Our tropical islands turn into snowy holiday getaways in December. The normally bare evergreens suddenly get strung up with lights, decorations appear on villagers' houses, and a magical layer of snow blankets the ground. Plus, exciting toys and clothes appear in the shops.
Leading up to December 25, players can collect presents, craft festive items, create snowmen (snowboys), and decorate their islands to perfection. Then on Toy Day when Jingle the Black-Nosed Reindeer arrives, there is plenty to do to make your villagers' days perfect. Here's everything you need to know about Toy Day and activities for this wintery time of year.
What to do on Toy Day — December 24
The majority of holiday fun takes place on December 24, or Christmas Eve, rather than Christmas Day. Here's exactly what you need to do on your Animal Crossing island on both December 24 and December 25 for the Toy Day festivities.
Run errands for Jingle the Black-Nosed Reindeer
Jingle arrives on your island after 5 a.m. your local time on December 24 and stays until 5 a.m. December 25. He'll set about giving you two tasks, crafting festive wrapping paper and then asking you to deliver presents to your villagers. Once you've done both things, you will be rewarded.
Step 1: Craft Festive Wrapping Paper
Talk to Jingle, and he'll tell you that he forgot to wrap your villagers' presents and will give you a recipe for DIY Festive Wrapping Paper before asking you to craft three of them. To craft all three items, you will need a total of 3 Blue Ornaments, 3 Yellow Ornaments, and 3 Red Ornaments.
- How to get Ornaments for DIY Recipes: From Mid-December through early January, if you shake one of the festive Christmas trees on your island, it might just drop an ornament. You'll be able to use these ornaments to craft Toy Day decorations. It's hard to get these things to drop, so you might have to shake your trees several times before one falls to the ground.
- Reward: Once you have the three Festive Wrapping Paper pieces in hand, return to Jingle and give them to him. As a reward, he'll give you a set of Toy Day stockings. Make sure to hang these in your house right away (more on that to come).
Step 2: Deliver toys to your villagers
Now Jingle will give you the Magic Bag, a.k.a. Santa's toy sack, and will ask you to deliver gifts to your villagers. You must deliver all of the gifts before 5 a.m. your local time in the early morning hours of December 25 as both Jingle and the Magic Bag will disappear at that point. Run around and talk to your villagers. They can be anywhere on the island, including in their homes, in shops, or walking around outside.
- Dressing like Santa isn't necessary: You don't have to don the red hat the coat if you don't want to, your villagers will know that the gifts are from Santa when they see the Magic Bag. But dressing up can be part of the fun. These clothes can be bought from Able Sisters if you want them, but only if they're in stock.
- Your villagers aren't picky: Unlike previous Animal Crossing games, you don't need to choose which gift to give them; the Magic Bag makes it so you automagically pull the right gift for each of your neighbors.
- Reward: Return to Jingle when you're done delivering the presents, and he'll give you the Toy Day Sleigh and a Gift Pile DIY recipe.
Exchange gifts with your villagers
In addition to giving out presents from Santa Claus on December 24, you can also exchange gifts with your villagers, if you'd like. To do this, simply purchase some wrapping paper from the green cabinet at Nook's Cranny (or craft some) and wrap up something currently in your inventory; even a rock will do. Once the presents are wrapped, give them to your villagers.
You'll recall that fun toys have been available to purchase every day at Nook's Cranny. Now is the perfect time to wrap up any of those gifts you might have acquired before now and hand them out. Your villagers aren't picky; they'll like anything you give them.
All Toy Day gifts you can buy at Nook's Cranny
From December 1 - 25, Nook's Cranny sells fun toys, which you can purchase and then give to your favorite Animal Crossing characters on December 24. Make sure to check into Nook's Cranny daily to see what new finds there are in-store. These toys come in different colors, but you'll need to trade with friends to get all variations.
- Dinosaur Toy
- Dollhouse
- Kids' Tent
- Mini Circuit
- Pop-Up Book
- Puppy Plushie
- RC Helicopter
- Set of Stockings
- Tin Robot
What to do on Christmas Day — December 25
Remember how I mentioned before that you need to hang up the Toy Day Stockings somewhere in your house on Decemeber 24? That's because if you go and check those stockings on December 25, you'll find that there's a special item waiting for you inside: Jingle's Framed Photo.
When will snow be on my Animal Crossing island?
- Northern Hemisphere: December 11 - February 24
- Southern Hemisphere: June 11 - August 24
Unfortunately, snow won't immediately blanket your trees and island starting the first day of December. You'll need to wait about a week and a half later for that to happen. On December 10, the music on your island will change to include jingle bells, and snowflakes will fall in earnest. Then, your islands will be covered in snow on December 11. All you have to do is open Animal Crossing the next day, and you'll see plenty of snow. Plus, you can start collecting Snowflakes with your net, similar to catching a falling Maple Leaf in Autumn.
Snowflake DIY Recipes
These are the recipes you can craft with your captured Snowflakes. They are all acquired by popping balloons, except for the Snowflake Wreath recipe, which Isabelle gives you.
| Name | Materials |
|---|---|
| Snowflake Wreath | • 4 Snowflakes |
| Snowflake Wall | • 12 Snowflakes |
| Snowflake Pochette | • 6 Snowflakes |
| Ski-Slope Wall | • 8 Snowflakes |
| Ski-Slope Flooring | • 8 Snowflakes |
| Iceberg Wall | • 10 Snowflakes |
| Iceberg Flooring | • 10 Snowflakes |
How to make the perfect Snowboy
Winter isn't complete without a snowman, or Snowboy, is it? While wandering around on your island, you might find two snowballs on the ground. Run up to one, and you'll kick it, making it ever so slightly larger. Continue to kick it until it becomes large enough to roll around. Now continue to roll the snowball around and have it get larger. When it's a decent size, do the same to the other snowball.
When the two snowballs are a good size, roll one onto the other to form a Snowboy. The first time you do this, the Snowboy will come to life and will give you both a Large Snowflake and a Snowboy DIY recipe. But from now on, you'll have to make the perfect Snowboy if you want to earn prizes. You can only make one Snowboy a day, so you need to make them count.
Do you want to build a snowman?
- Step 1: Roll the first snowball until it's as large as it can possibly get.
- Step 2: Roll the second ball until it measures up to the bottom of your ear when you're standing next to it. Use the camera app on your NookPhone to see just how tall the snowball is next to you.
- Step 3: Push the second snowball on top of the large one.
Perfect Snowboy rewards & winter furniture
These are the rewards Snowboy will give you if you build the perfect Snowman.
| Name | Materials |
|---|---|
| 3 Tier Snowman | • 1 Large Snowflake• 6 Snowflakes• 2 Tree Branches |
| Frozen Arch | • 1 Large Snowflake• 10 Snowflakes |
| Frozen Bed | • 1 Large Snowflake• 10 Snowflakes |
| Frozen Chair | • 1 Large Snowflake• 1 Snowflake |
| Frozen Counter | • 1 Large Snowflake• 4 Snowflakes |
| Frozen Partition | • 1 Large Snowflake• 6 Snowflakes |
| Frozen Pillar | • 1 Large Snowflake• 3 Snowflakes |
| Frozen Sculpture | • 1 Large Snowflake• 4 Snowflakes |
| Frozen Table | • 1 Large Snowflake• 8 Snowflakes |
| Ice Candy | • 1 Large Snowflake• 1 Snowflake |
| Ice Floor | • 1 Large Snowflake• 8 Snowflakes |
| Ice Wall | • 1 Large Snowflake• 8 Snowflakes |
| Ice Wand | • 1 Large Snowflake• 3 Snowflakes |
| Ice Tree | • 1 Large Snowflake• 8 Snowflakes |
| Snowman Hat | • 1 Large Snowflake• 5 Snowflakes |
How to get Festive DIY recipes
You'll need to shoot down balloons floating over your island throughout December to earn Festive DIY recipes. Curious to know what kinds of materials you'll need for each Festive item? Continue reading.
All Festive DIY recipes
There are 13 Festive DIY recipes to help you celebrate Toy Day. I've listed them in alphabetical order and included the materials needed to craft them.
| Name | Materials |
|---|---|
| Big Festive Tree | • 5 Wood• 5 Clay• 4 Gold Ornaments• 6 Blue Ornaments• 6 Red Ornaments |
| Festive Rug | • 5 Gold Ornaments• 5 Blue Ornaments• 5 Red Ornaments |
| Festive Tree | • 5 Wood• 2 Gold Ornaments• 2 Blue Ornaments• 2 Red Ornaments |
| Festive Top Set | • 1 Hardwood• 2 Gold Ornaments |
| Holiday Candle | • 5 Clumps of Weeds• 5 Red Ornaments |
| Illuminated Present | • 3 Iron Nuggets• 4 Gold Ornaments• 3 Red Ornaments |
| Illuminated Reindeer | • 5 Iron Nuggets• 6 Gold Ornaments |
| Illuminated Snowflakes | • 3 Iron Nuggets• 9 Blue Ornaments |
| Illuminated Tree | • 6 Iron Nuggets,• 6 Gold Ornaments• 6 Blue Ornaments• 6 Red Ornaments |
| Jingle Wall | • 5 Clay• 5 Gold Ornaments• 5 Blue Ornaments• 5 Red Ornaments |
| Tabletop Festive Tree | • 2 Clay• 3 Tree Branches• 5 Gold Ornaments |
| Ornament Wreath | • 2 Gold Ornaments• 6 Blue Ornaments |
| Ornament Mobile | • 4 Tree Branches• 1 Gold Ornament• 1 Blue Ornament• 1 Red Ornament |
Wear holiday clothes
Able Sisters also gets into the holiday spirit by providing festive clothing for you to purchase. Throughout December, keep an eye out to see what cute Christmas sweaters, dresses, or Santa Clause hats you can find. Once you have nice selection of clothing, you can take pictures and make some cute Animal Crossing Christmas Cards.
Jingle's amiibo card
That's right; there is a Jingle amiibo card. Just like the Jack amiibo card for Halloween, when you scan Jingle's card while visiting Harvey's Island, you'll be able to bring this reindeer into Photopia.
Then you can decorate the area, make him emote a certain way, and take fun holiday pictures. You can also invite him to have coffee with you at The Roost using this amiibo card. If you also happen to have the Animal Crossing: Happy Home Paradise DLC, scanning this card will allow you to create the perfect vacation home for this happy reindeer.
Santa's little helper
By scanning this amiibo card, you can invite Jingle to Photopia for photoshoots or invite him to coffee at the Roost. You can even build his dream getaway if you have the Animal Crossing Happy Home Paradise DLC.
Animal Crossing Christmas
Animal Crossing: New Horizons continues to prove just why it is one of the best Nintendo Switch games ever made. Gather presents and crafting materials throughout the month in order to make your island the perfect holiday getaway. Of course, if you absolutely love any of your villagers, you'll want to think about the perfect gifts to give them, so check Nook's Cranny often.
When Jingle arrives on your island, you'll have plenty of tasks to keep you busy, but you'll be rewarded for your assistance. See if you can collect everything there is to collect and decorate your island to perfection.
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○ How to make money fast
○ Multiplayer guide
○ How to become best friends
○ The NookPhone explained
○ What is NookLink?
○ Can you play Animal Crossing on Nintendo Switch Lite?
○ Every Animal Crossing amiibo
○ Best Animal Crossing Switch accessories
