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Animal Crossing Festivale event: How to get feathers, Rainbow Feathers and Festivale items in New Horizons explained

It's time to dance with Pavé.

Pavé and his Festivale bring a little bit of warmth to the end of winter in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

This colourful peacock will encourage you to both dance and collect the feathers floating about your island. If you trade these feathers with Pavé, you'll receive a number of Festivale items.

Below you'll discover how to find both feathers and Rainbow Feathers, so that you can earn the special Festivale Float.

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A look at the Festivale in Animal Crossing: New HorizonsWatch on YouTube

How Festivale works in Animal Crossing: New Horizons explained

If you want to take part in Festivale in New Horizons, then you need to head down to the Residential Services plaza and talk to Pavé.

He'll task you with hunting down feathers and, if you bring him three of one colour, he'll give you a Festivale item.

This item will be the same colour as the feathers you give him, so, if you give Pavé three blue feathers, then expect to receive a blue Festivale flag, stall or one of the other furniture pieces.

What Pavé truly desires, however, are Rainbow Feathers and he'll give you a DIY recipe which will allow you to craft them.

If you bring Pavé enough Rainbow Feathers, then you'll earn the special Festivale Float.

How to find blue, green, purple and red feathers for Festivale in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Throughout Festivale in New Horizons, you'll see feathers floating about your island.

Aside from the special Rainbow Feathers, there are four types of feathers for you to hunt down - blue, green, purple and red.

Just like the seasonal materials, such as snowflakes and cherry blossom petals, these feathers can be easily caught in your net. Simply run about your island, keeping an ear out for the wibbly-wobbly sound which signifies a feather is closeby, and then swipe it with your net.

These feathers are a little more durable than the seasonal materials, so don't worry if you miss a couple of times, because the feather won't disappear.

If you're having trouble finding a specific colour of feather, then take the time to chat with your villagers. They're also hunting down feathers and will be happy to trade.

When you talk to a villager, they'll tell you which colour of feather they're looking for and which colour you'll receive.

Since the feathers stack in groups of three, you can only exchange a maximum of three feathers at one time and, it's important to note, that you will always exchange the max amount of feathers from whichever stack you select.

This means if you only want to exchange one red feather, for example, but only have a stack of three, you'll want to catch an additional red feather before you make the exchange.

Rainbow Feather for Festivale in Animal Crossing: New Horizons explained

Rainbow Feathers are the hardest feather to find during Festivale in New Horizons.

You may be able to find them floating around your island like the other coloured feathers, but, since this is a rare occurrence, it's not a reliable source of Rainbow Feathers. It's far easier to craft Rainbow Feathers using the DIY recipe Pavé gave you.

To craft a Rainbow Feather you need one of each other feather colours - blue, green, purple and red.

These can be easily collected either with your net or by trading with villagers. Once you have one of each colour, simply head to the nearest DIY workbench and craft away.

Rainbow Feathers can then be used to receive Festivale items from Pavé or to customise these same items.

How to get the Festivale Float during Festivale in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

If you want to earn the Festivale Float during Festivale in New Horizons, then you need to start collecting feathers.

To earn the Festivale Float, you first need to receive one of each Festivale item from Pavé. This can be done by either exchanging nine Rainbow Feathers or nine sets of three colour feathers.

Either way once you've received all nine items, Pavé will ask for three Rainbow Feathers.

Collect or craft these Rainbow Feathers and, in return, he'll give you the Festivale Float.

The Festivale Float.

You can now repeat the process to earn more Festivale items and additional Festivale Floats or simple do something else.

Festivale items in Animal Crossing: New Horizons explained

There are ten Festivale items, including the Festivale Float, for you to collect in New Horizons.

Here is a complete list of the Festivale items in New Horizons:

  • Festivale Balloon Lamp
  • Festivale Confetti Machine
  • Festivale Drum
  • Festivale Flag
  • Festivale Float
  • Festivale Garland
  • Festivale Lamp
  • Festivale Parasol
  • Festivale Stag
  • Festivale Stall

Aside from the Festivale Float, you would have been given the option to buy one of these items a day from Nook's Cranny in the runup for Festivale. You can also receive a randomly selected Festivale item by exchanging feathers with Pavé throughout the event itself.

If you want to customise a Festivale item, then you'll need to craft or collect a number of Rainbow Feathers. The amount of Rainbow Feathers differs depending on which item you wish to customise and, it's important to note, that the Festivale Float is the only item that can not be customised.

Festivale clothes in Animal Crossing: New Horizons explained

To truly partake in Festivale in New Horizons, then you need to dress the part. Thankfully the Able Sisters have you covered, selling Festivale inspired clothes before the event even occurs.

The Able Sisters will sell the following Festivale themed clothing items:

  • Festivale Accessory - 2,240 Bells
  • Festivale Costume - 2,600 Bells
  • Festivale Tank Dress - 2,600 Bells

Each of these items can be purchased in either blue, green, purple or red.

If you want to ensure you're dressed to impress for Festivale, we recommend purchasing your chosen outfit ahead of time. This is because the clothes listed above are part of the Able Sisters rotating stock, which means there's no guarantee these items will be available every day.

Thankfully, however, the Festivale clothing items are guaranteed to be on sale during the event itself.

Viva Festivale Reaction Set in Animal Crossing: New Horizons explained

From 1st February to 15th February, you can purchase the Viva Festivale Reaction Set from Nook's Cranny in New Horizons.

The Viva Festivale Reaction Set costs 19,800 Bells and can only be purchased once by each playable villager.

After you've brought the reaction set, you'll automatically unlock four, Festivale themed, reactions - Confetti, Feelin' It, Let's Go and Viva.

These reactions will really help you get into the Festivale mood and will remain unlocked once the event passes. Just remember - you only purchase them between 1st February and 15th February.

During this time, Nook's Cranny will also sell one item from the Festivale set each day.

Festivale date and time in Animal Crossing: New Horizons explained

Festivale in New Horizons will always occur on the 15th February every year.

In 2021, Festivale occurs on Monday, 15th February and runs all day, meaning Pavé will be on your island till 5am on the 16th, which is the daily reset time in New Horizons.

On this day, you'll be able to talk to Pave outside Resident Services and collect the feathers floating about your island.


The Animal Crossing 2.0 update and Happy Home Paradise is here! We can help you with the new additions - including where to find Brewster, Gyroids, new villagers, ordinances, new fences, storage shed, new hairstyles, Froggy Chair, group stretching and Kapp'n boat tours. Cooking is now unlockable, so you need to know how to make both flour and sugar, as well as how to grow carrots, potatoes and tomatoes. Meanwhile, if you're new to Animal Crossing, our New Horizons tips can help with the basics. From the off, there's fish and bugs to catch, flowers and fruit to grow with. One long term goal is building your Happy Home Academy score. Finally, you need tools such as the new ladder and vaulting pole to fully explore.


How to access Festivale in Animal Crossing: New Horizons explained

If you want to partake in Festivale in New Horizons, then you need to make sure that you've downloaded the free January patch, which has been available since Thursday, 28th January.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Free Update 1.28.21Watch on YouTube

To receive this patch, you need to ensure your Nintendo Switch is connected to the Internet, attempt to start New Horizons and, if there's a patch available, you'll be prompted to download it.

Now you just have to follow the instructions on your Nintendo Switch and wait for the download to be completed.

Once the download is complete, you'll be able to enjoy Festivale!

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