Animal Crossing: New Leaf/Events and Holidays

There are many different Events and Holidays that are celebrated in Animal Crossing. Some of these holidays are region specific but there is at least one event or holiday occurring each month to keep you busy.

Fishing Tourneys
The Fishing Tourney is held and judged by a beaver called Chip. He can be found on the day of the event at the Event Plaza next to the winner's tent. Size is all that matters in this event. The goal is to catch the largest fish and present it to Chip, though you won't get the fish back. The tourney can sometimes be limited to certain fish like Sea Bass, or it can have no restrictions at all.

Each time you beat the current record, Chip will give you a prize, which include exclusive fish-themed furniture not found anywhere else. Hence, you should only break the record with slightly larger fish repeatedly to get more items from him.

After the event has finished, a price-giving ceremony is held. If you enter the tent beside Chip, the ceremony will commence. If you get the 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in the tourney, you will get a trophy for your efforts, which can be displayed in your home as furniture. If you aren't present for the ceremony, it will be canceled and the trophies will be mailed to the winners the next day.

Bug Off
The Bug-Off is ran and judged by a chameleon called Nat. He can be found in the plaza outside the winner's tent on the day of the Event. The objective is to catch the highest quality bugs. Nat judges each bug and assigns a score. Each bug is examined for rarity, size and lustre. Once you hand a bug over to Nat you will not get it back from him. The most rare bugs are the Golden Stag and the Horned Hercules which can easily be caught on The Island.

Each time you beat the current score, Nat will present you with an item. It makes sense to start off by giving him more common bugs first allowing you to break the record each time. This will help you get a lot of new items from him in one day.

If you place 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the tournament you will be presented with a trophy during a prize-giving ceremony in the winner's tent. Displaying trophies in your home can help boost your HHA Score.

Halloween
On the 1st October a mysterious character called Jack will appear in your town. He has a pumpkin for a head and reminds you about the Halloween holiday. During October the Nooklings and the Able Sisters sell special Halloween items including furniture, candy and clothing. Collecting these items during the month will help with the Halloween event.

On Halloween night you use scary masks (purchased from the Able Sisters) to get candy from villagers. This candy can be exchanged for rare Spooky or Creepy furniture from Jack in the event plaza.

Harvest Festival
During the Harvest Festival, you need to help Franklin the Turkey gather ingredients for meals. He will be available in the Town Plaza between 6am and 10pm. He needs help with four different dishes: Salad, Soup, Main and Dessert. He will tell you 3 of the items he needs but each dish has a 4th "secret" ingredient. You can trade for items with villagers that are dressed in the Chef Uniform. These villagers will also provide clues to the secret ingredients you need.

Here are all the recipes that Franklin can use. He will only make one from each category. Some items can only be acquired from your Chef villagers during the Festival.

Toy Day
During the month of December your villagers will talk about Toy Day and give you clues about what they would like to receive from Jingle. It's important to take note of this information as it is random for each villager and a definitive list does not exist. The villagers will provide two clues - one will indicate the colour of the item and one will indicate the type of item. For example, a villager may request black clothing or green furniture.

Jingle will appear in your town on Toy Day (Christmas Eve) at 6pm. In order to help him you need to dress in the Santa outfit. All items will be available to purchase on that day from the Able Sisters and Kicks. Once you are ready to start, Jingle will give you a sack of presents. Each gift will correspond with an item requested by a villager. Simply visit each animal in your town and hand out the gifts.

Return to Jingle once you have handed out all the items and he will reward you with a Festive Wreath. If you deliver all the items to the correct animals, you will receive Jingle's pic in the mail the next day.