18 December 2021

Winter in Animal Crossing

The Magic of Winter in New Horizons

Again, apologies to Seaside players, as this is the second post about New Horizons I have made on this site.  Since my accounts was hacked, however, I have been unable to access my other sites, which is frustrating and unconscionable.  I would like to be able to help players of New Horizons, however, with a few tips.   I do feel any Seaside player would enjoy New Horizons immensely.  For those Seaside players who complain about the ever-increasing number of premium items in the game, the wonderful thing about Animal Crossing is that, once you purchase the game itself, Nintendo adds an extraordinary number of updates with new items and the player never had to pay again.  To me, this is wonderful.

This post is about Winter in New Horizons.  It is Winter now, but only if your Island is located in the Northern Hemisphere.  If in the South, the Summer season has begun.

The game runs on real time, but a really enjoyable and helpful aspect of the game is the ability to alter your system clock to travel back in time, whether it is a matter of hours,  days or months.

The fact is that many players have day jobs.  If they do not change the time, they may find themselves able to go to the game  in the dead of night when all the shops are shut.  Time travel cam make the difference between utter frustration and true enjoyment.

Winter involves a number of special options.  The biggest event of the Season is Toy Day.  From 1 December, Nook will offer a special Toy for future gift giving on Toy Day which is like Christmas really.

On the 11th of December, your landscape will change to snow, and you will begin to see falling snowflakes that you can catch with a net.  These are used to create items.

On 12th December, Isabelle will make reference to the snow and tell you that you may find snowballs on the ground.  You should find two each day.  These can be rolled into Snowboys who, if made properly, will give you special recipes and large snowflakes in gratitude for bringing them to life.  You can make a new Snowboy every day.

Note that if you make a Perfect Snowboy and have more than one character, you can load each to go to the Snowboy for a quick chat.  Each player will receive a random Frozen recipe DIY and a large snowflake from the same Snowboy.

On the 15th, Christmas multi-coloured lights will appear on the Trees and if you shake trees, you randomly can find Ornaments of different colours.  Like the Pine cones and Acorns of Autumn, these can be used to create special seasonal items.

More to follow!  Tips on creating a perfect Snowboy as well as the appearance and uses of the Dung Beetle.

Festival DIYs

You may obtain the festival DIYs that use ornaments in a couple of ways.  Ordinarily, you find them by shooting down balloons of any colour apart from dark blue.  Dark blue always contain materials.

Another way to obtain these is from an Animal in his or her house at the crafting bench.  It is very useful to visit your Anulimals in this season.   If you have the DIY, the Animal will offer you ornaments rather than than a duplicate.

One Animal will have a DIY in the morning, and another at night.

Perfect Snowboy

This is something you have to learn, but two snowballs will appear daily.  The first one you touch becomes the body.  Rolling both to a point where they are not tok far from our another before they reach the desired size is prudent.  Every roll increases the size.  The body should be maximum size.   The size requirement for the head is very precise.  What I did was take a photo of the first Perfect Snowboy I made with my character beside it.  It is a good reference.  The head should be 2/3 the size of the body.  Too small or too large and you receive nothing but complaints.   Actually, your first attempt may result in rewards by a Snowboy feeling generous despite your lack of expertise but after that, the requirements are rigid.

Every character on your island can speak to a Perfect Snowboy to receive a random DIY.  They all may be different, so if you hate the activity, simply talk to the Snowboy with each character.  Only the individual who makes the Snowboy will receive a large Snowflake as well, until the characters who speak to him have received all the recipes.

The Dung Beetle will be driven to snowballs and if not stopped, will roll them into the nearest body of water.  Try to catch it with a net.  They make wonderful models.

Remember that the first snowball touched is the body, even if that touch is by a Dung beetle.

If a snowball falls into the water or is smashed, quit and reload.   You will find two snowballs again.

The Snowboy gives Frozen DIYs but sends them directly to the Nook phone.  I only received one new recipe thzt uses Snowflakes this year.

Toy Day

Toy Day is 24 December.  It is not the last day when you can shake ornaments from the decorated Cedar trees but it is the last day toys will be sold at Nook's and it is the day when Jingles appears at the plaza.

Speak to Jingles:
1.  He gives you a DIY to make special festive wrapping paper  and asks that you craft three.  Remember it is a DIY card.  You need to learn it before you can craft it.

Bring him the paper and he will give you a Magic Bag with gifts for all the animals.  Equip it and speak to each of your animals to complete Jingle's quest.  It has to be equipped when you speak to any animal or you will be unable to give the gift.

When all of the animals have received a gift, report to Jingles.  He will give three rewards:
Set of Toy Stockings
Diy for a Gift Pile
Toy Sleigh

He will take back the Magic Bag as well.

This is where many new players make the error if thinking Toy Day is done.  If you have been buying Toys throughout the season, wrap 10 and give one to each of your Animals to receive a gift in return.  The gift will be a Toy.  You may have received three gifts from Animals when you were handing out Jingle's presents, but this is the way to obtain Toys that were not sold at your Nook's or different colours.  You actually can regift a Toy given to you, but you must wrap it first.

On Toy Day, no Animal will be found crafting at a bench, but between 25 December and the end of the year, you still may obtain a Festive DIY randomly from an Animal at home.   

Remember there is one DIY available before noon and another after noon.  I never have obtained two Festive diys from Animals on the same day,, but you will receive two different recipes if you visit every one both in the morning and evening.

They still may be obtained randomly by shooting down a balloon but the odds are poor.

Remember that if you have created more than one character,  each can obtain the (same) DIY from.an Animal and each can talk to a Perfect Snowman for a different random DIY.  Each can experience Jingle's event as well.

Set of Stockings

Hang it on the wall and use the A button the next day to receive a secret gift of Jingle's photo.

New Festive DIYs

New to this year I believe:
Festive Top Set*
Ornament Crown
Giant Ornament
Ornament Tree
Ornament Table Lamp

*I believe this is for Hanukkah

Special Goods

In the seasonal menu, the special food items appear only through the 31st.  The New Year items, including Lunar New Year items will continue to be sold for some time.

New Year Silk Hats

You can purchase four different colours from Tortimer on New Year's Eve.  Each Island has different sets of colours.  You cannot order these from your catalogue afterwards.

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