Keeping your pet close in New Hope: pendants, rings and glass
By our estimate, about 7,650 households in New Hope share their home with a dog or cat, and roughly 640 of those pets die each year. A small wearable piece is one of the quieter ways people there keep them close.
- Real listed prices by metal and material
- Local jeweler or mail-in, explained
- Safe ways to fill and seal at home
New Hope, Minnesota
Where New Hope families get memorial jewelry made
Some New Hope families keep an urn at home and take a portion to a relative's cabin, scattering it there with the landowner's consent. Others seal a thimbleful into a pendant and bury the remainder under a lilac in a parent's yard. If dividing is likely, or you'd like a pressed clay impression of a paw, say so on your very first call.
Because so many New Hope households live in apartments or small ramblers, memorials here are usually sized to match: a palm-sized urn, a photo urn tucked on the bookshelf, a charm on a necklace. The crematory's plain box keeps cremated remains safe indefinitely, which means nobody has to shop for anything during those first raw days, and some families wait until an anniversary to choose.
Self-fill kits are popular in towns like New Hope partly because they're private. Nobody else handles the ashes, and you choose the moment: a quiet evening, a sunny morning, the day before an anniversary. If your hands aren't steady, ask someone in the family to hold the pendant still while you pour.
New Hope's population is around 20,807, the 60th-largest of the 67 Minnesota communities we cover. The nearest larger centre is Minneapolis, about 7 miles (12 km) away, which is where some providers serving New Hope are based.
Families in New Hope often end up using a provider from Crystal (1 miles), Golden Valley (3 miles) and Plymouth (4 miles, a larger centre). That is normal: crematories serve a radius, not a single town, and the drive is priced into collection.
Our estimate
7,650
New Hope: dog- or cat-owning households, our estimate
How we calculated this
20,807 ÷ 2.5 = 8,323 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 7,650. A household with several pets counts once.
Our estimate
640
dog and cat deaths per year in New Hope, our estimate
How we calculated this
7,650 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 640 a year. The real figure is unlikely to be lower.
53%[1]
53% of US households own a dog, which is about 71 million households.
12.69 years[2]
US dogs have an average life expectancy at birth of 12.69 years.
39%[3]
39% of US households own a cat, which is about 53 million households.
11.18 years[4]
US cats seen at Banfield hospitals have an average life expectancy at birth of 11.18 years.
To check the figures yourself, see American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry and Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science.
Cremation in Minnesota and wearing a little of your pet
Roughly 68.5%[5] of funerals in Minnesota end in cremation. Where habits are mixed, a relative may worry that dividing ashes is disrespectful. It can help to explain that a pendant takes a pinch, the rest stays together and nothing stops you burying or scattering the main portion later. Put that way, most objections soften.
NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024) is where the Minnesota figure comes from. It counts people; we use it because attitudes to cremating a pet in New Hope tend to follow attitudes to cremation generally.
Heat, humidity and cold: caring for your piece in New Hope
Thick gloves and cold fingers in January make tiny clasps fiddly. If you'll wear a pendant daily through New Hope's winter, ask for a lobster clasp big enough to open with numb hands, or a slide-on pendant that never needs taking off its chain. It sounds minor until a filled piece drops into snow.
If you're mailing ashes to a maker from New Hope in winter, snow and ice can slow deliveries by a day or two. The ashes aren't affected by cold, but tracking matters more when parcels sit in depots. Send early in the week, choose a service with tracking and a signature, and ask the maker to confirm by email the day it arrives.
Prices by metal, glass and diamond
Prints and fur are the inexpensive part if you plan early. By our estimate, paw-print add-ons at US crematories have a median price of about $32[6], ranging from $10 to $76, and a fur clipping can cost as little as $5[7]. Have them done before cremation in New Hope, even if the jewelry order comes months later, because they can't be made afterwards.
Prices for New Hope track the wider Minnesota market, so use the Minnesota price table as your baseline and the services page to see what is included.
Free tool
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
Local rules worth knowing before you order
Rules around pet ashes are light compared with human ones. In most places, including Minnesota, nobody regulates keeping or wearing them. What's worth checking is the rest of the plan: where you can scatter or bury what's left, and how to send a small portion by post if your maker isn't local. The details below cover the local side.
The official Minnesota local government directory lists every county and city office, which is the quickest way to find who to ask in New Hope.
Start with the Minnesota rules, which cover burial, scattering and oversight for the whole state, and treat New Hope's local ordinances as a possible extra layer.
A simple order checklist
- Call the crematory or your vet to find out if they stock jewelry, will set a portion of ashes aside for it, or can point you to a nearby jeweler who does fills.
- Compare two or three options near New Hope: a jeweler in town, the crematory's own counter, and an online studio that specializes in ash pieces.
- Check allergies and sizing with each person who'll receive one.
- Decide on engraving. The name, the dates, a paw print, or plain metal; either way, sign off the text and proof by email or on paper.
- Arrange the ashes. You can deliver them by hand, do the filling at home, or post them using a tracked, signed-for service that the maker has okayed.
- Wear it and check it. Every few weeks give the seal and clasp a quick look, and remove it before swimming or gardening.
- Store it safely at night in a soft pouch, away from perfume, heat and hard surfaces.
Small rituals that go with a memorial piece
Renters may not be able to place a marker outdoors, and even homeowners face ground too hard to dig from November until April. Indoor memorials solve both problems and move easily when a lease ends. If a garden stone is the goal, a solid piece of granite or bronze seated on crushed rock stands up to frost heave far better than cast concrete.
For a plain comparison of the choices, open services, the guides answer the longer questions and the blog the newer ones, or see how other readers answered in our polls, the planning tools turn your pet's details into figures. If you live between New Hope and Saint Paul, Duluth, Bloomington and Minneapolis, either page applies. Every other community in Minnesota, and all of the United States, is listed too.
Reader polls
What would you choose?
Vote anonymously and see how other readers answered. The results are live counts from people who visit this site, so they show real opinions, not a scientific sample.
If you wore something with your pet's ashes, what would it be?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Would you get a piece for anyone else in the family?
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If you had to decide today, which aftercare would you choose for your pet?
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Free tools to help you plan
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
Jewelry ash capacity guide
How much ash fits in pendants, rings and glass, and how many pieces one pet can fill.
Ashes sharing planner
Split ashes fairly between family members, keepsake urns and jewelry.
Questions people ask
How do Minnesota attitudes to cremation compare?
NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024) puts the Minnesota human cremation rate at about 68.5%[5]. We show it on the New Hope page because pet aftercare choices tend to track it: where cremation is normal for people, communal and private pet cremation are both easy to find.
Is New Hope big enough to have several pet aftercare providers?
Probably, on the numbers. By our estimate about 7,650 New Hope households keep a dog or cat and around 640 lose one each year, which is enough steady demand to support more than one provider. We derive that from population (about 20,807), household size and national ownership and lifespan figures.
Where are the providers that serve New Hope actually based?
Some are local, and some run from Minneapolis, about 7 miles away. That is normal for a town this size. What matters is the collection time they quote for New Hope and whether the drive is priced into the total, so ask both up front.
Does the New Hope climate change what I should do first?
Only the timing. In July, with highs near 82°F, cool the body and book collection the same day. In January, February, March, November and December, when lows sit below freezing, a home burial may have to wait for a thaw, so cremation with ashes returned keeps your options open.
Do cremation pendants leak?
A well-made pendant with a sealed screw shouldn't. Leaks usually happen when the screw isn't glued and works loose with daily wear. Use the adhesive in the kit, or ask a New Hope jeweler to seal it permanently. Glass and memorial diamonds have no opening at all, so they can't leak.
How much of my pet's ashes does a diamond need?
Far more than a pendant. One US lab asks for about 100 g of ashes, roughly half a cup[9], and a Swiss lab needs at least 150 g of ashes or 5 g of fur[10]. Cremated remains contain very little carbon, which is why labs need so much. Ask whether unused ash is returned before you send anything.
Sources and our estimates
- [1] 53% of US households own a dog, which is about 71 million households. American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry, 2025.
- [2] US dogs have an average life expectancy at birth of 12.69 years. Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science - Banfield Pet Hospital life expectancy tables (13.3 million dogs, 2.4 million cats, 2013-2019), 2023.
- [3] 39% of US households own a cat, which is about 53 million households. American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry, 2025.
- [4] US cats seen at Banfield hospitals have an average life expectancy at birth of 11.18 years. Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science - Banfield Pet Hospital life expectancy tables (13.3 million dogs, 2.4 million cats, 2013-2019), 2023.
- [5] The NFDA projected Minnesota's cremation rate at 68.5% for 2024. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage), 2024.
- [6] Paw-print add-ons at US crematories have a median price of about $32, from $10 to $76. Our estimate: median of [$10 clay (AGP), $15 laser engraving (AGP), $49 ink (Final Gift), $76 clay (Final Gift)]. How we calculate.
- [7] Memorial add-ons at A Greener Place: $15 laser-engraved paw print, $10 clay paw impression, $10 nose print, $5 fur clipping. A Greener Place Pet Aquamation – Pricing, 2026.
- [8] Memorial diamond production takes about 8.5 months on average across three providers' stated timelines, ranging from 4 to 12 months. Our estimate: mean of midpoints: Eterneva 7–10 (8.5), LONITÉ 12, Saint Diamonds 4–6 (5) = (8.5+12+5)/3. How we calculate.
- [9] Eterneva needs about half a cup (100 g) of a pet's cremated remains to grow a memorial diamond. Eterneva – Pet Ashes to Diamonds, 2026.
- [10] LONITÉ needs at least 150 g (5 oz) of pet ashes, or 5 g of fur, to make a memorial diamond. LONITÉ – Pet cremation diamonds, 2026.
Ask for New Hope memorial jewelry prices
Tell us what you need and where you are. We'll reply by email with clear options and prices so you can decide in your own time.