What's The Occasion?

     Denizens of the Customization and NC Mall boards are well aware of the many instances in which you can dress up a neopet – they even invent their own! But if you are an average neopian not dwelling on those boards often, you may think there are only a few special occasions on which it makes sense to doll up your crew. Well I’m here to provide you with some options outside of the classic dress-up days!

     In case you haven’t ventured much into the world of customization, let’s begin with a brief run-through of the common days for dress-up before moving on to those less often celebrated. First and foremost, we have the four seasons: winter, spring, summer, and autumn. Secondly, we have commonly-celebrated themed days within as well as outside of neopia that make for fun dress-up: the day of love, the day of luck, the day of trick-or-treating, and the day of giving!

     In addition to these wonderful opportunities for your neopets to stroll about in non-traditional garb, let’s run through the year and take note of some lesser known days for customization potential.

     First off, what does each new year always start off with? A new year celebration! There are a multitude of fireworks and new year backgrounds to help achieve a celebratory new year look including many specific lands such as “new years in lost desert background” and many others, as well as new year hats, wigs, and other sparkling accessories. There are fireworks effects such as “festive fireworks” and plenty of fireworks themed wearables. Try a few on your neopets and get ready to ring in the new year in style!

     Right after this time, many neopets will be spotted donning winter wear throughout the Months of Sleeping and Awakening or perhaps showing off hearts and shades of pink, purple, and red in preparation for the day of love. Spring will begin in the month of running and you’ll see neopets decked out in luck-themed gear or perhaps bright colors and florals to celebrate the changing of the season. But don’t let this next event pass you by in the Month of Eating… the Festival of Neggs! Not only is it a coveted event amongst Neopians everywhere, but it lasts quite a while and provides plenty of dress-up ideas whether you’re actively running about seeking neggs, or just seeking a stylish ensemble while someone else gathers them up. There are plenty of negg backgrounds for all tastes such as “sugar negg background” to highlight your neopet, “night time negg hunt background” for a darker aesthetic, and “shoppe of neggs background” for a whimsical vibe. There is enough negg patterned clothing, negg shaped wings, and negg décor to leave nobody guessing as to what your neopet is dressed up to celebrate!

      The next event I’d like to mention occurs in the Month of Relaxing… and anyone who participates in the Altador Cup knows what an oxymoron that name is! While many already engage in dress-up specific to the cup, it’s worth a mention for two reasons: sometimes we’re so busy participating in the cup that we forget to dress our pets and – secondly – there are so many Altador Cup themed items now that I’d like to mention a few. Of course you have the option of dressing your pets in attire relating to the land from which your hometeam resides, but sometimes it’s more fun to go all out with the specifically themed gear. To run through quickly, each team has: backgrounds, wigs, confetti, flags, bracelets, banners, face paint, garland, glitter, shirts, pants, dresses, scarves, and more! You can have your pets don your team’s colors in whatever combination of backgrounds, clothing & accessories, and décor you choose. And I have a feeling there will be more on the way each year, so stay tuned!

     My next recommendation occurs in the Month of Swimming… maybe! After celebrating the team colors of the neopian land of your favorite Altador Cup team, why not have your pets celebrate the land you hail from? I’m specifically mentioning the Month of Swimming because it seems this is the most common month for much of the user base, but of course tailor this toward whatever date your country celebrates. You can get creative searching for specific colors and background themes and maybe throwing in some fireworks backgrounds or foregrounds as you would for a new year celebration. These outfits have the potential to be, so make it as fun, personal, and celebratory as you’d like!

     What do many of us face after a few months of fun in the sun? The Month of Gathering in which many of us are gathering supplies for the back-to-school season! What better way to wind down from a fun-filled summer than styling up for the new season? There are school uniform pieces, stacks of books, desks, libraries, glasses, shoes and more. And if you’re the bolder type, why stop at designated school wear? There are some amazing customization pieces such as “coloured pencil fence”, “clapping chalkboard erasers”, and even “flying paper shower” in honour of the clown in every class. If you’re known for your organizational materials, you can add “covered in sticky notes”, and for the music-lover there is a wonderful “musical notes shower”. Whatever scholastic endeavors call to you, there’s a suitable outfit to show them off!

     This next customization suggestion is based on an event that occurs in varying months – and is actually two events and not one! Can you guess the theme? It’s The Games Master Challenge and the Daily Dare! These events usually (but not always) occur once each annually, but sometimes the months vary so I won’t be time-specific here. But with all the raving occurring in tandem with these events, you’ll be hard-pressed to miss them! We think of the Games Master AAA as the star of gaming events, but there have been other stars like AAA’s little sister Abigail along with Chadley and and NC-inspiring cousin Lulu, and as such there are customization pieces inspired by them. There are several Games Master shirts and capes in varying colors and plenty of backgrounds and medals. There are several Lulu-inspired wigs available in a variety of colors. There are “Chadleys collectors contacts” reminiscent of Chadley’s eyes, and some cute Abigail items such as “Abigails Room Background” and my favorite, “Abigails custom drawn dreamy Hanso diary”. And of course there are general gaming-inspired items such as the “gaming helmet” and “arcade gaming background”. And if you want to exude true AAA spirit, I’d recommend the full ensemble of “AAA games room background”, “AAA host cane”, “AAA host jacket”, “AAA host shoes”, “AAA host trousers”, and either “AAA string spectacles” or the “Games Master headset”. Just don’t expect to make any new friends while you’re out and about in these!

     Last but certainly not least, we have the most important celebration of the year… the birthday of Neopia itself! And boy, does Neopets do birthdays! You’ll find no shortage of birthday backgrounds, party hats, garlands, party dresses and outfits, candles, balloons, confetti, ribbons, gifts, streamers, cupcakes, and more! There are so many, you’ll have no trouble finding inspiration, but I’ll leave you with one of my favorite birthday items: “wonderous birthday castle background”. What a great photo op, and who doesn’t want a castle to be part of their birthday party celebrations!? The bonus is that all these birthday items can also be used to celebrate your birthday and the birthday of each of your neopets. What versatile style!

     Hopefully by now you’ve discovered some new dress-up opportunities! I hope you have great fun customizing your beautiful neopets and feel inspired to come up with new reasons to celebrate!