DIY recipes are like Pokemon: we want to catch them all… but with so many recipes to find and learn, it’s hard to keep up.
The more DIYs you have, the more creative you can get with your island aesthetic and home decor. So let’s dive into how you can get more ACNH DIY recipes (and fast).
How do you get more recipes in Animal Crossing?
Including cooking recipes (check out our guide if you haven’t unlocked cooking yet!), there are over 900 DIY recipes to collect in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
It’ll take a while to get your hands on them all, and a factor that certainly doesn’t help is the amount of duplicate DIYs you’ll receive whilst on the hunt for more recipes (check out our post about what you can do with duplicate DIYs).
So how can you get more recipes to increase your learned list and customize your island the way you want?
Speak to villagers who are crafting in their homes
Three times a day, a villager will be crafting in their home: once in the morning, afternoon, and at night.
That’s three opportunities to grab new DIYs, and all you have to do is visit your islanders in their homes and talk to them – it’s that simple!
Don’t worry if any of your villagers don’t have crafting tables in their homes. When they want to craft, a table will spawn in their house to allow them to do so.
Shoot down balloons
Balloons are another low-effort way of getting your hands on new DIYs. Players have reported balloons spawning twice within ten minutes.
Although there’s no proven correlation between balloon color and its gift contents, it’s always worth shooting them down as you never know if you’ll get bells, DIYs, or handy materials like iron nuggets.
If you don’t regularly see balloons, turn up the volume on your Switch to stand a better chance of hearing one passing by. When you hear the wind blow, equip your slingshot and tilt your screen up to see where the balloon is… then shoot it down!
Pick up a message in a bottle
Searching your shores for a message bottle is a great way to get new DIYs. Twice a day these bottles bearing gifts wash up on your beaches: once in the morning and once in the evening.
Not seeing a message in a bottle? Check out our guide to see why a message bottle isn’t appearing on your beaches.
Remember bottles also appear on Mystery Islands, so there are even more chances to get new DIYs with minimal effort.
Talk to the right island visitors
Certain NPCs can help you increase your DIY list, namely Celeste and Pascal.
Celeste is Blathers’s star-gazing sister who appears on nights when your island experiences a meteor shower. If you speak to her during her visit, she’ll give you a space-related DIY, like the Rocket, which you can add to your collection.
Once you’ve received all of Celeste’s DIYs, she’ll give you star fragments each time you talk to her. Star frags are key materials in Celeste’s recipes, so it’s a win-win having a conversation with our much-loved owl astrologer!
Another character who bestows brilliant DIYs is Pascal. Our scallop-eating otter friend will trade any scallops you catch for a nautical DIY recipe, an item of clothing, or a rare pearl.
It’s pure luck what you’ll receive from Pascal, but it’s worth a dive if you want to increase your DIY roster.
Cash-in Nook Miles
Your island’s Nook Stop in Resident Services holds the key to many valuable DIYs. In exchange for your hard-earned Nook Miles, you can get a variety of DIYs from the Robot Hero DIY to the handy Simple Wooden Fence DIY.
After purchasing a DIY from your Nook Stop, you’ll instantly see it ready for you to learn in your inventory.
Regularly check the Nook Stop’s Nook Miles section to see the daily fence DIY options. As long as you’ve built up your Nook Miles, you can access fresh new DIYs in a flash.
Recipe kits from Timmy & Tommy
Is there a post in which we don’t mention our favorite raccoons?!
As always, Nook’s Cranny is as useful as ever; you can buy recipe kits from their cabinet, so rather than finding and learning DIYs one by one you can learn them all at once.
The evergreen Nook’s Cranny recipe kits (not including seasonal kits, such as the Turkey Day recipe kit) include:
- DIY For Beginners
- Test Your DIY Skills
- Wildest Dreams DIY
You can also purchase individual Flimsy Tool recipes, as well as a Pitfall Seed Recipe and Ladder Set-Up Kit Recipe.
We suggest purchasing them all, as they hold versatile DIYs that will be well worth their bells to update your island or home.
Amiibo campers
Amiibos come in handy when it comes to increasing your DIY roster. As long as you’ve got an empty campsite and scanned your villager in from your island’s Nook Stop, you can invite them to visit your campsite.
Once they’re in, keep talking to them and engaging with them until they ask you to craft them a souvenir. If you don’t already have the recipe for the craft they want, they’ll give it to you there and then.
You can only invite your villager to stay at your campsite once a day, but if you make it part of your daily routines (along with picking up your message bottle from your beach and hitting rocks for bells) you can increase your chances of getting new DIYs.
Visit friends
If you’ve exhausted all other routes, why not visit a friend’s island? One of their islanders will be indoors crafting, so you’ll have an additional opportunity to find a new DIY.
Although most players pick up their message bottles, you can ask if you can have their island’s bottle instead.
Failing that, there’s nothing like a good old-fashioned trade of DIYs!
How many DIY recipes can you get in a day?
There’s not one answer to this; it depends on how long you play, whether you have an Amiibo card and whether you plan on visiting any Animal Crossing-playing friends’ islands.
What you can count on is multiple balloons flying over your skies throughout the day, two message bottles washing up on your shores, and an islander crafting in their homes three times a day.
Why do I keep getting the same DIY recipes?
Unfortunately, this is a common complaint in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Despite there being many recipes to collect, most players get a lot of duplicates.
There’s nothing you can do to reduce the amount of duplicates you receive, but don’t let that deter you from trying all the methods above to increase your DIY roster.
How do you get more DIY recipes?
Getting more DIYs isn’t a complicated process, but it takes perseverance and consistency. You can increase your DIY recipe count by:
- picking up a message in a bottle twice daily from your beaches
- shooting down balloons
- talking to villagers who are crafting in their homes
- using Amiibo cards
- visiting friends’ islands
- buying recipes from your Nook Stop
- buying recipe kits from Nook’s Cranny
- talking to Celeste and Pascal
If you include these activities into your daily routine (otherwise known as “dailies”), you’ll be in good stead to find new recipes. However, remember the game isn’t about collecting quickly.
Putting too much pressure on yourself can lead to burnout. Enjoy regular breaks and take the pressure off yourself – enjoy the pace of sleepy island life!