Get Involved in This Year’s Festival of Giving!

Deck the hull with piles of plunder! The Festival of Giving is almost upon us once again and we’re celebrating the season in style. There’s a lot going on through the holiday period, so take this as your handy guide to everything that’s happening and when and how you can find it. Join us from December 16th to get involved and earn some unique rewards!

Grand Festival of Giving Switch-On

We’ll be kicking things off this year with a lights switch-on! So that everyone can get involved, we’re hosting a livestream at 6:15pm UTC on December 16th, celebrating the community and looking back over the past year. Of course, the highlight will be the switching on of the seasonal in-game decorations! If you happen to be sailing the seas while the stream’s live, gather with your crew at the tavern on New Golden Sands Outpost to see the switch-on for yourselves. You can even have a grog while you’re there.

The stream is the perfect opportunity to hear more about everything that’s going on during the Festival, and to enjoy a seasonal, community-focused get-together.

Your Story So Far

Of course, community-led accomplishments aren’t the only thing to be celebrated. Every pirate on the sea has plenty to be proud of this year, and don’t think we haven’t noticed! For a more personalised look back at this year and beyond, make sure you check out Your Story So Far. From hours played to fruits eaten, this summary breaks down everything you’ve been up to into a series of easily digestible numbers. Yes, even the things you’d rather forget. Especially those.

Your Story So Far will be available to peruse from December 12th to January 11th, so be sure to take note of anything you want to record before the book closes for another year!

Gifts & Glory Weekend

No Festival of Giving would be complete without, well, giving, would it? Enter the Gifts & Glory Weekend, running from December 23rd-26th (10am UTC). Sail the Sea of Thieves during this time to earn boosted gold, reputation and Seasonal Renown for your exploits, and any pirates participating in the Battle for the Sea of Thieves will also gain increased Allegiance from their ship combat encounters.

Even better, we’ll throw in a free Gilded Treasure Voyage for anyone who logs in while Gifts & Glory Weekend is live, along with a Legendary variant for the Pirate Legends out there. You’re welcome! If you’re still holding on to either of those types of Gilded Voyage from a previous event, now’s the time to use them to make room for a new one…

Pirate Emporium Holiday Sale

Gilded Voyages and boosted gold aren’t the only incentives on offer. That’s where our Pirate Emporium sale comes in! From December 23rd to January 3rd, items throughout the store will be available at a discount, many with a frosty theme like the Frozen Horizon ship set and weapons and the full Lodestar collection. There’s also a clutch of seasonal emotes and a huge variety of pets including Collector’s pets to be had at bargain prices, so something for everyone!

Twitch Drops

With the Frozen Horizon ship set and weapons already in the Holiday Sale, you might wonder how you can expand your collection. Well, between December 19th and January 2nd, tune in to participating Twitch streamers to unlock a matching collection of clothing and vanity items! Available in batches from December 19th-22nd, December 22nd-26th, December 26th-29th and December 29th-January 2nd (each new set arriving at 10am UTC), these ice-laden outfits will allow you to fully embrace a wintry aesthetic. All you need to do is watch for a minimum of an hour to unlock each item.

If you’re not sure how Twitch Drops work or need to connect your Twitch and Sea of Thieves accounts so you’re eligible, you can find all the details on our Twitch Drops page.

Grogmanay

And finally we come to the traditional end of any pirate’s year: Grogmanay. With six grog-based Challenges on offer, all players have to do is down a few pints and perform a range of feats before they sober up. Simple, right? In case the joy of participating isn’t enough for you, you’ll also be rewarded with gold and Renown for any tasks you manage to complete.

Complete four or more and you can earn the Grogmanay Tankard, or a new noteworthy notch on your existing Tankard if it’s not your first time taking on this particular challenge. So drink up! The event will run from December 30th to January 2nd (10am UTC), and you’ll have to keep the grog flowing to be in with a chance. Good luck!

There’s plenty to get involved with throughout this year’s Festival, so we look forward to seeing you out there on the seas. If you can’t make it this time, fear not, there’ll be plenty more events and streams to come in 2023. Just keep an eye on all our usual channels to stay abreast of the announcements. And with that, a huge thank you for joining us over the last year – it’s been a blast. Happy holidays!