Animal Crossing: New Horizons players are celebrating birthdays and weddings in-game

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Players are also recreating canceled holidays

(Image credit: Nintendo via Reddit u/ashmush)

Animal Crossing: New Horizons players are holding celebrations and recreating weddings in-game to make up for canceled plans as a result of the coronavirus. 

Since the game launched on March 20, players have been flooding Twitter and Reddit with posts of their in-game celebrations, with players throwing surprise birthday parties for friends and even creating whole wedding ceremonies that they can't attend or throw at the moment. 

On Reddit, u/ashmush posted a picture of the wedding ceremony their fiancé surprised them with after they had to cancel their plans. "My fiancé planned it out with our best friends," ashmush writes in the comment below, "I'm graduating from med school and not getting a graduation and our wedding was cancelled. I was feeling pretty down about missing out on my milestones. This made me so happy, I don't even have the words to describe how much it meant to me." 

My fiance and I had to cancel our upcoming wedding due to Covid-19, so our best friends gave us a surprise animal crossing wedding instead from r/AnimalCrossing

For many who are missing on milestone moments, the delightful virtual island makes for the perfect set-up to throw all kinds of shindigs. On Twitter, Jackie Lee posted a video of a surprise birthday party complete with an adorable table decorated with presents and happy birthday written across the ground. The celebrations once again demonstrate just how creative the Animal Crossing community is, and it just goes to show the many ways you can use New Horizons' tools to throw a truly amazing party. 

For many who had trips and holidays booked have also had to cancel their plans, which has also led to some players trying to recreate the holiday they weren't able to have. In a Reddit post by u/jjjjjoseph, they sent their Animal Crossing villager on their canceled trip to Tokyo by trying to recreate it in-game. 

My trip to Tokyo got cancelled, but my villager made it somehow from r/AnimalCrossing

Animal Crossing: New Horizons isn't the only game that's been enabling people to hold celebrations. Just recently Japanese students held their own graduation ceremony in Minecraft. Tom Nook's deserted island getaway released at a time when people around the world needed it most, and it's heartening to see the many creative ways it's bringing people together to celebrate special occasions when they can't do so in reality. 

If you're just about to arrive on your very little island, here are all the Animal Crossing: New Horizons tips you need to get started. 

Heather Wald
Heather Wald
Evergreen Editor, Games

Heather Wald is the Evergreen Editor, Games at GamesRadar+. Her writing career began on a student-led magazine at Bath Spa University, where she earned a BA (Hons) in English literature. Heather landed her first role writing about tech and games for Stuff Magazine shortly after graduating with an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University. Now with almost seven years of experience working with GamesRadar+ on the features team, Heather helps to develop, maintain, and expand the evergreen features that exist on the site for games, as well as spearhead the Indie Spotlight series. You'll also see her contribute op-eds, interview-led features, and more. In her spare time, you'll likely find Heather tucking into RPGs and indie games, reading romance novels, and drinking lots of tea.