Has your child ever written letters to the Easter Bunny to make sure that he or she is not forgotten on Easter morning?
Have your ever taken those letter to the post office, bought postage, and sent those letters on their journey down the bunny trail?
Do you even know if you got the right address?
Here’s what happens to many of those letters and what you can do to help if you ever make it to Easter Island.
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Does the Easter Bunny live on Easter Island?
Well, to be completely honest, no one knows for sure.
Many people clearly believe he does though!
But what we do know is that he doesn’t not live on Easter Island. It seems completely logical that the Easter Bunny would live on Easter Island, right?(And for those who note that Santa lives at the North Pole and not on Christmas Island, we have it on good authority that Santa “summers” there, so…)
While no one can say for sure where the Easter Bunny lives, we can say for certain that a lot of his mail goes to Easter Island.
And that mail gets replies.
Coincidence?
Easter Island Post Office
The Easter Island post office is one of the most remote functional post offices in the world. The only post office even more remote is the one on Antarctica.
Like any other building on Easter Island, it’s small and nondescript.
It’s where the Easter Bunny reportedly goes every year to pick up stacks of letters written by children from around the world.
Most tourists who travel to Easter Island probably don’t think much about the post office. at best, they come here to mail a touristy “I’ve been to Easter Island” postcard.
Some who are a bit more “in the know” stop by to get a novelty passport stamp (which can be obtained by giving a small donation).
Being a stamp collector, of course I came here every day during my stay to have my travel journal stamped and canceled.
It’s a routine for me when I travel. Read here for more on that.
Letters to the Easter Bunny on Display
If you do happen to stop by, there’s one thing you might notice. It’s a bulletin board that displays several handwritten letters to the Easter Bunny from children all over the world.
The ones he forgot to take with him or showed up after he made is annual pilgrimage (from wherever he lives) to get his letters.
They even keep the envelopes they came in and their return addresses.
The majority of these letters to the Easter Bunny are from English-speaking countries like the USA, Australia, Canada, and the UK.
Some of the addresses on these envelopes had the addressed changed by the originating post office before they made their way here. Most had “Isla de Pascua” or “Easter Island” added to them while in transit.
In other words, postal workers from around the world appear to be convinced that the Easter Bunny lives on Easter Island.
Or, it’s possible that they just don’t want to deal with the letters so they forward them to their Easter Island colleagues.
Adopting letters to the Easter Bunny
The funny thing about these letter is that all of them are waiting to be “adopted!” By you!
That’s right! You can actually adopt one or two Easter Bunny letters. When you do, it’s your responsibility to write a friendly note back to the child so he or she will get a letter from the Easter Bunny!
So don’t just take them as souvenirs and leave some poor child waiting to hear back. You have a unique role to play.
For one day, your claim to fame will be that you served as Easter Bunny Public Relations!
If you ever make the journey to Easter Island, stop by the island post office. The Easter Bunny will appreciate your help when you “adopt” a letter and send it back to a child on his behalf!
Let’s be honest, it just takes a few moments to write a note to a child.
And it’s a pretty fun travel story to tell later.
Note: It’s important to send you letter to the child while you are actually on Easter Island. Imagine being a child and receiving a letter from the Easter Bunny with a postmark from Malawi or some remote village in Canada, Russia, or Zimbabwe.
Better to keep it simple!
Is the Easter Bunny male or female?
Throughout this post, I’ve been referring to the Easter Bunny as “he.” And yes, that’s lazy. Because no one knows. That most people refer to the bunny as a “he” does not make it so.
It’s probably why we use “Peter Cottontail” – a name that was probably just made up by some guy.
There’s a good case to be made that the Easter Bunny is a female.
How to send a letter to the Easter Bunny
In any case, here’s how to send a letter to the Easter Bunny. They end up on Easter Island when they’re address as follows:
Easter Bunny
Easter Island Post Office – Rapa Nui
Isla da Pascua, Chile
Easter Bunny Tracker
Want to know where the Easter Bunny is at any given time? No problem! If you’re tracking the Easter Bunny, check out this helpful tool.
Easter traditions around the world
In Australia, they don’t have an Easter Bunny. They have an Easter Bilby. It’s probably because, well, Australia doesn’t exactly have the best history with rabbits.
Bilbies, on the other hand, fit the role nicely. They’re totally adorably and there aren’t that many of them. In fact, they’re endangered and you can help!
In Sweden and Finland, Easter is more like Halloween. Children dress up as witches and go door-to-door, demanding chocolate from their neighbors.
Indonesia celebrates with parades where young men consider it an honor to be chosen to play Jesus.
In France, there’s no bunny for Easter. Being more realistic, the French believe that Easter chocolate comes from a flying church bell that makes its way to each home from the Vatican.
Filipinos beat themselves up and sometimes even do crucifixions. Most people do mock crucifixions. Some people go, uhm, all the way.
No one knows for sure where it came from, but in Poland, they do Śmigus-Dyngus. Basically, boys and girls soak each other in water and the boys us pussy willow branches to whip the girls.
Want to learn a little more? Easter Traditions Around the World.
Pin this for later
For more on Easter Island
It’s not just about answering letters from the Easter Bunny!!
If you’re seriously going to visit and want to have a great experience here, check out these unusual things to do on Easter Island!
Happy Easter!
For More on Chile and Easter Island: When we travel, we use Lonely Planet
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Halef moved from Indonesia to the US nearly two decades ago to go to college here. He hasn’t looked back. He’s been to over forty countries and doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He’s a Landscape Architect in Atlanta, GA.
Did you adopt a letter? This is such a cute story. Also, love the idea of getting your travel journal canceled in each place you visit.
Good job! Thanks for such interesting stuff as I had been able to find here. I agree with much of what is written the following and I am going to be returning to this website again.
Ha Ha. I would love to visit this post office at this quaint place called the Easter Island. I just went to Santa’s Office in Lapland last month 🙂
This is soo fascinating. Adopting a letter is hilarious and yet a wonderful idea. If I ever visit Easter Island, I am definitely coming to this place and adopting one or two letters!
Dear Easter Bunny This Easter I would like a sub from subway. Dominic is not a fan of chocolate he just wants the Easter bunny to bring him down a sub but don’t eat all of the toppings off of the sub my topping are Swiss cheese meat Black olives green olives Lettuce spinach onions Ranch Dressing No Hot Peppers it is called a cold cut combo
We’ll do our best to relay your message!
Why would people falsly write letters to these kids pretending to be the EASTER BUNNY?!?!?!?! That is so sick and it’s illegal to open mail that’s not addressed to them. Intentionally opening, intercepting or hiding someone else’s mail is the felony crime of mail theft. It comes with some heavyweight penalties, including five years’ incarceration in a federal prison. These kids write letters to the EASTER BUNNY, not some adults pretending to be the Easter Bunny and lying to these kids!
Yeah, uhmmmm, you know that Easter Island is NOT part of the United States, right? And that US federal law doesn’t apply to the country it’s part of – Chile. Also, it’s THE EASTER BUNNY! LOL!
You have far too much time on your hands.
I realy like easter bunny nits my faviourate type of easter
dear easter bunnny for easter you can come and take some fruit snacks tooput intoo people easter baskets your friend andy