Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Returning lost items to your villagers

There are so many things to find on your island, most of which you're selling for bells! But sometimes, you'll stumble across an item that clearly belongs to someone else. Sure, you could keep it, but the right thing to do, of course, is to return it to its rightful owner. How do you do that? Well, I'm glad you asked!

What are lost items and how are they different from other items?

When you find a lost item, you'll know it immediately. It will show up as a small brown bag on the ground. When you pick it up, it will be labeled "Lost item" and you'll be prompted to find its rightful owner. If you track down the owner and return their lost item, you will be rewarded for your time, so it's definitely worth asking around. Plus, you will build up your rapport with your villagers!

How to return the lost item

Fortunately, returning these lost items is super easy and shouldn't take more than a couple minutes of your time. just follow these easy steps and you'll be finished in no time:

1. Press A to pick up the Lost item.

   Source: iMore/Casian Holly

2. Find a villager (any villager will do!)
3. Press A to talk to the villager.

4. Press A to select "You lose this?"

   Source: iMore/Casian Holly

5. Select the Lost item in your inventory.

   Source: iMore/Casian Holly

6. Press A to show it to the villager.

7. If the item does not belong to that villager, they will tell you who it belongs to.

   Source: iMore/Casian Holly

8. Find the villager it belongs to.
9. Press A to talk to the right villager.

10. Press A to select "You drop this?"

    Source: iMore/Casian Holly

11. Select the Lost item in your inventory again.

    Source: iMore/Casian Holly

12. Press A to return it to the villager.

13. Your villager will be so grateful you returned their lost item, they will give you an item as a reward.

    Source: iMore/Casian Holly

And it's just that easy. Your villagers get back their missing things and they shower you with presents. Win-win, right?

Questions?

Do you have any questions about returning lost items? Want to show off the reward you got from a grateful villager? Drop us a comment below and be sure to check out our other Animal Crossing: New Horizons guides for more Tom Nook approved goodness!!