After almost a whole month of no updates since the last Animal Crossing Toy Day event, fans can finally rejoice for the upcoming event on Feb. 15, Festivale, as well as March’s events and surprises.
What is “Festivale”?
Festivale is all about color, costumes and having fun. Its first debut was in Animal Crossing: City Folk and will now come to Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Festivale happens in either February or March, depending on the year. And who is the host of this lively event? None other than the king of party animals: Pave, a peacock who loves to dance and adores feathers. In City Folk and Animal Crossing: New Leaf, the event’s goal is to collect feathers to give to Pave, and in return, he will provide you with cool items.
What Was Added in the January Update?
In “New Horizons,” after updating the game to 1.7.0, you can get special “Festivale” items. You can receive them using the game’s Nook shopping app, which you can access either at Nook Stop Terminal at Resident Services or with your NookPhone if you unlocked the app.
Of these items, the football rug and cheer megaphone are still available. For the megaphones, there are four different colors: football, fiery, glittery and starry. You can get them all in Nook Shopping, and they are randomized every day until Feb. 15. If you press A, you can shout and cheer for your team.
The lucky red envelope and Bokjumeoni lucky pouch are also available. If you’d like to give your friend either the envelope or the pouch, be sure to wrap any amount of money you want to cover. In places like China and South Korea, children are given a red envelope and a small bag filled with cash to wish for their good health, which these items are based on.
Other items available in January and earlier in February were the Resetti model, bean-tossing kit and maracas. Players can time travel in the game to acquire these items even though January and early February have passed. One other item you could get in January is a mermaid fence DIY kit from the character Pascal. To do this, make sure you have your wetsuit ready and start diving for scallops. Once you find one, Pascal will appear and ask you for your scallop; say yes, and he will give you the DIY kit and leave. The materials required are a bit tough to find, but if you adore the Fence’s pastel and dreamy look, it is sure worth crafting.
Arriving in February
February is when the main event takes place. From Feb. 1 to 14 in the Nook Shopping App, love is in the air as Valentine’s Day items appear. First are the chocolate hearts in four different colors: red, gold, white and pink. Following is the heart-shaped bouquet with six blooms. They are red, pink, yellow, purple, white and, lastly, black.
There is no special event announced for the 14th, sadly, but maybe when that day comes, something will occur. Nonetheless, you can still give a chocolate heart or a bouquet to your special villager.
Ultimately, the main draws are the Festivale items and more. You can buy items, clothing and even reactions, all very colorful and fun-looking. Starting on Feb. 1 in Nook Shop, you can purchase the new Viva Festival Reaction Set from Nook’s Cranny’s shelf. The set contains four reactions: Feelin’ It, Let’s Go, Viva and Confetti. On the same day, you can start purchasing items related to the Festivale event in Nook’s Cranny and Able Sisters. You will get one new thing every day. There are nine furniture items and three pieces of clothing:
- Festivale Drum
- Festivale Lamp
- Festivale Parasol
- Festivale Balloon
- Festivale Flag
- Festivale Confetti Machine
- Festivale Stall
- Festivale Garland
- Festivale Stage
- Festivale Accessory
- Festivale Tank Dress
- Festivale Costume
You will notice that others have different colors for the items while you have another color of the set. Just like with some of the Toy Day items, the colors depend on your airport. For example, if you have a yellow airport, your Festivale items will be blue instead of purple, red or green. You will either need to trade others for different colors or wait until the Festivale event. As for the clothing, you will be able to get all the colors; however, not all of the clothing types appear on the same day, so be sure to check the Able Sisters every day to get the new clothing.
During the Festivale Event
The event happens on Feb. 15, but it is time-locked, so you cannot time travel, and you will need to wait until the actual day to celebrate. Based on previous Animal Crossing events, the event will likely start at 5 a.m. and go until 4:59 a.m. the next day, and the tasks will be relatively simple. Even though it is inaccessible at the moment, there is information on what you do in the event and what you will get. This is a spoiler warning; if you do not want to know any of this, please skip this section.
To collect feathers during the Festivale event, you go through your island with a net and look for them as they spawn from the sky; afterward, you give the feathers to Pave for items. The first thing you need to do is head to the plaza when the event begins and talk to Pave. From there he will give you the rainbow feather DIY. (Players who had played the previous games will be delighted with this because back in New Leaf, rainbow feathers spawned in the air and their spawn rates were scarce, but if you have one of every colored feather, you can craft as many as you want.)
Pave wants you to collect three feathers of the same color. If you do this, you will receive an item of the color you give him, meaning you won’t have to trade with others for colors you want. You can also customize the items to any color you wish with rainbow feathers. If you give Pave a rainbow feather, he will, in return, give you a rainbow-colored item.
You can also talk to your villagers, and they are willing to trade you their feather for yours. The final part of Festivale is your reward for completing the event. If you received at least nine items from Pave, he will give you a Festivale float. It is a large golden peacock float decorated with rainbow feathers, and when you touch it, music plays from it while it moves its head from left to right in a loop until you press it again. This is one of the most refreshing items received from events yet. After you complete the event, you can continue to exchange feathers for more things, so don’t worry about being event-locked.
Coming Soon in March
The most attention Animal Crossing New Horizons received recently was for the January update; however, more news was hidden away, not necessarily for New Horizons, but more for a returning collaboration. The Animal Crossing New Leaf Amiibo Cards for Sanrio characters will be reprinted and are coming to the U.S. exclusively at Target on March 26, after originally being released in 2016. The cards were first released along with the Welcome Amiibo update for New Leaf, and these cards contained new villagers as well as Sanrio-inspired villagers and items.
The cards’ downside was that they were released in Japan and Europe only. While Japan only got two cards and a sticker in a pack, in Europe, you only needed to buy one pack, and you’d get all six cards. But this reprint is worldwide. It has been reported that the cards will be similar to their previous print, meaning that, like Europe, if you buy one pack, you will get all six, but the information could be subject to change.
Many have been wondering whether the villagers on these cards will be in New Horizons. In New Horizons, if you already have the Sanrio Amiibo Cards, you will get the posters based on the stickers you obtain from the booster packs. Unfortunately, there is no news on this, and Nintendo has not said anything about them coming to New Horizons.
In other news, in March, Animal Crossing New Horizons’ first anniversary is coming, as is the next Super Mario update. So far, there has been no information about the two topics, but both sound very exciting: In the update, the Super Mario items from New Leaf could make a return to New Horizons, and perhaps something big will happen on the anniversary.
