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The Sims 4 has a lot of useful features to offer. As such, it's easy to overlook some of them, especially if the player hasn't been playing The Sims 4 for a long time. One of the less obvious features is the calendar.
While its icon is fairly visible, many starting players don't quite know how to use the calendar and what it's good for. Some may also not be aware of all the things it can do. Even though the calendar isn't the most important part of the game, story-wise, it still adds something special to it and it would be a mistake to ignore it.
6 Find Out When Everything's Happening
The most obvious feature of the calendar is to learn when everything's happening. That includes holidays, festivals, seasons...the list goes on. With the help of the calendar, the player will never be surprised by the arrival of another season because the calendar marks it in advance.
They will also have enough time to prepare for various holidays and it will be easier for them to organize their Sims' schedules so that they can attend the festivals that happen all year long in the world of The Sims 4.
5 Use It For Challenges
The calendar can be a highly useful tool when it comes to various challenges the players themselves created to make The Sims 4 even more interesting. For example, the 100 Baby Challenge states as a rule that newborn babies cannot age up until it's their actual birthday.
And when the Sim has multiple children in the house they need to take care of, they're usually counting down every minute to their babies' birthday so that they can age them up into toddlers, which makes it easier to care for them. The calendar also shows what grades the children have, which is once again useful for the 100 Baby Challenge because the children can't age up until they're A students.
4 Set The Duration Of A Season
One of the less realistic aspects of The Sims 4 (other than the existence of vampires, wizards, and the likes) is how swiftly the seasons go by. The standard, automatically set time for each season is one week, which means that the entire year flies by rather quickly in The Sims 4. However, the player has the option to use the calendar to change the length of the seasons.
So instead of one week, the seasons can last two, three, or four weeks. That will give the player more time to try out various activities associated with each season (such as ice skating in winter, building snowmen, or gardening in spring and summer).
3 Look For The Forecast
In the real world, people can watch TV or go online to look for the forecast. In The Sims 4, the calendar fulfills this function just as well. By going through it, the player can see the forecast for the next seven days. That can help them plan various events, such as the holiday for their family.
Also, it allows taking better care of the Sims, since when it's very hot out there, for example, the Sims should be careful how long they stay in the sun. A lot of Sims are afraid of storms, which is another reason why it's good to follow the weather forecast and don't send them out when the weather's bad.
2 Add Brand New Holidays
By far one of the greatest things the calendar allows the players to do is to create their own holidays. Each season in The Sims 4 has its own holidays, but in case that's not enough, the player can add a brand new holiday to each day, should they so wish. Each holiday can have five special traits, and there are forty-one traits to choose from, which assures a lot of space for variability and experimenting. It's also possible to delete the already created in-game-built holidays the player doesn't want to participate in.
However, it's important to remember that only one holiday can happen per day. To create a new holiday, you have to click on the add holiday icon that's on the side of the calendar. Pick the options that work the best for the holiday, and the Sims are then ready to celebrate!
1 Add Events
Other than adding holidays, it's also possible to add events to the calendar. Once again, this offers a rich variety of things to do. Events include birthday parties, weddings, dance parties, house parties, and others, depending on which expansion pack the players use.
The important part is to choose the time when the event will start, and it's also possible to add whether it will have any goals that need to be achieved or not. When combined with other features, the calendar assures that both the Sims and the players will have something to do each day, and they will never forget someone's birthday or a school exam ever again.
The Sims 4 is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.