WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Toy Day 2020 in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
On Dec. 24, aka Christmas Eve, Animal Crossing: New Horizons villagers can celebrate Toy Day with their villagers. Jingle, the black-nosed reindeer, will visit players and request their help with delivering gifts to each of the villagers on their islands.
Players who have unlocked the upgraded Resident Services building and Isabelle will be able to participate in the Toy Day event, which runs for a full 24 hours starting at 5 a.m. local time. It's not possible to time travel to to the event early, but players can log in at any time during the day cycle on Christmas Eve to play. Here's a complete guide, including to-do lists and prizes.
After donning their holiday apparel and heading to Resident Services, players will encounter Jingle walking around in the plaza. The complete Santa outfit will be available in the Ables Sisters tailors shop on Toy Day for players who haven't purchased it yet, though it's not required to participate. It merely prompts comment from some villagers and adds to the aesthetic of the festive day.
When players talk to Jingle, whether or not they are dressed as Santa, he'll teach them how to make Festive Wrapping Paper. This recipe requires 1 gold ornament, 1 blue ornament and 1 red ornament, which can be acquired by shaking decorated pine trees around the island. To move onto the next stage of Toy Day, players need to craft three pieces of Festive Wrapping Paper to give to Jingle.
Once players complete this step, Jingle will give them a set of Toy Day Stockings and the special Magic Bag. The former can be hung in players' homes and will grant them Jingle's Photo when they interact with it on Christmas Day. The latter holds special presents for every villager on the island.
Unlike in past Animal Crossing games, when players had to pay attention to villager hints throughout December to determine the exact right gift to give them, New Horizons eliminates this guesswork. The Magic Bag automatically supplies the best gift for each villager and can even tell players who hasn't been gifted if they check it in their inventory throughout the day.
To gift a villager from the Magic Bag, players simply need to interact with them. They'll be prompted with two options: "I have a gift for you!" and "Happy Toy Day!" Each one will allow players to give out gifts from "Santa."
In addition to the Festive Wrapping Paper DIY, Toy Day Stockings and Jingle's Photo furniture items, Animal Crossing: New Horizons players can earn two additional prizes: Gift Pile DIY (3 red wrapping paper, 1 Cardboard Box, 1 Wooden-Block Toy) and Toy Day Sleigh. The former is acquired by gifting at least half a player's villagers from the Magic Bag and the latter is acquired by gifting all of them.
Once the Magic Bag is empty, players can exchange wrapped Toy Day gifts with their villagers. Here, players will have full control over what gift they give to each villager, just like a normal day. Exchanging wrapped gifts will net them items from the holiday toy set, including color variations that may not have been available in Nook's Cranny during the first weeks of December.
Toy Day takes place in Animal Crossing: New Horizons starting at 5 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 24. The event will run for a full 24 hours, until the in-game day resets at 5 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 25.