About Halloween

Halloween is a holiday event in Animal Crossing: New Horizons in which you give candy to villagers, and also to Jack (the czar of Halloween) in exchange for spooky furniture and other special rewards.

When Is Halloween?

Halloween takes place on October 31st each year, starting at 5 p.m. and lasting until midnight.

How to Get Candy

Candy can be purchased at Nook's Cranny (from the cabinet) throughout October for 120 bells. However, you are only allowed to purchase one piece per day. During the event, you can also receive candy from indoor villagers if you're wearing a costume (such as impish horns or an animal costume).

Giving Candy to Villagers for Rewards

Villagers desperately want candy from you on Halloween. Hand a piece over, and the villager will give you a piece of spooky furniture, a recipe for spooky furniture, or a lollipop. Eventually, villagers also start to give you pumpkins you can use for crafting.

Giving Candy to Jack for His Outfit

Give Jack candy twice to get Jack's robe and Jack's face. You can wear Jack's robe and Jack's face together to (temporarily) trick villagers into thinking you're the czar of Halloween! They'll be frightened and give you candy, but then they realize who you really are (and won't be fooled again).

Lollipops for Jack

Villagers will sometimes give you lollipops in exchange for candy; make sure you save them for Jack! Lollipops are Jack's favorite things ever, and he will give you special rewards for them. The first year you participate, he will give you these items:

• spooky carriage
• spooky carriage DIY recipe
• spooky wand DIY recipe

If you've already received those items in a previous year, he will instead give you two items: a spooky carriage and a spooky wand. (No recipes are given out if you already know how to make them.)

Once you've received those special rewards, Jack goes back to giving out the pieces of his outfit.

Being Tricked

If you have candy, and refuse to give it to a villager, they will trick you. They can change your skin color (perhaps to blue or green!) and put face paint on you! You can remove the face paint from your pockets, but you will need to have access to a mirror to change your skin color back. Fortunately, the first villager to trick you will also give you a mirror you can use.

Learning Reactions

In addition to spooky furniture rewards, you can also learn some reactions on Halloween! A villager may teach you the "scare" reaction, and Jack will teach you the "haunt" reaction. It's fun to use these reactions on villagers! They may be scared, or they may use the reaction right back at you.

How does the event differ from previous Animal Crossing games?

In New Leaf, you had to wear one of six monster masks to scare the indoor villagers (based on their individual fears). And outdoor villagers wanted to play mini-games to make you earn any candy that they gave you. Those aspects of the event are completely gone.

The New Horizons event plays more like the event on GameCube or in City Folk. However, villagers do not initiate conversations with you in New Horizons. So it's much easier to avoid being tricked. In fact, you won't get tricked unless you have candy and still refuse to give it away. Also, villagers no longer dress up as Jack. Instead, they wear impish horns or an animal costume...so you should have no trouble telling who is who.

Summary of Halloween Exclusive Items

Some of the spooky items can ONLY be acquired on Halloween (October 31st). Here is a quick summary of them, including how you get each item, and the selling price for each.

Spooky Furniture

The rest of the spooky set can be purchased from Nook's Cranny, and recipes for them can be acquired in the usual ways (from a villager, from a balloon present, etc.). Here is a list of those items and the selling price for each.

Good luck, and Happy Halloween!

Want to read my Halloween 2020 blog entry?

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