If you love colorful events, dancing villagers, and fun rewards in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you’re going to adore Festivale 2026! This lively celebration is full of confetti, feathers, and a very fancy peacock named Pavé. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about ACNH Festivale 2026 (3.0 Update), from when is Festivale to how to get all the exclusive items.

What Is Festivale in Animal Crossing New Horizons?

Festivale is a happy event in the Animal Crossing video game series. It appears in three games: Animal Crossing: City Folk, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. For ACNH, Festivale was not in the game when it first came out. It was added later in the 1.7.0 Free Update (released in November 2021), so you need to have an updated version of the game to enjoy it in 2026. The event is based on Carnival—a big, colorful celebration that happens around the world before a time called Lent. It takes inspiration from Brazilian Carnival most of all, but it also feels like Mardi Gras and other Carnival parties in the Americas. When Festivale starts on your island, you’ll see confetti falling from the sky, hear special carnival music (replacing the usual hourly songs), and watch your villagers dance and sing to the town tune. The host of Festivale is Pavé, a bright, cheerful peacock who loves to dance. Your main goal during the event is to collect special items (called feathers) and trade them with Pavé for awesome rewards. It’s a day full of fun, and everyone on your island joins in the celebration!

ACNH Festivale 2026 Date and Time - When Is Festivale in ACNH 2026?

Festivale always happens on a specific day: two days before Ash Wednesday (this is linked to its real-world Carnival roots). For 2026, the Festivale event in ACNH is on February 16th.

• Start time: 5:00 AM on February 16th, 2026

• End time: 5:00 AM on February 17th, 2026 (it lasts a full 24 hours!)

Hemisphere note: The date is the same for both Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere islands. You don’t have to worry about different dates if your island is in a different hemisphere.

How to know it’s started: Isabelle will wear a green Festivale hat during her morning announcement, and the carnival music will start playing across your island. You need to have the upgraded Resident Services (with Isabelle) unlocked to experience the full event. If you don’t have Isabelle yet, work on upgrading your island first so you don’t miss out!

ACNH Festivale 2026 Feathers

Feathers are the most important items during Festivale. You need to catch them, trade them, and even craft with them to get all the rewards. There are 5 types of feathers, and each one is unique. Let’s break them down simply:

Types of Festivale Feathers

All feathers float in the air around your island during the event. You catch them with a net (just like you catch bugs or snowflakes!). Here are the 5 types:

• Green Feather: Smooth and soothing. When you catch it, your character says: “I caught a green feather! So smooth, so soothing…”

• Red Feather: Full of passion. Catch phrase: “I caught a red feather! The passion! It is overwhelming!”

• Blue Feather: Cool but also hot. Catch phrase: “I caught a blue feather! As cool as it is hot!”

• Purple Feather: Flirty and fabulous. Catch phrase: “I caught a purple feather! How flirty and fabulous!”

• Rainbow Feather: The rarest and most special one. Catch phrase: “WOO-HOO! I caught a rainbow feather! Viva Festivale!”

How to Find and Catch Feathers?

Finding feathers is easy once you know what to do. Here are some helpful tips:

• Feathers float in the air everywhere on your island, along with confetti. They move slowly, so you have time to catch them.

• Listen for sounds: When a feather is near (even off-screen), you’ll hear short whistling noises. The closer you get, the louder the whistling. If you use headphones, you can tell which direction the feather is coming from (left or right).

• Stacking rules: You can stack up to 3 green, red, blue, or purple feathers in one inventory slot. But rainbow feathers cannot be stacked—each one takes its own slot.

• Don’t worry about missing: If you swing your net and miss a feather, it won’t disappear. You can try again until you catch it. But if you walk too far away, or go into a building and come back out, the feather might be gone.

How to Get More Feathers (Trading with Villagers)?

• On Festivale day, all villagers wear Festivale-themed clothes: male villagers wear the Festivale costume, and female villagers wear the Festivale tank dress.

• Talk to a villager while you have feathers in your inventory. They might ask to trade feathers with you.

• Villagers usually want feathers that match the color of their outfit. For example, if a villager is wearing blue clothes, they’ll ask for a blue feather from you.

• If you have a stack of 3 feathers, the villager will trade you a stack of 3 feathers of another color. It’s a quick way to get the colors you need!

• No minigames needed: Unlike some other events (like Halloween), villagers won’t make you play a game to trade. Just say yes, and the trade is done!

How to Craft Rainbow Feathers?

You don’t have to just catch rainbow feathers—you can craft them too! Here’s how:

• When you first talk to Pavé on Festivale day, he will give you the DIY recipe for rainbow feathers.

• To make 1 rainbow feather, you need 1 green feather, 1 red feather, 1 blue feather, and 1 purple feather. Just combine them at a DIY workbench!

• Crafting rainbow feathers is a great way to get them if you can’t find them floating around your island. It’s also useful if you need extra rainbow feathers for rewards or customization.

Activities to Do During ACNH Festivale 2026

Festivale is full of fun things to do, and all of them lead to awesome rewards. Let’s go through each activity step by step:

1. Find Pavé at Resident Services

• The first thing you should do on Festivale day is go to Resident Services. You’ll find Pavé dancing under a colorful arch in the plaza. He’s hard to miss—he’s a big, bright peacock with a huge smile!

• When you talk to Pavé for the first time, he’ll introduce himself and teach you the rainbow feather DIY recipe. This is key for getting all the rewards, so don’t skip this step!

2. Trade Feathers with Pavé for Rewards

The main activity of Festivale is trading feathers with Pavé to get furniture and other items. Here’s how the trading works:

• Trade 3 feathers of the same color (green, red, blue, or purple) to Pavé, and he will give you a random Festivale Series furniture item. The color of the furniture will match the color of the feathers you traded. For example, 3 red feathers = a red Festivale furniture item.

• Trade 1 rainbow feather to Pavé, and he will give you a random Festivale Series furniture item in rainbow color.

• Important: The 3 regular feathers must be stacked together in one inventory slot. If they are in separate slots (even if you have 3 total), Pavé won’t accept them.

• If you have a rainbow feather in your inventory, Pavé will ask for it first—even if you also have 3 of another color. So if you want to trade regular feathers, make sure to put your rainbow feathers in storage first!

3. Get the Exclusive Festivale Float

After you trade feathers with Pavé 9 times (no matter if you trade regular feathers or rainbow feathers), he will tell you about the ultimate reward: the Festivale Float! To get the Festivale Float, you need to trade 3 rainbow feathers to Pavé. When you do this, he will do a crazy dance (called a “dancing frenzy”) and give you the float as a gift.

Want more than one Festivale Float? You can Just trade feathers with Pavé 9 more times (to get 9 more furniture items), then trade 3 rainbow feathers again. You can repeat this as many times as you want.

4. Customize Festivale Furniture

Once you get Festivale furniture items from Pavé, you can customize them using rainbow feathers! Here’s what you need to know:

• Go to a DIY workbench and select the Festivale furniture item you want to customize.

• Customizing each item costs 1 or 2 rainbow feathers (it depends on the item).

• You need a total of 13 rainbow feathers to customize all Festivale furniture items once. So make sure to save up enough rainbow feathers!

• Feathers are only available during Festivale. If you don’t get enough rainbow feathers during the event, you can’t get more later (unless you time travel or trade with other players).

5. Buy Festivale Clothing and Reactions

You don’t just get rewards from trading feathers—you can also buy Festivale-themed items from Nook’s Cranny and Able Sisters. These items become available on February 1st (two weeks before Festivale) and are available until the day before the event. But if you miss buying them before, you can still get them on Festivale day!

From Nook’s Cranny:

• Festivale-themed furniture

• Viva Festivale Reaction Set 

From Able Sisters:

• Festivale Accessory

• Festivale Costume (for male villagers, but you can wear it too!)

• Festivale Tank Dress (for female villagers, but you can wear it too!)

ACNH Festivale 2026 Items List

There are two main types of Festivale items: furniture (from Pavé or Nook’s Cranny) and clothing (from Able Sisters). Below is a complete list of all Animal Crossing Festivale items, including their buy and sell prices (in ACNH Bells) and how to get them. 

1. Festivale Furniture Items

2. Festivale Clothing Items

You can also buy Animal Crossing Festivale furniture and clothing items at aoeah.com for all variations. 

3. Festivale Reaction Set

The Viva Festivale Reaction Set costs 23,760 Bells at Nook’s Cranny. It includes 4 reactions:

• Feelin’ It: A fun dance reaction

• Let’s Go: A cheering reaction

• Viva: A lively celebration reaction

• Confetti: A reaction that throws confetti!

Tips for ACNH Festivale 2026

Follow these tips to make sure you get all the items and have the best time:

• Prepare your net: Make sure you have a net ready before Festivale day. You don’t want to waste time crafting one when feathers are floating around!

• Save space in your inventory: Feathers take up space, so clear out your inventory before the event. Bring a storage bag if you have one to hold extra feathers.

• Craft extra rainbow feathers: Even if you catch some rainbow feathers, craft more using the DIY recipe. You’ll need them for the Festivale Float and customizing furniture.

• Trade with villagers early: Villagers are a great way to get the feather colors you need. Talk to all of them to get more feathers.

• Buy items from Nook’s Cranny and Able Sisters: Don’t forget to buy the reaction set and clothing items. They are only available for a limited time!