DO YOU WANNA BUILD A… SNOW GOLEM?

Minecraft is the one time you might actually want coal in your stocking! Try these build ideas with a Christmas twist!

1. Add green, red and silver blocks to the trees in or near your village for instant Christmas lights and ornaments.
2. Place a snow golem (AKA a spooky snowman!) or 30 around your base to get the snowball fights started.
3. Whip up a gingerbread house complete with brown walls, white icing (trim!) and colourful lollies (blocks) on the roof. Don’t forget a chocolate path leading to the house, and candy canes in the garden for extra effect.
4. Build a Christmas maze with giant gifts as obstacles, reindeer running wild and a Christmas tree in the centre. Pro Minecrafters could try shaping their maze into a stocking or a star!
5. Put your construction hat on and craft a Christmas train. Use lots of red and/or green and decide a theme – maybe it’s a train transporting presents, or it’s taking Santa and his elves on a trip around the North Pole?
6. Keep your construction hat on to build Santa’s sleigh. You could even download a Santa skin, pop it on and grab the reigns!
7. Find a beach and set up an Aussie Christmas. Don’t forget the towels, beach umbrellas, pavlova and a bat, ball and stumps for a bit of beach cricket.

DID YOU KNOW?
There are heaps of awesome Christmas themed skins available to download on the official Minecraft DLC Marketplace. These include Christmas Characters (which includes a reindeer, Santa, snowman, The Nutcracker and an elf), Christmas Creepers, and Christmas Furniture – besides festive furniture, this one has stockings, presents, wreaths and stacks of other items to deck out your base and village. Remember to check with a parent or trusted adult first!

3, 2, 1… NEW BUILDS!

Start the music, grab the confetti, and prepare to build some explosively awesome creations!

1. When New Year’s Eve (NYE) comes around, start your Minecraft celebrations by crafting a DJ booth and dance floor for a cool party vibe.
2. Decorate with bunches of colourful (and blocky) balloons scattered around your village.
3. Giant numbers are always epic – set up a super-sized ‘2024’ near your other decorations. Place torches close by to light it up.
4. If you’ve got Minecraft Education Edition, you can get your chemistry on and create glowsticks and sparklers for the occasion!
5. Of course, NYE wouldn’t be the same without fireworks. When you’re ready to celebrate the new year in your game, let off a firework rocket (made from paper and gunpowder) or a firework star (made from gunpowder and dyes). You can also add a special effect to a firework star to make it even cooler. Add a diamond and your firework will leave a trail, add a gold nugget and it will be shaped like a star, or add a feather and it will look like it’s bursting.