Holiday

Holidays are a feature in The Sims 3: Seasons and The Sims 4: Seasons. The holidays differ in both games, and are allusions to real life holidays that are celebrated in their corresponding seasons.

The Sims 3: Seasons
The Sims 3: Seasons gives the player four pre-made holidays for each season. By default, the holiday land on the last Thursday of each Season, unless the player edits the amount of days of each season, in which case, the holiday will land on the last day of the season. These holidays are not editable.

The Holidays represent a northern hemisphere point of view.

Leisure Day
"'Leisure Day is here! Enjoy the warm weather, take a dive into a pool, or just take a stroll around the summer festival. Leisure Day is a day where you can take a break from work or school and relaaaaax.'"

In the summer, Sims celebrate Leisure Day. This is likely based on summer vacation in real life. All Sims will get the day off of work or school on Leisure Day, and are encouraged to go to the pool, beach, the Summer festival, or to stay at home. All Sims get a +10 moodlet for the entire duration of Leisure Day.

Spooky Day
In the fall, Sims celebrate Spooky Day. This is likely based on Halloween in real life. Everyone can get into costumes, and Sims can throw a costume party or be invited to one by a friend. Children and teens can go trick-or-treating, where they will roam around the neighborhood and knock on doors. If the house's inhabitants are home, they may give the Sim a piece of candy; Sims will get a positive moodlet when they eat the candy.

Snowflake Day
In the winter, Sims celebrate Snowflake Day. This is likely based on Christmas in real life. On Snowflake Day, all Sims will be friendlier to each other and get a +10 moodlet for the duration of the day. Everyone also gets a day off from school or work. Sims with a job will get their holiday bonus.

On this holiday, Sims can throw Gift-Giving parties over the phone. The household will automatically get a pile of presents as the festivities begin. Sims can be told to open the presents, or will automatically open them two hours after the start of the party. Sims gather round and go through getting their present, which is chosen at random.

Love Day
In the spring, Sims celebrate Love Day. This is likely a mix of Valentine's Day and Easter in real life. While Sims are twice as likely to get love letters and gifts during the Spring in general, on Love Day, all Sims have a +10 moodlet, and are five times more likely than usual to receive love letters and gifts from Sims attracted to them. At the Spring festival, Sims can go on egg hunts, try to earn the title of Spring Dance King or Queen on the Dance Floor, get a kiss at the kissing booth, or go rollerskating.

The Sims 4: Seasons
Holidays in The Sims 4 are very customizable. They are worldwide events that repeat each year, and each come with their own set of traditions which define the way the Sims celebrate the holiday. There are multiple pre-made holidays, and players are able to create their own or edit/delete the pre-made ones. To see when a holiday takes place, players can check the calendar. Holidays begin at 6:00 am and end at 2:00 am of the next day. When the holiday ends, Sims will get a happy or sad moodlet, depending on how many traditions they completed. All of the four pre-made holidays are likely based on real-life holidays. Harvestfest is based on traditional North American Thanksgiving. Love Day is based on Valentines Day and on other variants of love days from different religions around the world. Winterfest is based on Christmas. New Year's Eve is based on the Gregorian calendar New Year's Eve traditions which are celebrated around the world.

Surprise holidays will occasionally pop up in Sims' calendars a few days before they occur, such as "Talk Like a Pirate Day".

Surprise holidays
Surprise holidays show up in the calendar a few days before they start. They appear completely at random in any season and they never give a day off from work or school.

Decoration theme
Each holiday can be assigned a decoration theme, which will allow the current household to choose from appropriate decorations to place on the outside of their house, via the Attic Shack Decoration Box (which can be bought in build mode). Neighboring houses will automatically be decorated when a holiday starts, unless the theme is set to "None".

There are seven themes to choose from for a holiday (including an option for no theme):
 * None
 * Love Day
 * Harvestfest
 * New Year's Eve
 * Spring
 * Spooky
 * Winterfest

Traditions
Holidays are able to have up to 5 traditions. Traditions determine how a holiday is celebrated.