I wrote about writing condolence letters (hard) and making condolence food (easier). A couple of notes I didn’t include in the final piece:

•Wirecutter’s “7 Best Sympathy Gifts” list includes “Kat’z Birthday Box,” about which the writer assures us the “name of the offering…isn’t inscribed anywhere on the package.” Nonetheless, I would be too nervous that it would end up inscribed to send it as a condolence gift. 

•In an article about the “Funeral Rituals in Kygyzstan,” Roland Hardenberg writes, “…the mourners keep special food…usually consisting of rice soup or porridge brought in buckets. It should be liquid food because mourners are expected to cry constantly and therefore need a lot of water.”