Since Leap Day only comes about once every four years, people planning Leap Day geocaching events often find themselves scratching their heads. What to do on a holiday that has no widely-recognized established traditions?

That’s the beauty of Leap Day—you can make your own traditions! You have free reign over how your Leap Day event goes. But with all that power comes responsibility, so check out these five tips for making your Leap Day event spectacular.

1. Pick a color theme

Geocaching HQ picked blue and yellow. Why? We’re not sure. Perhaps it was because these colors spoke to us louder than the other colors were speaking to us. Leap Day is a time for whimsy, a day to do all the things you wouldn’t do on a normal day. Like talking to colors. That’s not normal.

2. Make sure there’s food

We’re not saying the event host should provide all the food for the event. But food does make a lot of events more fun. As the event host, you can use your event page to coordinate the guests who offer to bring food to share. Geocaching HQ decided to have a taco bar—in traditional Leap Day fashion!

3. Games that everyone will enjoy

Having a time and space for people to simply chat with each other around a table of food is great—that should definitely happen at a geocaching event. But sometimes that environment can be intimidating for newbie geocachers. Consider setting up some games or activities that provide a bit of structure for interactions between strangers. Not everyone is a social butterfly. Some of us are shy stick insects and reclusive rice weevils.

4. Make up a Leap Day tradition

We turned a bunch of leftover plastic bowls into “traditional” Leap Day hats, and invited people to decorate them. People were surprisingly willing to walk around with plastic dinnerware on their heads, and it made for great conversation.

5. Photo opportunities

Set aside a spot at your event to make a “photo wall”, where people can pose with geocaching or Leap Day-themed props. Better yet, if one person is a dedicated photographer, the photos can be shared in the cache gallery later.

Why this is Geocache of the Week:

600 billion. That’s the number of Lego parts that have been released into the world since 1949, when the Lego Group began manufacturing the colorful interlocking bricks. Now, at least 100 of those parts have been re-imagined into this Geocache of the Week.

Despite its playful construction, this cache is serious business. If you reach GZ, finding the colorful birdhouse will be easy…but you’re only half-way there. The cache itself is behind a small door, which can only be opened by solving a field puzzle from the cache page.

Surprisingly, cache owner Troobpiz says the cache doesn’t need a lot of maintenance—a testament to the solid construction and to the Legos themselves. We especially like how the cache was attached to its tree: with easily adjustable chains.

So if you’re traveling near West Virginia sometime soon, check it out. If you feel like digging out your old Lego set afterwards, we’d understand.

What Geocachers have to say about it:

“TFTC This one is very special. A unique idea that makes you smile. Lots of swag in this adorable BRICK house. TN SL left a pink bangle for tiny wrists.” –Capone6

“I am always impressed by the truly clever containers that take time and effort to assemble. This is a beaut! Thanks for our fun after arriving here today en route home to Louisville.” –Ecce!

“I was in the Fairmont area this morning and new I had to stop by this new cache to see what all the buzz was about. This is an interesting twist on a container that we have all seen many times. Well done. I enjoyed the quick on-site puzzle. I had it solve correctly on the first try… the second calculation came out the same… and the third… and (you see the pattern. Finally, in a pinch, the lock popped open and I was able to sign the log. Well done. I have never seen one like it before. TFTC.” –arealwhit

What the Cache Owner, Troopbiz, has to say about it:

What inspired you to use Legos for the cache construction?
Ever since I can remember I have loved playing with Legos and building unique and creative things with them. I first had the concept of using these stackable toy bricks for a geocache when I saw a similar concept online. In that concept cachers had to count different colors to obtain the 4 digit lock combination. I took it a step further by making the cache out of Legos. I even designed a custom Lego door complete with a latch to allow cachers to access the geocache!

What’s been your reaction to all the nice logs and favorite points from geocachers?
I strive to put out unique and creative geocaches for geocachers to find. When I first hid the geocache I knew it would be a highly trafficked cache due to the location, but I didn’t expect 26 favorite points in the first year! It’s been fun reading all the nice logs and experiences that other geocachers have written, and that inspires me to hide more unique caches.

What’s your favorite geocache to find?
I enjoy finding creative caches that the cache owner has put some serious thought, time, and effort into. For this reason I enjoy multi and puzzle caches the best! More specifically I enjoy gadget caches. Gadget caches are easy to find, but you have to do something special to access the log. I am fortunate to have local cachers such as Killlerbee, Arealwhit, WVcachers3, and Dukemartin (Just to name a few) that strive to hide cachers to give the community a unique experience.

Do you have anything you want to say to the geocaching community?
If you don’t think you have the ability or creativity to hide a unique cache, think again. The internet has an abundance of great and unique cache ideas to get inspiration from. You can can the concept from one cache, change the theme, and make it a completely new caching experience! Some of the best caches I have done have been based on a common theme such as “The Gold Bug” (GC62631) or “Cap’n Morgan’s Booty” (GC5Y8AB). I have another cache entitled “Mission Impossible” (GC4NDPR) that is a 5 stage multi cache, and in each stage is a different puzzle cachers have to solve before they can advance to the next. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and create a unique caching experience. The community will thank you, and who knows… you may even be featured on the Geocaching Blog!

Photos:

Continue to explore some of the most amazing geocaches around the world.
Check out all of the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog. If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, fill out this form.