Beware of the Muggles

Griffin McDonough is proud of our found letterbox!

Most people have never heard of it. My family discovered it about three years ago and I cannot say enough wonderful things about it. It’s letterboxing and if you’ve been looking for a way to spend some quality time with your family, you’ve just found it. So what exactly is letterboxing? It’s like a treasure hunt! You follow directional clues to find small boxes that are hidden all over the country! Inside you will find a notebook and a stamp that is typically handmade and represents the location where you found it. That’s the treasure!

Here’s how it works. We go to a letterboxing website such as www.letterboxing.org or www.atlasquest.com and get the clues which lead us to a letterbox in the city of our choice. Letterboxes are most often hidden in public places such as parks, cemeteries, schoolyards and famous landmarks. Anyone can plant a letterbox and anyone can find them. We bring with us a compass, small notebook, ink pad and our own handmade stamp, carved from an art gum eraser, which represents our family and our letterboxing nickname. Most clues are very kid friendly, require the use of a simple compass, counting paces or steps, and rely heavily on landmarks in nature such as “a fallen tree” or “a heart shaped rock.” While looking for the letterbox, we are careful not to disturb the nature around it, and not to be seen by others who aren’t familiar with letterboxing, also known as “muggles.” Once we find our letterbox, we open it; stamp our stamp in their notebook and their stamp in our notebook. We record the date and the location where we found it, too. Our notebook is quickly becoming a treasured family memory book, reminding us of fun times spent together. The final step is putting the letterbox back where we discovered it and recording our find on the letterboxing website.

Griffin McDonough records the location of our letterboxing find.

We let our kids lead us on our letterboxing adventures. They love using the compass and solving the clues that are sometimes written in rhyme or riddle. We have letterboxed all over Indiana, exploring awesome parks and places we have never been before and finding letterboxes practically in our own backyard, too. We also letterbox whenever and wherever we go on vacation. We’ve even found a letterbox in Disney World! By far, what we love most about letterboxing is the time spent with our kids. To find something to do as a family that all three of our kids have fun doing is remarkable. Even our teenagers enjoy it! We leave the cell phones and video games at home. We head outdoors; enjoy the nature all around us and the small adventure that each letterbox delivers. Introduce your family to letterboxing; I dare you not to get hooked!