Animal Crossing: New Horizons Toy Day event: What to expect

Now that Turkey Day is done and eaten, it's time to prepare for Animal Crossing: New Horizons Toy Day, the next big in-game event. There are ornaments to shake from frees, new DIY recipes to unlock and collect, and even new NPCs to meet. There's plenty going down with Animal Crossing: New Horizons December changes.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Toy Day guide

December 24 is Animal Crossing: New Horizons Toy Day and will see the arrival of the reindeer NPC, Jingle. During the event, you'll be tasked with hand delivering presents to your island residents from Jingle's toy bag dressed up as Santa himself.

Watch out though, your residents will start dropping hints about the presents they'd like to receive from December 1, so if you really want to give them the perfect gift, you'll need to take note.

We'll learn more about the event in the run-up to December 24, but what we do know is that you'll be able to unlock exclusive items during the event too. These include present stacks, a Christmas door wreath, and a photo of Jingle himself.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons ornaments

A brand new feature for Animal Crossing: New Horizons Toy Day is the appearance of Animal Crossing: New Horizons ornaments. From December 15, these Christmas decorations will be found when shaking trees in both the northern and southern hemispheres. There are three types available - red, blue, and yellow - and they'll be used to craft a new furniture set that personifies the holiday season. These include a big holiday tree, an illuminated reindeer, glowing presents, candles, and more. Here is the list of all the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Ornaments DIY recipes:

Big festive tree
Festive top set
Festive tree
Holiday candle
Illuminated present
Illuminated reindeer
Illuminated snowflakes
Illuminated tree
Jingle wall
Ornament mobile
Ornament wreath
Tabletop festive tree

Animal Crossing: New Horizons toys

Starting December 1, you'll be able to buy a range of Animal Crossing: New Horizons toys from the seasonal spot in Nook's Cranny. These are brilliant new festive themed items that come in a range of colours and patterns (sadly not customisable, so you may need to travel about to get the full set). The full list of Animal Crossing: New Horizons toys items that will be available across December is as follows:

Kids' Tent (White, Pink, Black, Stripes, Floral, Blue, Brown Colorful)
Puppy Plushie (Beige, Red, Lemon and White, Spitted, Black, Tricolored, Gray and White, Pink)
Tin Robot (Silver, Blue, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Pink, Black)

What else to enjoy with the Animal Crossing: New Horizons December update

Of course, outside of Animal Crossing: New Horizons Toy Day itself, there are also plenty of other new features coming this December on your island.

1. Snow
Northern Hemisphere players can expect to start seeing snow falling from the end of November. However, you won't start see it settling until around December 11, when you should expect your island to turn into a wintery wonderland.

When that does happen you'll be able to build Snowboys. Building a perfect one will open up new crafting recipes too, for which you'll need snowflakes. To build a perfect Snowboy, you'll need to roll up two snowballs and stack them together, making sure they're about equal in size.

2. Snow Flakes
Like the cherry blossoms and maple leaves that have come before, snow flakes are a fluttering winter collectable that you can grab when you see them from the air with your net. These will start appearing around December 11 too, and make a really pretty twinkling noise when nearby.

3. New festive items at the Able Sisters
Along with the ornaments and toys, you'll notice that there are seasonal items available through the tailor. It's not quite as vast as the selection of Halloween costumes that were on offer through October, but you'll get a Santa's hat, beard, top, and trousers. And a Reindeer hood and onesie. Plus there are holiday sweaters and more to discover.

4. Countdown
On December 31, you should also lookout for the New Year's Countdown - quite the iconic celebration if you're a long-time Animal Crossing fan. Outside Residents' Services you'll see a huge countdown clock that'll tick away the minutes until you can ring in the New Year with your residents. Let's hope 2021 is better, eh?

Along with the Countdown itself, there will also be a selection of food and drinks-related items to purchase for the event. Rumour has it that they'll be available from December 26.

Sam Loveridge is the Brand Director and former Global Editor-in-Chief of GamesRadar. She joined the team in August 2017. Sam came to GamesRadar after working at TrustedReviews, Digital Spy, and Fandom, following the completion of an MA in Journalism. In her time, she's also had appearances on The Guardian, BBC, and more. Her experience has seen her cover console and PC games, along with gaming hardware, for a decade, and for GamesRadar, she's in charge of the site's overall direction, managing the team, and making sure it's the best it can be. Her gaming passions lie with weird simulation games, big open-world RPGs, and beautifully crafted indies. She plays across all platforms, and specializes in titles like Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, The Sims, and more. Basically, she loves all games that aren't sports or fighting titles! In her spare time, Sam likes to live like Stardew Valley by cooking and baking, growing vegetables, and enjoying life in the countryside.