Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 update introduces festive changes and items

It's officially festive season in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Toy Day is right around the corner and players are gearing up for one of the most highly anticipated events in the Animal Crossing year.

The 2.0 update was released well over a month ago, but that hasn't stopped it from continuing to impact the game today. The 2.0 update scheduled content and a few changes for the holiday season. Here's what players need to know.

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How the 2.0 update changed the holiday season in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Festive season officially starts today, December 15. It will continue to run through January 6. Cedar trees all over Animal Crossing players' islands will be decked out with holiday lights during this time.

Festive season occurs regardless of Hemisphere, so even if Southern Hemisphere players don't have snow, they'll have the decorations.

Red, blue and gold ornaments will be falling from these trees during this season. They can be used as crafting materials in many festive DIY recipes. In the past, players could talk to villagers who were crafting during this time and get only the DIY recipe for the item they're crafting.

Many festive DIY recipes require ornaments to craft (Image via Nintendo)

That led to players having many duplicates, but the 2.0 update removed that. Now, if Animal Crossing players already have the recipe, they'll receive the ornaments instead of the recipe.

The Festive Furniture series is among the game's most popular, but many players have already collected all of the items. The 2.0 update introduces five brand new items to the Festive series:

• Giant ornament
• Ornament garland
• Ornament table lamp
• Ornament tree
• Ornament crown (wearable item)

These DIY recipes can be collected the same way others can: through talking to villagers or shooting down the balloon recipes that float above the island.

There are also five new variations for these new items:

• Red
• Green
• Purple
• Pink
• Blue

These color variations apply to all new items except for the Ornament Crown, since that is not a furniture item.