Looking for a way to get your Sims in the holiday mood? Well, you’re not alone, as everyone wants to get their house looking just right in the Sims 4 just in time for the holidays.
To help make that happen, we’ve come up with a few tips and tricks we are sure you’ll love, as there are plenty of unique ways to add a touch of festivity to your Sims builds – you just have to know where to find them. So let’s dive right in.
Rummage for Decorations
The Attic Stack Decoration Box (from the Seasons EP) is the easiest way to get your home holiday-ready. In Build Mode, you’ll find it under Outdoor Activities (for some reason) for an ultra-affordable 100 simoleans. It only comes in three color swatches, which is a drag, but it’s perfect for hiding in your room under the stairs.
Click on the Decoration Box and select “Rummage for Winter Decorations” (or whatever season you’re currently in) to get a handful of seasonally-appropriate decor you can place wherever you want. It’s free, and the best part is you can sell your decor at the end of the season to put a few more simoleans back in your household funds.
Outdoor Decor
You can also decorate the outside of your home with the Decoration Box. Click on “Put Up Decorations” to decorate your home’s foundations, spandrels, eaves, and friezes. If you’re not happy with the default options, click “Select Holiday Decorations” to customize what decorations go where.
(In case you were curious, “eaves” are under the roof, “spandrels” go from column to column, and “foundations” are under the floor. I have no idea what “friezes” are because you can apparently only put them on houses much fancier than my Sim’s.)
When the holiday has passed, click on the Decoration Box again and select “Take Down Decorations” to remove them. If it were that easy in real life, maybe I wouldn’t leave mine up through February every year!
Build Mode Decor
You can also find tons of seasonal decor in Build Mode if you know where to look. If you have the Seasons EP, go to the Decorations section of the Catalog and filter to “Seasons.” There, you can find the Panels of Perfection painting, which can be changed as often as you want to match the seasons, along with colorful holiday garlands, floral arrangements, and wall decals.
The Catalog’s Lighting section also has many seasonal decor options, including a Holiday Tree, Menorah, Kinara, and plenty of decorative candles. You’ll also find the festive Seasons Greetings Ceiling Lamp that can brighten any room and spooky lights and lanterns for other seasonal celebrations.
Other Kits, Tips, and Tricks
Even if you don’t have the Seasons EP, you can still give your Sims’ builds a festive feel with the free Holiday Celebration Pack. This official DLC includes garlands, wall hangings, decals, and a faux fireplace for Father Winter. There’s even a beautiful wintry tree pre-strung with lights that you can stick in your front yard for instant holiday charm.
Don’t forget that you can use helpful building cheats and tricks to give your holiday decor even more pizzazz. Use the bb.moveobjects cheat to layer wall decals and garlands on top of each other, as shown above. Hold the Alt key while placing objects to rotate and place them freely so you can scoot them closer to other objects.
You can press Shift + ] (right square bracket) to make objects larger and Shift + [ (left square bracket) to make them smaller. I used this to make the All Seasons Welcome rug large enough for a double door.
Press 9 (or Ctrl + 9, if you have custom camera controls active) while holding an object to raise it so you can place it on top of a cabinet, dresser, or even the refrigerator. And don’t forget that small objects like candles and miniature sculptures can be placed on most bookshelves to fit more festivity in less space.