Christmas on your Minecraft server: snow, presents and New Year's Eve with friends

What Minecraft already does on its own at Christmas

In Java, from 24 to 26 December chests look like wrapped presents, with paper and a bow. It goes by the date on each player's computer, not the server's: there's nothing to turn on, and anyone whose computer shows another date sees normal chests.

Everything else (snow, presents, a party) you have to add. The commands in this guide go into the panel's “Console” without the slash, or into chat with the slash if you're an operator. Replace Name with the name of a player who's online: commands that depend on a place run around that player.

Snow in the village with /fillbiome

Whether it snows or rains depends on the biome. With fillbiome (since 1.19.3) you change an area's biome to a snowy one, for example minecraft:snowy_plains, without touching a single block of what's built. From then on, when it rains, it snows in that area.

1. Make a backup first

   In “Backups”, if you're on a paid plan. A biome change doesn't undo itself: if you don't like something, the backup puts everything back as it was.

2. Write down the current biome

   Press F3 in game and look at the “Biome” line. You'll need it to put things back after the holidays (for example minecraft:plains).

3. Raise the limit for a moment

   fillbiome won't change more than 32,768 blocks at once (the max_block_modifications rule). For a village, raise it first: gamerule max_block_modifications 200000.

4. Change the biome

   With someone standing in the middle of the village: execute at Name run fillbiome ~-48 ~-8 ~-48 ~48 ~16 ~48 minecraft:snowy_plains. That's a square about 96 blocks across, from a little below their feet to 16 above. The game stores biomes in 4-block cubes, so the edge can end up a couple of blocks further out.

5. Make it snow

   weather rain: inside the snowy area it snows, outside it rains. To keep it going all afternoon, gamerule advance_weather false, and when you're done gamerule advance_weather true. Afterwards, put the limit back: gamerule max_block_modifications 32768.

More snow, and what to watch out for

While it snows, a layer of snow builds up on the ground. By default it's a single layer; with gamerule max_snow_accumulation_height 4 it piles higher (up to 8). It's slow: it takes a good while to cover everything.

In a snowy biome, still water out in the open slowly freezes, snow or not. If you have a farm with water or a canal inside the area, put a block over it or leave it outside the square.

Snowmen: anyone can make one with two snow blocks and a pumpkin on top, and from the console execute at Name run summon minecraft:snow_golem ~ ~ ~. In a cold biome they leave a trail of snow as they walk. And for a snowball fight, give @a minecraft:snowball 64: they knock you back but don't take health.

After the holidays, the same fillbiome with the biome you wrote down puts everything back (execute at Name run fillbiome ~-48 ~-8 ~-48 ~48 ~16 ~48 minecraft:plains, with the limit raised as before). Snow that has already fallen doesn't melt on its own: clear it with a shovel or with execute at Name run fill ~-48 ~-8 ~-48 ~48 ~16 ~48 air replace minecraft:snow, and the ice with the same command ending in water replace minecraft:ice.

Presents with a name for everyone

A present is a give to one person: give Name minecraft:diamond_pickaxe. To give it its own name (“For Ana, from Santa”), enchantments or a description, the command's format changes with the version: the /give generator below writes it for yours.

To have them open it like a real present, put it in a chest: leave one chest per person by the tree, with their name on a sign, and fill them on the night of the 24th. On the 24th, 25th and 26th the chests already look wrapped on their own.

An advent calendar with schedules

A small present every day at the same time, without having to be there. In the panel, “Advanced settings” → “Schedules”:

1. What to do

   “Run a console command”, and the command without the slash, for example give @a minecraft:cookie 3 (200 characters at most).

2. When

   “Every day” and the time you usually play, for example 20:00. The time is Spain time (Madrid). Press “Create the schedule”.

3. Announce it

   Another identical schedule with “Send a message to players” a minute earlier (“Advent present in one minute!”) gets people logging in at that time.

4. Delete them after the holidays

   Schedules repeat every day until you remove them. Make a note for 7 January.

New Year's Eve: countdown and fireworks

A little before midnight, hand out rockets: give @a minecraft:firework_rocket 16 gives rockets with no coloured burst; to have them explode in the shape and colours you want, the firework generator gives you the command. From the console, announce the last minute with title @a title {"text":"1 minute!","color":"gold"} and, at midnight, title @a title {"text":"Happy New Year!","color":"gold"}. For colours, a subtitle or a chat message, the /tellraw and /title generator gives you the finished command.

For the fireworks to show, make it night and clear: time set midnight and weather clear. If you've added snow, that stops the snowfall and weather rain brings it back.

If you'd rather use a plugin: Christmas Season

If you don't want to go command by command, Christmas Season brings a good part of the above together: biome snow, snowstorms, gifts, elves and snowmen. It's free, MIT-licensed and, according to its Modrinth page, works on Paper, Purpur and Folia, on 1.21.3 to 1.21.11 and on 26.x. Not on plain Spigot.

Search for it in “Mods & plugins”, in the plugins tab, and press “Install”; if it doesn't appear for your version, download it from its page and upload it in “Files”, to the plugins folder. Then, in game and as an operator, /xmas on starts the event, /xmas status tells you how it's going and /xmas off ends it and puts the biomes back as they were.

It's by another author, not NapNodes, and this is what its page says: we haven't tested it on our servers. Its messages come in English or German. On a plan, make a backup first in “Backups”, and if you only want snow in the village, fillbiome needs nothing installed.

With the family over the holidays

At Christmas, cousins, younger siblings and friends of friends join. If the server address is going to get passed around, turn on the whitelist in “Settings” and add only who's coming (the whitelist guide). If children are playing, the guide to a server for kids explains how to keep it calm: no chat open to strangers, no PvP and with backups.

If someone joins with Minecraft on a console or a phone, a Java server won't simply let them in: what's needed is in Minecraft Java and Bedrock together.

If it's just for the holidays

NapNodes has a free Minecraft server, no card needed, to set all this up: the “Console”, “Files”, “Mods & plugins” and “Settings” are the same as on a plan. What changes: it stops on its own after an hour with nobody on, and while it's off it doesn't run schedules (the advent calendar only works if it's online at that time), it has no backups and, if there's a queue to start, it runs in one-hour turns, so New Year's Eve could get cut short.

If you'll use it all holiday long with lots of people, a plan keeps it online all the time, with backups every night and the RAM just for you. From the free server you pick the plan in “My plan & invoices” and keep the same server with the same world.

Frequently asked questions