The Sims 4 Deck the Palms Event Guide: What it is, how can you take part, and what are the rewards?
Deck the Palms is the final time-limited event to take place in The Sims 4 in 2025, and as the name (lightly) suggests, there’s a bit of a double theme at play here. Yes, it’s another Christmas event – but there’s also a distinctively tropical aesthetic to the proceedings this time around. Not only does this stop things from getting too same-y after TS4 already featured a more traditional Christmas event last year, but it also exists to make the most of the recent kit collaboration between The Sims and SpongeBob Squarepants.
Once again, off-screen NPC Jasmine Holiday is here to offer you a bunch of free in-game goodies in exchange for playing The Sims 4 a bit. Quite why she’s gone all-in on the SpongeBob brand deal is not addressed explicitly, but it kind of makes sense: teaming up with a cartoon mascot for commercialised Christmas shenanigans isn’t unheard of.
In any case, here’s our complete guide to The Sims 4 Deck the Palms event, including key dates, participation requirements, and rewards!
What is the Deck the Palms event in The Sims 4?
Deck the Palms is a time-limited login event in The Sims 4, running from December 16th, 2025 until January 13th, 2026. New rewards will unlock periodically throughout, with the schedule somewhat haphazard around the real-world holiday celebrations – so take a look below for a full outline of the exact event dates.
The event begins automatically upon loading into a fully-updated version of The Sims 4 while your game is connected to the internet. After reward permanence was an issue during several past events, EA have said that your event rewards are now properly linked to your EA Account, so they recommend that you stay logged in while you play to ensure that they can easily be recovered if you ever need to reinstall the game.
Unlike the past several events in TS4, Deck the Palms does not feature any gameplay quests you need to complete in order to unlock the exclusive rewards. All you need to do is login to the game and claim any unlocked rewards by accessing the event page.
The final 11 days of the event are a “grace period” after everything has been unlocked, to allow players who began late to catch up and collect all of the rewards. However, it’s important to note that you can only retroactively claim one day’s rewards for every day you actually login, so January 4th is the last day you can begin logging in if you want to collect all of the rewards. You can still participate after that, of course, but the rewards from the event’s later days will be functionally unavailable to you if you start too late.
TS4 Deck the Palms event dates
Here are the key dates for the Deck the Palms event in The Sims 4:
- December 16th: Deck the Palms event commences, first day of login rewards unlocks.
- December 19th: Second day of login rewards unlocks.
- December 24th: Third day of login rewards unlocks.
- December 25th: Fourth day of login rewards unlocks.
- December 26th: Fifth day of login rewards unlocks.
- December 27th: Sixth day of login rewards unlocks.
- December 28th: Seventh day of login rewards unlocks.
- December 30th: Eighth day of login rewards unlocks.
- January 2nd: Final day of login rewards unlocks.
- January 4th: Final day to begin logging in to receive all rewards.
- January 13th: Event ends.
New content unlocks at 5pm GMT / 12pm EST / 9am PST on the dates stated. These timings also indicate at what time in your region the event will expire on January 13th.
Note that early press releases from EA/Maxis originally listed the event’s end date as January 11th, but this seems to have been an error.
TS4 Deck the Palms rewards list
There are 21 rewards in total in Deck the Palms, all of which are exclusive to the event:
| Item Name | Type | Unlocks on… |
|---|---|---|
| Slightly Fuzzy Earmuffs | CAS: head accessory (teen and older) | December 16th (Day 1) |
| Naturescapes Magnet Board | BB: wall décor | December 16th (Day 1) |
| Playful Dolphin Magnet | BB: Magnet collectable #7 | December 16th (Day 1) |
| Happy Home Mailbox | BB: standing décor | December 19th (Day 2) |
| Festive Fronds Palm Tree | BB: garden plant | December 19th (Day 2) |
| Slightly Fuzzy Mountain Boots | CAS: adult footwear | December 19th (Day 2) |
| Slightly Fuzzy Mittens | CAS: hand accessories | December 24th (Day 3) |
| Stellar Spaceship Magnet | BB: Magnet collectable #8 | December 24th (Day 3) |
| Littlest Neighborhood Library | BB: bookcase | December 25th (Day 4) |
| Frosty Snowman Magnet | BB: Magnet collectable #9 | December 25th (Day 4) |
| Serious Business Tablet Machine | BB: electronic appliance (you must have Businesses & Hobbies installed to use) | December 26th (Day 5) |
| Krabby Patty Secret Recipe | Cooking recipe | December 26th (Day 5) |
| Bikini Bottom Hoodie | CAS: adult top | December 27th (Day 6) |
| Creature Comforts Pet Hoodie | CAS: pet accessory (you must have Cats & Dogs installed to use) | December 27th (Day 6) |
| Holidays in Sulani Button Up | CAS: adult top | December 28th (Day 7) |
| Chilly Days Magnet | BB: Magnet collectable #10 | December 28th (Day 7) |
| My Little Voidcritter Toddler Slide | BB: outdoor activities | December 30th (Day 8) |
| My Big Voidcritter Slide | BB: outdoor activities (you must have Adventure Awaits installed to use) | December 30th (Day 8) |
| Cutest Kiwi Magnet | BB: Magnet collectable #11 | December 30th (Day 8) |
| Undersea Phone | BB: shelf décor | January 2nd (Day 9) |
| Pointiest Dino Magnet | BB: Magnet collectable #12 | January 2nd (Day 9) |
Note that the “Magnet” collectable set is a continuation of the series introduced a couple of months ago in the Forever Friends event, hence why the new magnets here are numbered #7-#12. It’s also worth knowing that since Deck the Palms is a login event, you might not receive a free magnet in your Sim’s inventory after claiming – but don’t worry, they can still be purchased from the Build/Buy catalogue to continue building your collection.
Do I need to own Sims 4 DLC to take part in Deck the Palms?
Every player of The Sims 4 base game can take part in the Deck the Palms event, regardless of which DLC packs they own.
However, three of the rewards on offer do require you to own a certain piece of DLC for you to be able to use them in-game:
- Businesses & Hobbies is required to use the Serious Business Tablet Machine (Day 5)
- Cats & Dogs is required to use the Creature Comforts Pet Hoodie (Day 6)
- Adventure Awaits is required to use the My Big Voidcritter Slide (Day 8)
While Cats & Dogs is an older expansion pack, Businesses & Hobbies and Adventure Awaits were both released this year – and therefore might present more of an access issue, for example to players who like to wait for DLC to go on sale before purchasing.
On the plus side, EA have confirmed that any rewards you unlock are from then on associated with your EA account even if you can’t use them right away – so if you bought one of these expansion packs at a later date, your Deck the Palms reward item would show up in your game then too. It’s not a huge mitigation, but it is worth knowing about.
Notably, the event does not require you to own the Bikini Bottom Bundle or either of the kits it contains (SpongeBob Kids’ Room Kit or SpongBob’s House Kit) in order to access all of the rewards, even though these are the new DLCs that this event is nominally designed to promote.
Finally, as ever, please rest assured that if you have Seasons installed, it doesn’t actually need to be winter in your game in order to participate in a Christmas-themed event. It’s actually early spring in my save right now, so I guess my Sims are just those people.
For our tried-and-testing troubleshooting page for TS4 events, see how to fix the blank UI bug in The Sims 4 events, which also includes a tutorial on how to backup your rewards folder on PC (you know, just in case you don’t quite trust EA to sort that for you yet).