Contrary to previous games in the series, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was very much 'incomplete' when it launched back in March. In a move that upset time travellers the world over, Nintendo made the decision to roll out annual events in the game via updates throughout the year.
While this had the benefit of keeping buzz about the game circling on sites and social media on a monthly basis, it also prevented guide and video makers from zipping forward to the events and spilling the beans months before their calendar-dictated debut.
But what has been your favourite event of 2020 in New Horizons? Well, there's a poll that asks you just that question at the bottom of the page, but first let's have a quick recap of all the events — large and small — that came to deserted islands on Switches around the world.
First up after the 20th March 2020 launch of the game was Bunny Day, a twelve-day event that saw Zipper T. Bunny sending you on an egg hunt. For many players too many eggs came far too soon after the game launched. We were still settling into the rhythm of things, trying to catch fish and dig up fossils and half the time ending up with a bloody egg instead.
To be fair, younger players tended to enjoy hunting the eggs, although we were glad to see the back of them.
Next up in the last week of April was the return of Leif the sloth and his shrubberies for the Nature Day Event — another 'day' which lasted nearly a fortnight. Sandwiched in the middle of that was the May Day Event which saw the return of stalwart villager Rover (okay, 'return' might be a bit strong — 'cameo appearance' is closer) on the one-time May Day maze tour.
The second half of May was taken up by the International Museum Day Event which charged you with collecting stamps around the museum in order to collect three plaques for the related to fish, fossils and bugs. Very nice they were, too, although completing the Stamp Rally on other days only netted you identical plaques. The walls in our bathroom were filled with them.
The entire month of June was taken up with Wedding Season, and while it was great to photograph ReTail lovebirds Cyrus and Reese on Harv's island the first time, 30 days of doing essentially the same thing wore down our enthusiasm. The four Bug-Offs and Fishing Tourneys spread throughout the year were far less arduous.
Sunday evenings throughout the month of August were brightened by the Fireworks Shows which arrived in the July update. You could make custom fireworks to fill the night skies with your bespoke designs and enter Redd's raffle to get your hands on prizes not available anywhere else.
The October Halloween Event saw the return of Jack, the czar of Halloween, in the Fall update which also added new makeup options, costumes and pumpkins. Franklin returned to the series in time for the Thanksgiving-themed Turkey Day in November, with Toy Day taking place just recently on Christmas Eve.
There are more events to come in the New Year, of course, and 20th March 2021 will mark exactly one year of events. It'll be most interesting to see if next year's repeats are altered in any way — perhaps to offer returning players new rewards, or to make tweaks based on feedback from last year. We'd certainly welcome some little equippable item which automatically scrambled any eggs in the water while we were trying to catch fish!
So, which of the annual Animal Crossing: New Horizons events above was your favourite? Let us know by picking your two favourites in the poll below (we've also added in the Cherry Blossom, Maple Leaf and Mushroom 'seasons' if you really enjoyed collecting those items for DIY Recipe sets):
Let us know below what you enjoyed above your favourite event (or what took the shine off your least favourite) and tell us what you're looking forward to in 2021.
Comments (45)
Halloween and Toy day were my favorites for sure! I’m still on the hunt for the last few festive DIY recipes ☺️
Where’s the option for ‘anything but Bunny Day’?
I voted for the Fireworks Shows. There wasn't much to do in comparison to other events, but there was something so neat and heartwarming about seeing all the animals so excited about them, and then their reactions as it was going on.
Halloween and Turkey day, in part because i could get the recipes and other event items from sources other than balloons.
Toy day was amazing too, me going “Awww...” at the villagers’ reactions to the gifts... ^_^
Turkey Day for me was an obvious winner because it felt more involved than a lot of the others but still had a challenge. Toy Day was my second choice, whilst it wasn't the most demanding festival, I loved the rewards and my villagers reactions to receiving gifts.
Bunny day was an atrocious and spawn rate mess. They need to tweak that one for next year if anything.
@gloom @nessisonett I liked Bunny Day! I found the weirdness of Zipper hilarious and liked the Zipper toy, plus the bunny items helped me to create a circus around Pietro's house!
I also liked May Day and Wedding season a lot, because it was nice to have some events away from the island (and Resident Services...) Plus nice to see Cyrus, Reese and Rover again. Liked the tacky wedding day plate.
@MysticX This. Honestly, all these events need to have alternatives to balloons. Toy day was nearly ruined for me because of the amount of balloon farming I needed to do just to decorate my town for the season.
Oh darn. I just realized I missed out on the Christmas event entirely. Same thing as happened with New Leaf: I became so focused on wealth accumulation that everything else ceased to feel meaningful. Maybe there's a life lesson in there somewhere?
Maybe I should start over and NOT take the Citizen Kane route this time.
I thought May Day was underrated. The maze was pretty fun and it was nice surprise seeing Rover at the end.
I voted Wedding Season for making a funny scandalous wedding party photoshoot, featuring me as a police caught a couple of Cyrus and Reese held an illegal wedding party. 🤣🤣🤣

Here is the scandal that i caught. 🤭
Me : You two are under arrest for celebrating an illegal wedding party without permit from the venue owner !!! 😡
Cyrus : I, i, i, i.... can explain, sir. 😰
It was... very complicated and... we have no choice, so....
Reese : Waaaaaaah....!!!! 😭😭😭
You lied to me, Cyrus !!!
Not to be cynical but my favorite event was the one where I turned it off and didn’t look back. I sank a little over 100 hours into it before I realized not enough was changed up from New Leaf to keep it fresh for the AC vets. It almost felt like the same game with slightly improved visuals. Sure there were a few new improvements like being able to modify the terrain, create paths etc... but I poured about 500 hours into New Leaf and aside from that just felt like more of the same.
Definitely May Day, that maze was a ton of fun.
I can't choose "None".
@Anti-Matter Haha, Harvey doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would require a permit to use his venue!
I feel like the May Day maze was more fun than all the other events, it was just over as soon as it started. I would like to see more creativity like that moving ahead but maybe fleshed out a bit more. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Toy Day, etc are cute for a few minutes but they're not enough to really suck me back into the game. After 800 hours I need substance.
Halloween was great, gave me plenty of time to start decorating my island for the season. Toy Day was my number too, but with only 10 days to try and get those, hard to acquire through balloons, festive DIYs and decorate my island before Xmas was NOT enough time.... Why not start to season on Dec 1st?
May Day maze was great, but it was only a 1 short time thing, same with Museum day. Both great, but more would be great. Maybe a new maze everyday for a week? Anything Cherry Blossom is ALWAYS great! ^__^
@Clyde_Radcliffe

Long time ago, there was a chaos during wedding party that caused the guests got diarrhoea after eating the wedding cake.
I called it Wedding Party Sabotage. 🤭
Okay, how many of you lied and said Bunny Day?
I literally didn’t know wedding season was a thing until reading this article, and it’s not as if I wasn’t playing in June
May Day, it was very interactive and the maze!
The holoween one was the only one I enjoyed. I decorated and redid my whole island. I was hoping toy day would be the same but not so much. I don't care about making meals and waiting for balloons which still dropped other stuff besides toy day things which was terrible to me. AC is about done for me @165 hours played.
The fireworks shows warmed my heart, so that’s number one. I started a new job in august, which was very stressful, and the fireworks shows made me feel like there were still some happy summer feelings to enjoy. I also picked Halloween because that music is just amazing and the island looked spectacular that night with all of my spooky decorations and the creepy clouds.
The Bug-Offs and Fishing Tourneys are vastly improved over those in past games. Success or failure now depends purely upon my own skill, not upon a hidden random value that I can't gauge until it's too late to change it.
@Anti-Matter XD! How did you get Rover at your wedding party anyway?! I think mine only had people who live or work on my island.
@Clyde_Radcliffe
I have Rover Amiibo figurine.
Also, i can scan other Animal Crossing Amiibo figurines for Wedding Event / any photoshoot.
I have to say Toy day, it was so much fun! And to prepere all month for it was even more fun:)
I'm usually too busy to really get involved in the holiday events but overall I really wasn't impressed with holiday events. Don't get me wrong I've sank over 325 hours and that number will continue to grow but eh.. I just enjoy the 'island life' from day to day. I'm ready for the next 'banger' Nintendo game though.
Halloween hands down.
gotta throw a vote on fireworks day. The absolute best song in the entire game soundtrack to this point. Plus toy day was great. I think I spent 1m on gifts.
I like the way they rolled out updates. It helped keep the community alive. While it's unfortunate for some who don't have the patience, I think it was good for the community as a whole.
My five year old plays AC once every two months, so we missed all these events except the Easter one. I wish you could somehow trigger any events you missed
@Ralizah Thanks to you, I’m now obsessively imagining Charles Foster Kane living reclusively on the outskirts of my village! Maybe I should change a neighbor’s catchphrase to “Rosebud”?
As for my answer. For many reasons, I took a lengthy break from the game and missed out on some things, so I couldn’t vote for a couple of these options out of honesty. With all that said, I was surprisingly pleased with Turkey Day. The music got stuck in my head, heh. And I, of course, like Halloween a lot! But also the cherry blossoms... if only I could’ve picked a three-way tie!
@Qphlat27 You may have been unimpressed with the events, but I’m very impressed with your avatar choice! I love Wild Guns!
Switching the game on for Christmas Eve after about a month away and seeing the island carpeted in a layer of crisp snow and shimmering with festive lights and snowflakes was... quite magical.
Perhaps I shouldn’t be crediting Toy Day itself so such as ‘winter’ in general, but that feeling puts it at the top of my list. Took me right back to Animal Crossings of old, where there wasn’t particularly a whole lot to do, but just watching the world unfold and evolve on its own rhythm was a reward in itself.
I also thought the cherry blossom season was quite touchingly beautiful, so those two got my pick.
When everything closed earlier this year and I was at home for 3 months from work, I used Animal Crossing New Horizons to celebrate my Birthday. A few friends logged in and visited my island. We played some games, took pics, and spammed some emotes. It was nice. Even tho I couldn't do too much because of the pandemic, the game allowed me to still socialize that day.
Halloween was the best but wedding photos were also a lot of fun because you could get really silly with them! The decorations weren't as good as Halloween though
Can't be the only one that liked the Easter event...
@CharizardEmperor @Mipha Suprised to see May Day was not more appreciated (maybe a lot of people acquired ACNH after that date). Out of all the invents i think it's the one that was more challenging and diverse than the others (which were more fetch-and-collect-y). Rover's maze was clever and even though the reward was not that great, solving the maze in itself was a rewarding experience.
My second choice was Turkey Day because it exploited the fishing mechanics quite well and the spawn rates on that day helped you get what was needed before the whole thing got on your nerves.
As someone who put in over 500 hours into ACNL and is now closing in on 400 hours in ACNH, I can say that I am a fan. And, I do like NH better for the crafting, customization and terraforming.
That said, the events are more simple than before. That is why I voted for Turkey Day, I like that you could make a dish, but, then if you wanted to do more, you were able to get extra ingredients for a special dish.
But, on the other hand, usually on holidays I am busy with family life and it is definitely awkward to excuse my self for 20 minutes while I try to find the right mask to scare Shep.
How about a poll for least favorite? Bunny Day for sure!
I like mushroom stuff a lot! Despite finding only a few of the recipes myself - because the balloon farming is ridiculous, I love the mushroom theme and the items, and was fortunate enough to be able to trade stuff for the mushroom theme items!
I'm enjoying the game but these events have been lacklustre and the rewards are never worth the effort, but these two stand out as being particularly poor:
I was gutted with the Maze one, I thought I was getting a new cat villager only to get a stupid suitcase after working out (for longer than I'm willing to admit) how to get through that maze.
Same with the Christmas one, the sleigh was a crap prize for the money and time spent on all of the presents - really wish that I didn't waste time on Christmas eve but it was limited to the one day and I couldn't TT to it when I had spare time in the build up (which is a stupid idea)
@Mipha yeah, Mayday was a fun puzzle treat probably my favorite if they hadn't made it a one off thing. Made me wish river was one of the weekly or maybe monthly chatters who could show up just to give you another puzzle island ticket and reward you with around the world based furniture.
Think I enjoyed Wedding season and Turkey Day the most. I enjoyed setting up photo shoots for Cyrus and Reese, and I also like searching for ingredients for Turkey Day.
Voted Bunny Day. Hate me?
I actually quite liked museum day it was fun to explore the museum more and I have those trophies in like 3 different rooms in my house
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