Animal Crossing December update trailer previews new event, recipes, and so much snow

The first trailer for Animal Crossing: New Horizon's December update is here, previewing the thick blanket of snow that will soon cover your island, a new Holiday-themed event, new bugs and fish, and new DIY recipes.

The headliner for December is the Animal Crossing Toy Day event, which takes place on December 24. That's when Animal Crossing's resident ambassador of the holiday season, Jingle the reindeer, turns up on your island and tasks you with giving presents to your neighbors.

If you've been waiting for snow to come to your island, you can expect the full wintery scene to unfold later this week, complete with decorated trees that drop ornaments you can use in various DIY recipes. The trailer above shows a few of the things you can craft to turn your island into a shimmering winter wonderland befitting of the season. Naturally, you've got your festive trees, but there are also stacks of presents, glowing reindeer decorations, and gnomes.

With new weather comes new critters you'll encounter around your island. Dive into the icy waters and you might get lucky enough to catch a lobster, and be sure to look behind that rolling snowball - there could be a cute little dung beetle pushing it around. You can also roll around snowballs yourself and stack them together to make a snowman.

Finally, the Pocket Camp Nook Phone Case is a small but cute addition to the Nook Shop. And though it's not in-theme with the season, it would make the perfect present for an island resident or a real-life friend.

Don't miss our essential Animal Crossing: New Horizons tips for making the most of island life.

Jordan Gerblick

After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

Latest in Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing's "obscure references" were all "localized out completely" before its debut in the West, as Nintendo felt it needed to "change everything"
Anime Life Sim
After unsuccessfully attempting to launch a Monster Hunter clone, this controversial dev is now supposedly releasing an Animal Crossing-like game on PS5
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp trailer screenshto showing a chibi-style female character with bobbed brown hair, a yellow flower atop her head, and a chef-like top, smiling with her arms out
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp's new paid version has finally arrived and is microtransaction-free, but fans already miss the old app
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp trailer screenshto showing a chibi-style female character with bobbed brown hair, a yellow flower atop her head, and a chef-like top, smiling with her arms out
As the free-to-play Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp prepares to go offline, Nintendo reveals more on the paid replacement - including its $20 price tag
Galactic Getaway
This multiplayer life sim is like Animal Crossing in outer space with Mario Party minigames, and it's just what I needed this Steam Next Fest
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp trailer screenshto showing a chibi-style female character with bobbed brown hair, a yellow flower atop her head, and a chef-like top, smiling with her arms out
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp players blast "greedy" Nintendo as new items roll out despite the game's imminent shutdown
Latest in News
Balatro
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
Death Stranding 2 Collector's Edition
Hideo Kojima reveals Death Stranding 2: On the Beach release date, and the Collector's Edition includes exactly what I predicted it would
Kingmakers
Kingmakers is a strategy game about taking on medieval armies with a gun, but its devs thought the giant mech was too much
The Witcher 3 lead says "not many games" were trying to match the RPG back in 2015, and that meant "there was a risk" to making it in the first place
The Blood of Dawnwalker
The Witcher 3 dev says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker wants to challenge genre conventions, but only if "we're changing them to actually achieve some goal"
Daredevil recap: The Defenders
Marvel fans are discussing which of the Netflix series characters would have survived the Blip