The 411 on Letterboxing

What in the world is Letterboxing?

{Some of you saw 'Letterboxing' on our Summer Bucket List and have asked about it so here goes.}

We have been letterboxing for the past few years and I have never talked about it here before. So here's a look into our favorite guilty-geeky-pleasure.

Letterboxing is a treasure hunt. Clues are followed to find the "treasure box", which consists of a hand carved stamp and a congratulatory letter for decoding the clues correctly. You trade stamps and info and then place the box back where you found it, being careful to not be seen by Muggles - you know, non-magic people. I'm being totally serious here. Don't judge.

It's a bit confusing so let's break it down. There's a website that contains all the clues. Print the ones you want off and start hunting. The very first one we did led us to believe the clue was in the tree at the top of this picture:

I took one look and told the kids there was no way I was going in there…but couldn't leave having done all that work so I jumped in and found this:

The kids and I snuck off the trail to a quiet spot to open it.

Inside was their book and stamp. We stamped our stamp and wrote our handle, Oopsie Daisy!, and date into their book.

We then stamped their stamp into our book. Each letterbox is different and usually has a theme. This one was obviously done by a police officer.

Here's another one that we found last summer.

Want to start? Here's what you need. A book to keep your stamps in, an ink pad, and a stamp, preferably hand carved. If you're like me and don't like sticking your hands into random earthly places, bring a pair of rubber gloves too.

Letterboxes are hidden all around the world and it's an old hobby that dates back to the 1800's. So there you go. An insight into our secret wanna-be-pirates pastime!