And if you want to learn how to pick up a whopping 629 free Christmas presents on Christmas Day, here’s your plan of attack!
Do I have a haul of fabulous and fashionable freebies for you today!
Today’s gift from Wow Skins is this very attractive Dana Bakes on Mesh/system skin in the sandy skin tone (the Wow group costs L$199 to join):
Wow Skins: Dana in the sandy skin tone
Next up we have the Hope skin from 7 Deadly S[k]ins, in the cotton candy skin tone. Coincidentally, this skin looks very similar to today’s present from Wow Skins! The 7 Deadly S[k]ins group costs L$1,000 to join during the month of December.
7 Deadly S[k]ins: Hope skin in the cotton candy skin tone
From the Advent calendar at Essenz we receive these Barbados wedges in coral pink, which include a HUD to change the sole, the metal, the texture on the wedge, and the colour of the stripes and ankle strap. The Essenz group costs L$350 to join, or non-members can pay just L$50 each to pick up this and all previous Advent calendar gifts.
The final gift from the 12 Days of Christmas calendar at Baby Monkey are these suede wrap boots! You don’t need to join a group to snap up these beauties, simply pay the calendar L$1, and your Linden dollar will automatically be refunded. While you’re in store, why not pick up the previous 11 gifts as well! Altogether, they form a colour-coordinated capsule wardrobe in cream, pink, and chocolate brown!
The present from Mishmash Fusion is this cozy blue and grey snowflake sweater with a snowflake pattern, which comes in sizes to fit various women’s mesh bodies. The Mishmash Fusion group is free to join.
The next two pictures show you two gifts together: the beautiful Eowyn elven gown in opal green from Eclectic Stars (no group needed), paired with the Charlotte diadem, the gift from the Advent calendar at Vagrant today (the Vagrant group is free to join). You’re all set for your next fantasy roleplay!
The crown comes with a HUD to change both the colour of the gemstones, and the metal textures:
Today’s gift from Virtual Diva is this haute couture Carmin bodysuit, collar, and corset! The Virtual Diva group is free to join during Advent. As you usually have to pay a fee to join the Virtual Diva group, you might wish to remain in the group after Christmas to take pick up some high-fashion group gifts throughout the year!
Among today’s gift from the eBENTO shopping event is this red and silver Estrella ballgown from Elisea Carter (the eBENTO group is free to join):
Lastly, we have this drop-dead gorgeous emerald green ballgown, today’s present from Celestina’s Weddings (the Celestina’s group is free to join):
Fasten your seat belts! Today I will be telling you how to receive a whopping six hundred and six Christmas presents on Christmas Day, all completely free!
Many of the Second Life stores which have Advent calendars and 12 Days of Christmas calendars allow you to visit once on Christmas Day, and pick up all the gifts at one time. Very convenient!
Below is a listing of the stores, each with a brief description of the gifts, and a SLURL to take you directly to the calendar. In some cases, I have also included a picture of the calendar.
This task would have been practically impossible without the truly Herculean work done by Andonia, who shall be henceforth known as the Queen of the Advent Calendars! Nearly every day, Andonia criss-crosses the grid, hitting as many calendars as she could, and then posts pictures of each day’s gifts to her blog! Here’s her list of 2020 Advent calendars, which she has published on the Kinky Fox Designs blog. Please peruse it, to get a better sense of what kinds of presents each calendar offers, so that you may efficiently draw up a plan of attack for your Christmas 2020 looting and pillaging 😉 Thank you, Andonia! 🙂
For this endeavour, you will require only three things:
at least one free group slot (in many cases, you will need to join the free store group in order to pick up all the Advent calendar gifts; you can then leave the group immediately afterward to free up that slot for the next store on this list!);
one Linden dollar (for the 12 Days of Christmas calendar at Baby Monkey); and
at least a couple of spare hours to teleport from store to store! If you, like me, are stuck at home during a pandemic lockdown with some time on your hands, this might be the year for you to go a little crazy with the virtual freebie shopping!
Ready? Set? Let’s go!!! Remember that you will only be able to pick up all the gifts on Christmas Day (for some stores, Christmas Eve, but please see my note about special Christmas Day presents at a few stores at the very tail end of this blogpost). If your time is limited, I have listed what I think are the best calendars for apparel and footwear first, then all the rest in alphabetical order.
Christmas Gifts of Men’s and Women’s Apparel, Footwear, Jewelry, and Accessories
Baby Monkey: No group needed; 12 gifts of women’s apparel and footwear; pay L$1 for each one, and your Linden dollar will automatically be refunded. The gifts all come with a three-colour mini-HUD, and together they comprise a capsule wardrobe!
Petite Mort: No group needed; 12 gifts of womenswear.
UPDATE December 25th: the Christmas present from Petite Mort is this beautiful white ballgown!
Oubliette: No group needed; 12 gifts of gothic womenswear.
UPDATE December 25th: the final gift from Oubliette’s calendar is this gorgeous black ballgown, the counterpart to the white gown gift from Petite Mort.
JUMO: No group needed; 15 gifts of women’s apparel, footwear, and jewelry.
No Shot: No group needed; there are two calendars, one with 12 gifts of womenswear and the other with 12 gifts of menswear.
Ari-Pari: Free group join is required; 25 gifts of womenswear, home decor, and a L$250 gift card (Dec. 14th). Gifts can only be claimed once, so select Deliver on the blue pop-up window, and then be sure to click on Accept rather than Discard, because you won’t get a second chance! (UPDATE Dec. 22nd: I have been informed by the owner of Ari-Pari that I can get all these Advent calendar gifts redelivered via the redelivery terminal found in the store.)
EscalateD: No group needed; look for the green Advent calendar (the red one is for V.I.P. members only); 24 gifts of hairstyles and accessories; for pictures of the gifts, see Andonia’s blog or the listing compiled by the Russian Vkontake group Second Life – FREE (use the Russian-to-English translator in your Chrome web browser). UPDATE Dec 24th: Please note that on Christmas Eve, you only need to click on the green advent calendar ONCE, and you will receive a folder containing all 24 gifts! If you click on all 24 numbers, you will land up with 24 copies of all 24 presents!!!
UPDATE Dec. 21st, 8:58 p.m.: I forgot to mention Altamura‘s 12 Days of Christmas calendar! Free group join required; 12 gifts of seasonal menswear and womenswear, including free Bento, Bakes on Mesh-compatible full-body male and female avatars (more information here). As the Altamura group usually costs L$100 to join, you might wish to stay a member of this particular store group, as Altamura sometimes offers group gifts and discounts to group members throughout the year.
12 Days of Christmas gifts at Altamura include Bento, Bakes on Mesh avatars
Some other stores you might wish to visit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day include:
AppleTini: Free group join required; 24 gifts of women’s fingernails.
Amore & Amore: Free group join required; 24 gifts of women’s clothing.
Black Angel: Free group join required; 24 gifts of womenswear.
Blackbird Lace: Free group join required; 24 gifts of women’s apparel and footwear.
BYRNE: Free group join required; 25 gifts of women’s apparel, footwear, and accessories. UPDATE December 25th: You’ll need to take the teleporter to the Advent calendar. Most of the gifts are womenswear, but a few items are unisex, and the present for Christmas Day includes both a women’s dress and this men’s black Victorian-era suit, with either a red or teal vest:
The Christmas Day gift from Byrne includes this men’s suit, as well as a women’s outfit
Coveted: No group needed; 24 gifts of men’s and women’s wear, accessories, and home decor.
DM Design: Free group join required; 24 gifts of womenswear.
Donni’s Dollies: Free group join required; 24 gifts of men’s and women’s apparel and footwear.
Enchantress: Free group join required; 24 gifts of womenswear.
ROA Design: No group needed; 24 gifts of womenswear and accessories.
Sands Design: No group needed; 24 gifts of women’s clothing.
TrendZy: No group needed; 24 gifts of womenswear and home and garden decor.
Home and Garden Decor and Christmas Decorations
If you are interested in home and garden decor, including Christmas decorations, please visit the following calendars:
Chic Buildings: No group needed; while Chic does not have an Advent calendar this year, she has put up two calendars with gifts from 2017 and 2018 for a total of 48 gifts of home furnishings; for pictures, see Andonia’s Advent calendar listing on the Kinky Fox Designs blog (press Ctrl-F and do a keyword search for “chic buildings”).
Dench Designs: No group needed; 24 gifts of home and garden decor.
Flying Arts:No group needed; 24 gifts of outdoor Christmas decor.
Fonzo Fest: No group needed; 12 gifts around the Christmas tree; childrenswear, family poses, home and garden decor.
Illustrious: No group needed; 24 gifts of home and garden decor.
Kim’s Creations: No group needed; 25 gifts of home and garden decor.
Christmas Presents from Shopping Events
On Christmas Day you should also pay a visit to a couple of shopping events where the gifts are all gathered together. I have not added the count of the gifts from all these events to the total given in the title of this blogpost; there are so many, that I simply don’t have time to count all of them!
Cosmopolitan shopping event(running Dec. 14th to 26th, 2020): Free group join required; the gifts are in Christmas stockings hung on a huge Christmas tree near the entrance. Participating vendors are adding stockings to the tree every day between now and Christmas, so I would advise dropping by on Christmas Day and picking up everything at once. If you want to see pictures of all the presents in the stockings, please check the daily listing of gifts compiled by the Russian Vkontake group Second Life – FREE (use the Russian-to-English translator in your Chrome web browser).
The Christmas tree at the Cosmopolitan shopping event has dozens of gifts!
The layout of the stockings around the tree can be somewhat confusing compared to traditional Advent calendars, and you might land up collecting the same gifts multiple times. You might want to use this tip provided by SL blogger Chic Aeon: once you have clicked on a stocking and received its gift, right click on it, Select More from the pie menu, select More again, then select Derender, then Blacklist. You will no longer be able to see that stocking! (These are the instructions for the Firestorm viewer; I do not know what the equivalent is for the standard Second Life viewer.) This is a genius tip! Thank you, Chic!!
Another shopping event you should hit is SWANK (running Dec. 18th, 2020 to Jan. 8th, 2021), which has four large Christmas trees at four corners of the sim (be sure to turn up your draw distance in your SL viewer to be able to see them!), under which are dozens of Christmas gifts from participating vendors. You will need to join the free SWANK group to pick up these gifts of men’s and women’s apparel, footwear, jewelry, and home and garden decor.
Finally, the Firelight Hair mainstore has, in past years, allowed you to pick up all 24 hairstyles on Christmas Day, along with a free store gift card to use on any hair in the Firelight store. I don’t know if they are going to do that again this year, so be sure to pop in, just to double check on December 25th! The Advent calendar gifts are mostly women’s hairstyles, with a few male/unisex styles thrown in. The Firelight group is free to join.
Also, Entice usually puts out a store gift card as their Christmas present every year, so check that out too! The Entice group is free to join.
The December round of the FaMESHed Event in Second Life is upon us, and once again, most of the vendor booths have beautiful Christmas gifts for us! There is some really lovely stuff, both for your avatar and for your home. You do have to join the FaMESHed group for free to pick up all the presents.
Here Vanity Fair is wearing two gifts from vendors at FaMESHed: the Christmas Deer sweater from Just Because and the Hanna red heels by Phedora. (The blue leggings were part of the Dec. 4th Advent calendar gift from Appliqué Chic, and are still available today for free, but they will be L$10 after today):
The red Joy throw pillow and the neon Santa hat on the wall behind Vanity are also gifts from FaMESHED, by Fancy Decor and EQUAL respectively.
Now we have the Merry plaid blue zipper skirt (part of the same Dec. 4th Appliqué Chic Advent calendar gift as the leggings in the previous picture), plus a lovely cropped sweater, the FaMESHed gift from Giz Seorn:
Here we pair the red cable knit mohair sweater by COCO Designs with the sexy red thigh-high Cate boots by Garbaggio (my favourite shoe store!):
Next we have the Shayla robe in green from Ricielli, which comes in both closed and open versions (obviously, I’m not going to show you the open one!):
The Scandalize gift is the Nairi dress in black with a separate black lace bralette:
The gift from Neve is this lovely outfit consisting of two separate pieces, the top and the matching skirt:
This is the Jane sweater by RIOT (which comes in green as shown and also in red), paired with the Adriana red glitter shorts by Bombshell. (The RIOT gift box also includes Jasper sweaters for the men.)
Next up is the Scarlett bra and panties, the gift from Belle Epoque, shown with the Punta Cana shoes by Essenz, which comes with a HUD to change the colour of the shoes themselves (3 options: grey, blue, and red), the sole (4 options), and the tie around the ankle (18 options):
Here’s a closeup on the shoes, which like everything Essenz sells, is wonderfully crafted, with much attention paid to details!
Finally we have the Cindy dress in mint green by Kaithleen’s, paired with the Dec. 5th Advent calendar gift from Essenz, the sand-coloured Honolulu shoes:
Here’s a closeup of the Honolulu shoes, which are bit too frou-frou for my taste, but they might be perfect for you!
You do need to join the Essenz group for L$350 to pick up their daily Advent calendar gifts, but all are beautifully crafted footwear, and I think that L$350 for 24 quality pairs of shoes and boots is a bargain.
The hair used in all these pictures is the Dec. 5th Advent calendar gift from Firelight Hair, a curly hairstyle called Melvena (you will have to join the Firelight group for free to use this calendar). The hair comes with a 3-colour HUD to change it to brown, black, or red:
One of my favourite things to do when I am feeling tired, depressed, and stressed out—still, after all these years!—is to open up Firestorm and go randomly exploring in Second Life. I almost always find something to surprise and delight me, and to take my mind off my real life troubles.
Today, I loaded up one of my alts (very aptly named Autumn Winter!) and I did a search under Places for “autumn”. I discovered this masterfully landscaped autumn morning forest, on a sim called Angelhaven, with many meandering trails under red and golden leaves:
Angelhaven Autumn Forest (near the landing point)
Near the shoreline is a lovely rustic pub with a balcony overlooking the sea. The new age music stream was so soothing that I immediately began to relax and unwind!
Autumn Winter is wearing:
Mesh Head: Giselle Bento head by Altamura (no longer available for free; this was an Altamura gift from Christmas 2017 at the eBENTO event, and you had to join the Altamura group for L$50 to get it).
Mesh Body: Jenny Bento body by Altamura (this was a free gift from the 2017 Women Only Hunt, and on this version, you can remove the head and replace it with any other mesh head, as I did here. Note that the Jenny free mesh body is now available at the Freebie Megastore at London City (more information here), but you cannot remove the head on the newer free version.
Dress and Leather Jacket: Calixta outfit from Gaall (I picked this outfit up for free when the store had a free gift card offer recently; unfortunately that offer is now over)
Boots: Paola boots with fall leaves pattern (a brand new Fabulously Free in SL group gift from Baby Monkey; the group is free to join)
Hair: Hurrah hair by Ade (a free gift from the recently concluded 2019 Hair Fair)
TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR: Only L$50 (the cost to join the Altamura group)
