The first event to honour the All Blacks will be held at Auckland's Victoria Park after the team arrives home on Wednesday.
Events will also be held in Wellington and Christchurch and the celebrations will be particularly poignant for Dan Carter and the other retiring players as it's their last official functions as All Blacks.
Auckland journalist Duncan Grieve has just finished ghost-writing Dan Carter: My Story; it started a year ago as a typical sports book, but now it reads more like a fairy tale.
"It does have a fairy tale feel, which is very different to how it looks six months ago when I wondered if he'd even make the squad," says Mr Grieve. "That's where a lot of the happiness and relief from him comes from, a guy who struggled so hard with injury finally had his body come right at the perfect time."
A jubilant Carter gave him the final chapter just a couple of hours after the full-time whistle yesterday morning.
"I have a regular Sunday basketball game, so I played with a phone strapped to my arm just in case he called during that – [I] didn't hear from him then finally three or four hours later got through to him, spoke to him for about 20 minutes and it was fantastic to talk to him. It meant that I could finish the book – and just to hear the emotion in his voice, it was beautiful."
The last words finally written were not lost on Carter, even on a long day of lasts.
"Ever since the final whistle it's just hit me… it's the last time I'm going to be with this bunch of guys, last time I'm going to wear the black jersey, last time I'm going to represent my country at rugby," Carter says. "It's pretty a pretty sobering feeling."
His last official Rugby World Cup events will start at Victoria Park in Auckland at midday on Wednesday after the team arrives home at 7am. Thousands are expected to turn out and captain Richie McCaw can't wait.
"I heard from home how much excitement there is back in New Zealand, perhaps that's when it will hit how much an impact winning this thing again has had for everyone at home – so I'm looking forward to that opportunity when I get home on Wednesday," says McCaw.
Events will also be held at Hagley Park in Christchurch on Thursday and in Wellington on Friday, with McCaw and Carter sure to get the type of send-off players – and biographers – dream of.
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