December 2023 is one of the most content packed months in Animal Crossing New Horizons, there's so much going on from tons of items and materials to collect, seasonal materials to gather and events to enjoy - Toy Day & New Year's Coundown Event. The new month also gives critter collectors lots to do, with a fresh rotation of bugs, fish, and deep-sea creatures to be caught and donated to the Museum. Here's what players can expect from the December 2023 update & changes in New Horizons.

ACNH December Update 2023 - New Events, DIYs, Seasonal Items & Changes in Animal Crossing

November represents the start of the holiday season in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, featuring major events such as Turkey Day. However, with the large Toy Day and New Year's Eve events, December is perhaps the finest month of the year for ACNH. The new month also provides plenty of opportunities for critter collectors, with a new batch of bugs, fish, and deep-sea creatures to be gathered and presented to the Museum. Also, there are new DIY recipes, new seasonal items, updates and changes. Let's dive into all the exciting things happening in the game this December!

2023 ACNH December Seasonal Items

There are a ton of seasonal items to collect in December. These are all of the seasonal items that you potentially could purchase, some of them are hemisphere related, and others will appear closer to the New Year's Event. some of these previously Furniture items have been turned into food items post the 2.0 update. So now they can actually be consumed and they will give you energy which is really helpful. So it might be a good idea to stock up on some of these.

2023 ACNH December Snow

If you're in the northern hemisphere, you will start to get snow. Late into November and early December, you'll see snow start to fall around your Island. But then from the half point of the month snow will settle on your Island and you can enjoy it in all of its Glory including some new activities as well that you can only enjoy when it's snowing. 

2023 ACNH December Snowflakes

Snowflakes will start to float around your Island and you can catch them with your net. You can then use these snowflakes to craft a whole bunch of seasonal related items which you can get the DIY recipes from balloons and villagers crafting on your Island. There are a lot of different recipes to collect throughout the month of December if you don't have many of them. Thankfully, Nintendo did update it with a 2.0 update, so that villagers can actually give you these recipes as well, you don't just have to get them from balloons, so that should help you a lot. 

Here are the snowflake DIY recipes:

• Frozen Bed (1xlarge snowflake, 10xsnowflakes)

• Frozen Tree (1xlarge snowflake, 8xsnowflakes)

• Frozen Arch (1xlarge snowflake, 10xsnowflakes)

• Frozen Chair (1xlarge snowflake, 3xsnowflakes)

• Frozen Counter (1xlarge snowflake, 5xsnowflakes)

• Frozen Partition (1xlarge snowflake, 6xsnowflakes)

• Frozen Pillar (1xlarge snowflake, 3xsnowflakes)

• Frozen Sculpture (1xlarge snowflake, 4xsnowflakes) 

• Frozen Table (1xlarge snowflake, 8xsnowflakes) 

• Frozen-Treat Set (1xlarge snowflake, 1xsnowflake) 

• Frozen Floor Tiles (8xsnowflakes)

• Ice Wall (1xlarge snowflake, 8xsnowflakes)

• Ice Flooring (1xlarge snowflake, 8xsnowflakes)

• Ice Wand (1xlarge snowflake, 3xstar fragments)

• Snowflake Wreath (4xsnowflakes)

• Ski-slope Wall (8xsnowflakes)

• Snowflake Wall (12xsnowflakes)

• Iceberg Wall (10xsnowflakes)

• Falling-Snow Wall (3xsnowflake, 10xstones)

• Ski-Slope Flooring (8xsnowflakes)

• Ski-Slope Wall (8xsnowflakes)

• Iceberg Flooring (10xsnowflakes)

• Snowflake Pochette (6xSnowflake)

2023 ACNH December Snowman

You'll also be able to start to create your own snow person, you can find two snowballs around the island, push them together at appropriate lengths and then you will have yourself a snow boy. Just be careful with how you make them, and try and make them as even as you can or they might not turn out right. The snow person can give you giant snowflakes and other items as well, so it's definitely worth doing, you'll need some of these to craft items as well. 

Here’s how to make a perfect snowman in Animal Crossing New Horizons December 2023:

Materials Needed:

• Snowballs (you can make these by pressing A near snow patches on the ground)

Creating Snowballs:

• Roll your character against the snow patch to build up a small snowball

• It will grow larger the more you roll back and forth

• Aim for a snowball size between the two icons shown (smaller is better to start)

Layering Snowballs:

• Place the smaller snowball on the ground where you want the snowboy to be

• Pick up and place the larger snowball on top

• Position it precisely by pressing buttons to nudge the top ball into place

Tips for a Perfect Snowboy:

• The bottom ball should take up just over half the character sprite

• Top ball should be just under 2x the bottom ball

• Leave a small gap between the balls when layering

• Rotate and nudge the top ball into a balanced position

• Talk to the snowboy once built to get DIY recipes and items as a reward

2023 ACNH December Ornaments

There's another type of seasonal material that you can collect for both the Northern and the Southern Hemisphere and this is the ornaments. Isabelle will start to decorate the cedar trees around your Island in December and from that point onwards you can shake them to get a various assortment of ornaments. These ornaments can then be used to craft many different items that are festive related and it's definitely cool that you can get this seasonal material no matter what hemisphere you're in. So shake those trees to get those ornaments and don't forget to craft some of the many items that you can get throughout this season as well.

2023 ACNH December Toy Day Event 

On the 24th of December, Toy Day will happen and this is one of the best events in Animal Crossing New Horizons. Toy Day will require you to go and find jingle who's usually at your resident serves his Plaza and from there you will take part in some quests for him. You'll be giving out presents to your villagers and you'll even be doing a gift exchange with them as well. This is definitely one of the most beloved events in all of Animal Crossing and it's no exception in New Horizons. There's also some exclusive items you can only get from taking part in this event, so it's worth it.

2023 ACNH December Birthdays 

Then let's take a look at all the birthdays that villages will be celebrating throughout the month of December. Here you can see all the villages which are celebrating their birthday and you can celebrate with them around your Island. this a lot of fun to do the birthdays are kind of like mini events in themselves and given you only get 10 villagers is not exactly something you get to experience too often. So definitely make sure to celebrate with your villagers around the island in December if you have any of these. 

This also ties into an update for this Nintendo switch online feature which allows you to collect villagers as your profile picture. You can collect all of the villagers who are celebrating their birthday in December as well as some special characters which Nintendo will select characters like jingle who are related to the holiday season, so you can have them as your profile picture on Nintendo switch and show them off to all your friends. Something cool about this feature is the fact that it is stuck in real time which means you can't time travel like you can in Animal Crossing to get different icons for different months. It is updated by Nintendo in real time via the real world. So if you miss out on any of these you will have to wait a whole year for a chance to get them again. So definitely make sure you head on to this feature in December, so you can collect all the villages that you would like to. 

2023 ACNH December Shop Updates

Nooks cranny will be selling Toy Day related items throughout the month of December. In their little seasonal stand, they will have many little cute toys that you can collect and these items are really cool. You'll also be able to see Timmy and Tommy and various other shopkeepers around the island dressed up for the Toy Day season. On Toy Day, the Able Sisters will also be filled with a whole bunch of Christmas related outfits as well, and once again you can see Mabel dressed up for the event. So it's definitely worth heading into these shops if you want to make sure you can collect everything. It's nice to see them all decorated for the Toy Day event. And you should go around and see which other characters have dressed up as well, there's a lot that have. It's very similar to Halloween where they'll dress up for that as well.

2023 ACNH December New Year’s Eve

Finally on the 31st the New Year's countdown will begin. This is the last major event of the year and it's a really cool one. You can head to the resident services Plaza and begin to celebrate with all of your villagers and you can also get some cool items from Tom Nook and Isabel too. Once the New Year actually starts at midnight on January 1st, fireworks will start to explode in the skies of your Island and it looks really fantastic.