Some pets had a holiday habit all their own, and keeping a lighthearted version going can honor them with a smile. Perhaps they stole the same stuffed toy from the gift pile, howled along to one song, or waited in one spot for dinner scraps.

You might set that toy out where they used to hide it, play the song they howled at, or leave their old napping spot clear for the evening. Holiday cards are another way to remember them. A short line like “Remembering [Pet’s name] this season” or a favorite photo from a past year tells friends their memory matters to you and gives them a chance to share their own memories.

A visit to a place your pet loved can become a tradition too: a park, a beach, a trail, or the field behind the barn. Bring a photo, sit for a while, and leave a small stone or a few flowers if that feels right. The change of scene can be a welcome break.

Keepsakes, Portraits and Memorial Jewelry

Keepsakes can honor your pet well past the holidays. A portrait, a paw print, or a piece of jewelry can mark the season and also serve as a gift for other family members who loved your pet. Custom work takes time, so if you want something ready for a holiday, ask the maker about timing early.

Options to consider:

• A custom portrait painted from a favorite photo, by a local artist or an online studio.
• Memorial jewelry, some of which can hold a small amount of ashes or fur.
• If your vet or aftercare provider made a paw print or nose print, you can frame it with a photo.
• A blanket, pillow, or quilt made from their photos or an old shirt they loved to sleep on.

If memorial jewelry feels right, our pet memorial jewelry collection includes cremation necklaces and bracelets. None of this is required. A handwritten note tucked into a frame can mean as much as anything you buy.

Memorial Projects Children Can Make

Making something with their hands can give children a way to show what they feel when words are hard. A homemade ornament, a drawing, or a letter can become their part of how the family honors a pet this season, and they can bring it out again in the years ahead if they want to.

Younger kids might enjoy decorating a plain ornament with their pet’s name, painting a picture of them, or tracing a favorite photo. Older kids can make a short slideshow of photos, write a letter to tuck in with the decorations or their pet’s things, or choose which toy to donate to a shelter.

Let them decide how much to do. Some children want to talk about their pet every day, and others need a break. Offer the idea, keep the supplies out, and follow their lead.

When You’re Spending the Holidays Alone

When you’re on your own, honoring your pet can give the day some shape and a little company. You set the pace completely, with no one else’s traditions to fit around, so the ritual can be as simple or as long as you want.

Ways to Honor Your Pet During the Holidays on Your Own

Any of these can fill an hour or an evening:

• Light a candle and look through their photos or videos.
• Take a slow walk down their old route, or to another place that was theirs.
• Write them a letter about the year.
• Cook a meal they used to beg for, and eat it where they liked to sit.

Company can help too. Many pet loss support groups meet online, so you can spend part of the evening with people who understand. Our guide to living alone after pet loss covers the quiet stretches that can feel longest over the holidays.

Remembering a Pet When Other Pets Are Still at Home

If other animals live with you, they may be adjusting to the loss too. Honoring your pet who died can include them, and keeping their meals, walks, play, and bedtime on schedule through the holidays helps them feel secure.

After a companion dies, many pets exhibit behavioral patterns that suggest that they have been affected by the loss, like changes in appetite, vocalizing, or seeking out their friend. Holiday visitors and a busy house can add to that, so keep routines as regular as you can and make time for the things you and your pet already enjoy together.

You can include them in small ways. Let them sit with you while you light the candle or look at photos. Keep out a shared toy or blanket if they seem to like having it near, and hang an ornament for every animal in the family, past and present.

If a surviving pet isn’t eating well or seems unwell, call your vet. Our guide to helping a pet cope with the loss of another pet covers other signs to watch and how to support them.

Making Room for Your Pet This Holiday Season and Beyond

However you choose to honor your pet during the holidays, the easiest rituals to keep are the small ones, like an ornament that goes up every year or a name said once at dinner. They still fit in a hard season.

Over the years, a tradition can feel different than it did at the start. The same ornament can bring a smile where it once brought tears, or it can still be hard, and both are part of carrying them with you. You can also set a tradition aside for a while and come back to it.

For more ways to keep their memory close through the rest of the year, our hub on pet aftercare and memorials collects our guides to keepsakes, rituals, and memorial ideas. And when the holidays give way to January, our guide to New Year’s resolutions after losing a pet offers gentler goals for a new year.

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