Games With Christmas Events 2026: Dates and Status for 19 Games

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Dates below come from each studio's own announcements, checked October 25, 2026.

Most games have not announced their Christmas 2026 events yet. As of October 25, 2026, the only one with official dates is Fallout 76's Holiday Scorched, December 15 to December 29 on Bethesda's community calendar, and Animal Crossing's Toy Day is built into the game on December 24. Of the 19 games below, checked against official posts on October 25, 2026, 1 has put a 2026 holiday event on the record (Fallout 76); 1 has a holiday built into the game's own calendar (Animal Crossing: New Horizons); and 17 have not announced one yet. For those, I list last year's official dates, clearly marked as 2025. A past date is history, not a promise for this year.

Quick table

Rows marked "Not announced yet" show last year's dates for reference only. Times are listed only where the studio gave one.

On the calendar for 2026

Fallout 76: Holiday Scorched

Status: scheduled (official calendar). Bethesda's Season 26 community calendar, posted with The Slasher update on September 15, 2026, lists Holiday Scorched from December 15 to December 29. The dates appear only in the calendar image (I read them from it on October 25), and it gives no start or end times. The same December row lists Double XP from December 24 to December 28 and is headed "World Pets and Season 27." Community calendars can change, so check Bethesda's news page in December.

Last year: Bethesda's Burning Springs release notes (December 2025) say "Holiday Scorched will reward all the Skyline Valley specific Snow Globes." I could not find official 2025 start and end dates, so none are listed here.

Shopping for a Fallout 76 fan? See our Fallout gift guide. On Amazon: Funko POP Vault Boy (Fallout TV) (affiliate link; check the current price on Amazon).

Sources: Bethesda, The Slasher Update and Season 26 community calendar (Sep 15, 2026); Bethesda, Burning Springs release notes (Dec 2025)

Animal Crossing: New Horizons: Toy Day

Status: built into the game. Toy Day is not a timed live event; it is part of the game's own calendar. Nintendo's Play Nintendo guide says you can "help Jingle deliver presents to your residents on Toy Day, December 24." It also says holiday decorations start to appear on your island in December, that you can shake trees for ornaments, and that the New Year's Eve countdown starts at 7 p.m. on December 31. I found no Nintendo post specific to 2026.

Last year: the official Animal Crossing account opened December 2025 with: "December is here, and that means we can look forward to celebrating Toy Day and our big Countdown event on New Year's Eve."

On Amazon: LEGO Animal Crossing Blathers's Museum (affiliate link; check the current price on Amazon).

Sources: Play Nintendo, Animal Crossing: New Horizons holiday events; Animal Crossing on X (Dec 1, 2025)

Not announced yet

Sorted by when last year's event started. The 2025 dates are history, not a forecast.

Team Fortress 2: Smissmas

Status: not announced yet. Valve's newest TF2 update notes (October 16, 2026) do not mention Smissmas. Halloween is still running: Valve says "Scream Fortress XVIII runs through November 7th, 2026."

Last year: Valve's December 9, 2025 update opened Smissmas 2025 and said "Smissmas runs through January 7th, 2026." It added six community maps (Nutcracker, Sidewinder, Abbey, Winter Ridge, Matterhorn and Gavle), the Winter 2025 Cosmetic Case and 20 new Unusual effects, and every player who played during the event got a Stuffed Stocking.

Shopping for a Team Fortress 2 fan? See TF2 weapons in real life. On Amazon: Funko POP TF2 Scout (affiliate link; check the current price on Amazon).

Sources: Team Fortress 2 updates; TF2 update notes, Scream Fortress XVIII (Oct 1, 2026); TF2 update notes, Happy Smissmas 2025 (Dec 9, 2025)

Overwatch: Winter Wonderland

Status: not announced yet. Blizzard's Season 5 post (October 5, 2026) covers the Halloween event, which runs from October 6 to November 2, 2026, and says nothing about December.

Last year: Blizzard's Season 20 post said Winter Wonderland was back from December 9 to January 7 (January 7, 2026), built around Mischief and Magic, the prop hunt mode, on a winterized map. You could earn Frozen Demon Junkrat and Frozen Mountaineer Cassidy, and spend Winter Cookies on three reward tracks: Jingle Tracer, Krampus Junkrat and Santa Claus Torbjorn.

Sources: Overwatch news, Season 5 (Oct 5, 2026); Overwatch news, Season 20 (Dec 2, 2025)

Sea of Thieves: Festival of Giving

Status: not announced yet. Rare's October 2026 round-up covers the Festival of the Damned (October 27 to November 3) and no December dates yet.

Last year: Rare's December 2025 round-up said "The Festival of Giving is back, with all kinds of ways to get involved throughout December!" Outposts were decorated from December 1, the main events (Legends of Giving and Holiday Hauls) ran from Monday, December 15 to Friday, January 2 (2026), with a free Gilded Voyage for every pirate each day, and the Pirate Emporium Holiday Sale ran December 18 to January 5.

Sources: Sea of Thieves, This Month: October 2026; Sea of Thieves, This Month: December 2025 (Dec 3, 2025)

Apex Legends: Holiday event (Merry Mayhem in 2025)

Status: not announced yet. EA's newest Apex post, the Ranked Roadmap (October 20, 2026), says Season 31 starts in November and does not mention a holiday event.

Last year: EA wrote that "The Merry Mayhem Event runs from December 16 to January 6" (January 6, 2026). Olympus got a holiday makeover in Wildcard, Guarded Airdrops held Mythic loot protected by Spectres, and the Holo-Day Bash Store brought back winter skins. A separate Winter Wipeout event followed from January 6 to 27, 2026.

Shopping for an Apex Legends fan? See Apex Legends replica props.

Sources: EA, Apex Legends Ranked Roadmap (Oct 20, 2026); EA, Merry Mayhem Event (Dec 11, 2025); EA, Winter Wipeout Event (Jan 5, 2026)

Destiny 2: The Dawning

Status: not announced; seasonal events retired. Bungie's May 21, 2026 post says "Seasonal events are being retired." The final live-service content update shipped on June 9, 2026, and weapons from Festival of the Lost, The Dawning, Guardian Games and Solstice moved to engrams at the Monument of Triumph. A September 17, 2026 post says "we are not done with Destiny" but does not mention events, so nothing official says The Dawning returns in 2026.

Last year: Bungie wrote: "This iteration of The Dawning starts on Tuesday, December 16 and will run until January 6, 2026."

Shopping for a Destiny 2 fan? See Destiny 2 replica props. On Amazon: Numskull Rival Warlock Ghost Shell (affiliate link; check the current price on Amazon).

Sources: Bungie, Every End is a New Beginning (May 21, 2026); Bungie, The Next Chapter for Bungie (Sep 17, 2026); Bungie, This Week in Destiny (Dec 11, 2025)

Call of Duty: Holiday event (Naughty and Nice in 2025)

Status: not announced yet. Modern Warfare 4 launched on October 23, 2026. Activision's launch posts list Halloween modes for Pre-Season 1 and give no Season 1 or holiday dates.

Last year: Black Ops 7's December 16, 2025 patch notes read "Naughty & Nice Event live at 10AM PT." The same day added Holiday Havoc to Featured playlists and Snowfight to Party Games, and Warzone got Holiday Rush, where "Two 36-player teams (Naughty vs. Nice)" race to deliver presents in Verdansk. I could not find an official end date.

Sources: Call of Duty blog, MW4 maps and modes (Oct 21, 2026); Black Ops 7 Season 01 patch notes (Dec 16, 2025 entry)

Minecraft: Holiday sale (no named Christmas event)

Status: not announced yet. Minecraft has no named Christmas event. Minecraft.net had no 2026 holiday sale article on October 25; the newest Marketplace round-up I found is October 2026's.

Last year: Mojang's "New Year's Sale valid from 10am PT on Dec 16, 2025 to 10am PT on Jan 6, 2026" covered Marketplace content, and any Minecoin purchase during the sale came with a free Character Creator item, the Gold Zombie Mask. Java Realms added "Twenty-two festive maps!" in December.

Shopping for a Minecraft fan? See our Minecraft gift guide. On Amazon: LEGO Minecraft The Crafting Table (affiliate link; check the current price on Amazon).

Source: Minecraft.net, New Year's Sale 2025 (Dec 17, 2025)

The Sims 4: Holiday login event (Deck the Palms in 2025)

Status: not announced yet. EA's newest Sims 4 news post (October 20, 2026) is a bug-fix list; no holiday event has been announced.

Last year: EA's free Deck the Palms login event "kicks off on December 16, 2025 at 9 a.m. PST and ends on January 13, 2026," with Jasmine Holiday handing out gifts on set days ("Make sure to log in by January 4th to claim them all"). Separately, Winterfest is the holiday on the in-game calendar that comes with the paid Seasons expansion; EA's 2018 announcement says that during Winterfest "a visit from Father Winter will brighten the day for any Scrooge-like Sims."

Sources: EA, Deck the Palms Login Event (Dec 2, 2025); EA press release, The Sims 4 Seasons (Jun 22, 2018)

Arc Raiders: Winter event (Flickering Flames in 2025)

Status: not announced yet. Embark's newest posts (October 20, 2026) do not mention a winter event.

Last year: Embark's December 15, 2025 post said "the Flickering Flames event will run from December 16th until January 13th" (2025 to 2026). The Cold Snap update arrived on December 16 with a snowy map condition and "Various festive items to get you into the holiday spirit," and a free Goalie Raider Deck was "Available from the 26th December."

Sources: Arc Raiders, Winter hits the Rust Belt (Dec 15, 2025); Arc Raiders, Cold Snap patch notes 1.7.0 (Dec 16, 2025)

Rust: Christmas event

Status: not announced yet. Facepunch's newest post, Halloween 2026 (October 22), says "This year's Halloween event will run until November 5th" and does not mention Christmas.

Last year: Facepunch released a mandatory update "at 19:00 GMT on December 18th to enable this year's festivities, no wipe, no progress will be lost," and the event post said "The Christmas event ends on January 1st @ 19:00GMT / 14:00EST" (that is January 1, 2026). When the jingle bells rang, presents spawned around each player ("Two gifts are spawned per player, in a radius of about 40m from you") in small, medium and large sizes, and a stocking hung inside your base filled with loot. Santa hats, reindeer antlers and the candy cane club returned, and the advent calendar came back as a craftable deployable that gives one in-game surprise per real-life day.

Shopping for a Rust fan? See our Rust gift guide. On Amazon: Youtooz Rust Survivor vinyl figure (affiliate link; check the current price on Amazon).

Sources: Facepunch, Halloween 2026 (Oct 22, 2026); Facepunch, Getting It Right (Dec 3, 2025); Facepunch, Silent Night, Violent Night (Dec 18, 2025)

Fortnite: Winterfest

Status: not announced yet. Epic has not announced Winterfest 2026. The newest article on Fortnite's news page in the latest copy I could read (the Internet Archive's October 9, 2026 snapshot, because fortnite.com blocked automated reading on October 25) is the October 1 Fortnitemares 2026 post. Release dates, presents and skins for Winterfest 2026 going around online are not from Epic.

Last year: Epic's Winterfest 2025 post said it was "live December 18 at 9 AM ET 'til January 5 at 9 AM ET" (January 5, 2026). Lt. Winter's cabin held 14 presents, one to open each day, refreshing daily at 9 AM ET. The Glacial Dummy Outfit unlocked after seven presents and the Cheeks Outfit after 13, and Battle Royale added Blizzard Grenades and Snowball Launchers.

Shopping for a Fortnite fan? See our Fortnite gift guide. On Amazon: LEGO Fortnite Supply Llama (affiliate link; check the current price on Amazon).

Sources: Fortnite news; Fortnite, Winterfest 2025: Get in the Spirit (Dec 18, 2025; read from the Internet Archive copy)

Pokémon GO: Winter Holiday Part 1 and Part 2

Status: not announced yet. The newest post on Pokémon GO's official news page is from October 22, 2026, and none covers the holidays. The in-game events calendar for December needs a login, so I could not check it.

Last year: Winter Holiday Part 1 ran "Thursday, December 18, at 10:00 a.m. to Wednesday, December 24, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. local time," with Sudowoodo and others in holiday attire. Part 2 ran "Wednesday, December 24, at 10:00 a.m. to Monday, December 29, 2025, at 8:00 p.m. local time" and brought the Pokémon GO debut of Rolycoly, Carkol and Coalossal.

Shopping for a Pokémon GO fan? See our Pokémon gift guide.

Sources: Pokémon GO news; Pokémon GO, Winter Holiday Part 1 (Dec 8, 2025); Pokémon GO, Winter Holiday Part 2 (Dec 10, 2025)

Rocket League: Frosty Fest

Status: not announced yet. Psyonix's Season 24 post lists its limited-time events, the last one running "September 23 to December 9," and does not mention Frosty Fest.

Last year: "Rocket League's Frosty Fest 2025 runs from December 18 at 4 PM PT to January 7 at 4 PM PT!" (January 7, 2026). It was a Harry Potter crossover: players were sorted into a Hogwarts house for a house rivalry, and challenges paid out items like the Hot Cocoa Antenna and the Sorting Hat Topper.

Sources: Rocket League, Season 24 (Sep 18, 2026); Rocket League, Frosty Fest 2025 (Dec 18, 2025)

Marvel Rivals: Winter festival (Jeff's Winter Splash Festival in 2025)

Status: not announced yet. The October 22, 2026 patch notes list events running to November 26, 2026 and no winter content.

Last year: The December 2025 patch notes gave Jeff's Winter Splash Festival a "Mode Period: December 18th, 2025, 09:00:00 to January 16th, 2026, 09:00:00 (UTC)." Event missions gave Magneto's Black and Gold costume for free, and a Winter Gift event from December 24 to December 27, 2025 (UTC) let players visit the Times Square Christmas tree daily for a gift of Units.

Shopping for a Marvel Rivals fan? See our Marvel gift guide. On Amazon: Marvel Legends Marvel Rivals Venom and Jeff the Land Shark (affiliate link; check the current price on Amazon).

Sources: Marvel Rivals Version 20261022 patch notes; Marvel Rivals Version 20251218 patch notes

Helldivers 2: Festival of Reckoning

Status: not announced yet. Arrowhead's Steam announcements, newest October 22, 2026 (Devoid of Liberty 7.2.1), do not mention the Festival of Reckoning.

Last year: Arrowhead's post said "The 2025 Festival of Reckoning begins on December 18th at 11 am CET and runs until December 31st 11:59 pm CET!" Holiday Major Orders granted limited-time access to stratagems, and the post calls it a yearly event. The current Major Order is on our Helldivers 2 Major Order tracker.

Shopping for a Helldivers 2 fan? See our Helldivers 2 gift guide.

Sources: Helldivers 2 news on Steam; Arrowhead, The Festival of Reckoning is here! (Dec 18, 2025)

Escape from Tarkov: Winter event (Kolotun in 2025)

Status: not announced yet. Battlestate's preliminary roadmap for the rest of 2026, posted on X on August 27, puts Patch 1.4.0.0 (Season 2) in December and names no Christmas, New Year or winter event, though it says the game "will feature various in-game events between the updates listed in the roadmap." (The roadmap is an image; I read it on October 25.)

Last year: Patch 1.0.1.0 on December 23, 2025 said "A new in-game event, Kolotun, starts with this update," with a themed task chain, winter versions of the outdoor trader scenes and winter gear, in both PvP and PvE. Battlestate's posts do not give an end date.

Sources: Escape from Tarkov on X, update plan through 2026 (Aug 27, 2026); Battlestate Games, Patch 1.0.1.0 (Dec 23, 2025)

Roblox: Platform-wide holiday event

Status: not announced yet. Roblox's newsroom has no winter post for 2026. Its current platform-wide event is The Hollow, a Halloween survival event "running through Nov. 2."

Last year: Roblox's newsroom lists no Roblox-run holiday event for December 2025, so there are no platform-wide dates to compare with.

Sources: Roblox newsroom, The Hollow (Oct 21, 2026); Roblox newsroom

Christmas gifts for the players on your list

If one of these events reminds you who still needs a present, these PropBuilds guides are sorted by game and by budget:

• Gift finder: gifts for gamers by budget and game
• Pop culture advent calendars 2026
• Gifts for Rust players
• Fortnite gifts
• Gifts for Helldivers 2 players
• Gifts for Fallout fans
• Gifts for Minecraft fans
• Gifts for Pokémon fans
• Gifts for Marvel fans
• Gifts for Halo fans
• Gifts for CS2 players
• Gifts for 3D printing fans
• Gifts for Nintendo fans: Mario, Zelda and Kirby
• Stocking stuffers for gamers

A few game collectibles on Amazon that fit under a tree: LEGO Minecraft The Crafting Table, LEGO Fortnite Supply Llama, LEGO Animal Crossing Blathers's Museum and Youtooz Rust Survivor figure. These are affiliate links; check the current price on Amazon.

FAQ

What games have Christmas events?

Most big live-service games run one in December. In 2025 that included Rust, Fortnite (Winterfest), Team Fortress 2 (Smissmas), Overwatch (Winter Wonderland), Apex Legends, Destiny 2 (The Dawning), Pokémon GO, Helldivers 2 (Festival of Reckoning), Sea of Thieves (Festival of Giving), Rocket League (Frosty Fest), Marvel Rivals, Call of Duty, Arc Raiders, Escape from Tarkov and The Sims 4, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons has Toy Day built in on December 24. For 2026, only Fallout 76 has dated its event so far: Holiday Scorched, December 15 to 29.

When is the Rust Christmas event in 2026?

Facepunch has not announced it yet. Last year the Christmas event started with a mandatory update at 19:00 GMT on December 18, 2025 (no wipe) and ended on January 1, 2026 at 19:00 GMT. Facepunch's newest post, on October 22, 2026, covers Halloween, which runs until November 5.

How do Rust Christmas presents work?

In the 2025 event, presents spawned near each player when the jingle bells rang: two per player, within about 40 meters, in small, medium and large sizes. A stocking hung inside your base also filled with loot at the same time.

Is there an advent calendar in Rust?

There was in 2025. Facepunch brought the advent calendar back as a craftable deployable during the Christmas event, and once placed it gave one in-game surprise per real-life day. Whether it returns in 2026 has not been announced.

When does Fortnite Winterfest 2026 start?

Epic has not announced a date. Winterfest 2025 ran from December 18, 2025 at 9 AM ET to January 5, 2026 at 9 AM ET, with 14 presents in Lt. Winter's cabin, one to open each day. Any Winterfest 2026 date or skin list you see before Epic posts it comes from leaks, not Epic.

When is TF2 Smissmas 2026?

Valve has not announced it. Smissmas 2025 started with Valve's December 9, 2025 update and ran through January 7, 2026. Scream Fortress XVIII, the Halloween event, runs through November 7, 2026.

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