Nintendo sent me some gifts in exchange for this post but all opinions are my own.
A couple of weeks ago, Animal Crossing: New Horizons launched a new update full of spooky features! Below I’m sharing what’s new in the game, how you can enjoy trick or treating and Halloween parties safely this year with Animal Crossing, and what to expect next!
Note: I don’t want to spoil the Halloween event so I will warn you before telling you anything about Halloween night that can’t be gathered from the trailer!
What’s New to Animal Crossing: New Horizons with the October 2020 Update
Harvest Pumpkins
It’s just not October without pumpkin all the things, right? Now in Animal Crossing, you can purchase pumpkin starts from Nook’s Cranny every day or from Leif whenever he visits your island. Just buy them, plant them, wait for them to grow, and then harvest them! Pumpkins come in four colors- orange, white, green, and yellow- but you won’t know what color your pumpkins are until they grow!
For this reason, I recommend buying a ton of pumpkins and planting them right away because you’ll need lots of pumpkins for the next big part of the update…
Collect and Craft New Spooky DIYs
In order to get your island to maximum spooky capacity, there are 14 new spooky items you can craft! Each DIY uses orange pumpkins to craft, and most recipes also require some of the more typical materials, like iron and wood.
Another fun thing about these new recipes is that many of the Spooky recipes can be customized into different colors- but instead of using Customization Kits to customize them, you’ll need pumpkins in the color that you want to change the item to!
That’s why it’s important to plant a whole bunch of pumpkins- you want to maximize your chances of getting the colors you want!
Spooky DIY Recipes include: Spooky Arch, Spooky Candy Set, Spooky Chair, Spooky Fence, Spooky Lantern, Spooky Lantern Set, Spooky Scarecrow, Spooky Standing Lamp, Spooky Table, Spooky Table Setting, Spooky Tower, and three additional Spooky Recipes that you can only get on Halloween night.
How to Buy Spooky Items in Animal Crossing
A new feature that hasn’t been done with DIYs before is that you will also be able to purchase many of these Spooky items at Nook’s Cranny. There will be one rotating item in the seasonal display area per day. I’m guessing this is because of the short amount of time given to collect the DIYs and materials, craft them, and enjoy them before Halloween is over, but it’d be kind of cool to see some of the non-Spooky DIYs come to Nook’s Cranny sometimes too! What do you think?
How do you get Spooky DIY Recipes?
You can get the Spooky DIY Recipes in three ways: from a villager crafting in their home, from a balloon flying overhead, or on Halloween night.
Villagers may also give you the other non-Halloween night exclusive Spooky DIYs in exchange for the candy that you give them while trick-or-treating on Halloween night, so if you don’t manage to get all of the DIYs before the big night there’s still hope!
SPOILERS FOR HALLOWEEN NIGHT: On Halloween, you’ll be able to get the Spooky Carriage and Spooky Wand DIYs when you give Jack a lollipop {more on that later}. Additionally, you can get the Spooky Garland DIY exclusively by giving a villager a lollipop on Halloween night.
What are the two new reactions for Halloween 2020 in Animal Crossing?
Think you have all of the reactions? Think again! The update brought with it two new reactions: Haunt and Scare, which you can see in the Halloween Update video. I won’t elaborate more than that so as to avoid spoilers, but no need to talk to every villager all month long in pursuit- these new reactions can only be learned on Halloween night!
How to Get Candy in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Candy is new to the game and can be purchased at Nook’s Cranny. You can find it in the cabinet but be warned, you can only buy 1 piece per day! You will want to have as much candy as possible on Halloween night, so be sure to log in and buy a piece every day! Candy is also needed to make the Spooky Candy Set but make those sparingly- you’ll want that candy on Halloween!
SPOILERS FOR HALLOWEEN NIGHT: Another type of candy you’ll need for Halloween is a lollipop. These can not be purchased or crafted- they will be a gift from random villagers during trick or treating in exchange for the candy you give them.
New Hair and Skin Customization Options with the Fall Update
With the October update, Animal Crossing has added new skin tones and eye colors! You can purchase these in the Nook Shopping feature just like the fun hair colors and styles, using Nook Miles.
Skin tones range from witch green to vampire white, with other fun Halloween face paint inspired shades thrown in. Eye colors are similarly themed, with bright pink, light grey, and more. These skin tones and eye colors are perfect for completing your costume!
Halloween Costumes available at Able Sisters
The new update finally brought some new outfits to the Able Sisters shop! Each day you’ll find a piece of Halloween costume clothing- that might include a Mage costume {dress, hat, shoes, tights}, a cat face, and more!
How to Throw a Halloween Party on your Animal Crossing: New Horizons Island!
There is SO MUCH potential for hosting an awesome Halloween party on your island, whether you host it on Halloween night or ahead of time. Here are some ideas to get you in the spooky spirit:
Decorate Your Island: Gather as many Spooky DIYs and pumpkins as you can and get to work making your island Halloween ready! Pumpkins can be used as decorations, too- you can even use hay beds to set up your own little pumpkin patch!
Make a Hay Maze: Speaking of hay beds, if you can craft a bunch of them you can make a hay maze! Clear an area of your island {maybe start with the beach- it’s fall now, after all} and set up a fun hay maze for your visitors. Step it up by burying Pitfall seeds and maybe even make everyone wear a King Tut mask so they trip a lot!
Host a Costume Contest: Have all of your friends and family who are attending come dressed in their best costumes and vote for the winner!
Have a Costume Parade or Fashion Show: If you’d rather just show off your awesome costumes without any winners or losers, set up an area where everyone can walk the runway or walk around a special area flaunting their costumes! Take fun videos and don’t forget to use reactions for some pretty great photos and video clips!
Trick or Treat: Invite your friends and family to visit your island to Trick or Treat at YOUR house! Buy some wrapping paper at Nook’s Cranny, wrap up some treats like candy and NMT- and some “tricks” like rotten turnips or plastic cockroaches from the Bug Off. Then pass them out randomly or let visitors pick their own item from a pile and see what they got!
Make a Haunted House: There are SO many fun and creative ways to make your house spooky! Decorate your house for Halloween and invite your friends and family to come check it out all dressed up!
What to Expect from the Next Fall Animal Crossing: New Horizons Update
At this time, there are two things that we know for sure- there will be some sort of Harvest Festival {Thanksgiving} celebration and something for the holidays as well. Back before the game even came out, Nintendo showed a video that included the Harvest Festival character, Franklin, so we know that he’s coming to the game. And the image at the end of the October update video previewing the next update included Jingle, the holiday character, so we know that’s coming too! At this time though, that’s all we know for sure.
***Spoilers for Animal Crossing Halloween Night***- All About the Halloween Event
The rest of this post will contain info you might want to know to prepare for Halloween night- but it is totally spoilery! If you want to go into Halloween night being totally surprised, stop reading now! {I’m not including pictures so that no one gets spoiled on accident- if you want to see all these cute things in action, be sure to play on Halloween night!}
On Halloween night, starting at 5pm Jack will come to visit your island. He’ll be all dressed up and the island music will be changed and ready for a spooky night of fun!
The characters on your island will all be dressed up, including characters like Mable, Orville, Isabelle, and Timmy and Tommy. Be sure to visit them all to see how cute they look!
The Plaza is all decorated for Halloween, and that’s where you’ll find your villagers all dressed up in costumes. Three of your villagers will be at home so that you can trick or treat at their house, in case you run out of candy. The rest of your villagers will either be near the plaza or close to their homes, and they will all want to trick or treat- constantly! {Hint: even if you have a lot of candy, tell one of your villagers you won’t give them candy at least once- the “trick” is so fun!}
Throughout the night, you’ll get lots of special gifts from your villagers and Jack. You’ll know you’ve gotten everything when you start getting duplicates. The event goes until midnight so it’s up to you when you want to call it a night!
I know many of us are going to be unable to do our usual annual traditions, so I’m really happy that we’ll be able to do something to celebrate. We’ve been celebrating many holidays and events like graduations and birthdays through the game this year, and it’s just more reason to love Animal Crossing!
Will you be celebrating Halloween on your Animal Crossing: New Horizons island this year?
Learn more about Animal Crossing: New Horizons here:
13 Animal Crossing: New Horizons Tips You Don’t Know
How to Earn Bells in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
How to Celebrate Valentine’s Day in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
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