I logged in and immediately felt it: Los Santos is in that weird holiday zone where everyone's either friendly or totally unhinged. Snow's settled in, cars slide like they're on soap, and the city looks better than it has any right to. If you're jumping back in late and you'd rather skip the slow build, some players look at GTA 5 Accounts for sale so they can get straight to the seasonal grind without spending a week rebuilding their setup.

Login freebies and lobby survival

Rockstar's keeping it simple this year: log in during the event window and you'll walk away with a Season's Greetings Sweater and a New Year Fireworks Bodysuit. You also get a Snowball Launcher and a Fireworks Launcher with a small stash of rockets, which sounds cute until you realise half the lobby is treating the Del Perro Freeway like a war zone. The real gift, honestly, is the snack and armour refill. Public sessions in the snow can turn into a pile-up in seconds, and you'll burn through supplies fast if you're doing sell missions or just trying to get across town in one piece.

How to actually make money during the event

The weekly challenges are where the event starts paying for itself. Across the three-week run, you can stack up a solid $900,000 if you keep up with the rotating tasks. The Cluckin' Bell Farm Raid is the big one, though. Run it as the leader, help someone else as a crew member, and time it with the weekly bonus and the payout gets very real, very fast. Best part: you can run it in invite-only, so you're not dealing with random griefers spinning your finale into a 30-minute mess. Also, MC Weed Farm double money is back, and it's worth dusting off—if you're smart about timing and prep, you can keep deliveries cleaner and avoid those annoying multi-vehicle runs.

Limited-time encounters worth chasing

If you're the type who plays for unlocks, there's plenty going on. The Happy Holidays Hauler cruises around and drops exclusive festive sweaters, but it's not instant—you'll need to hang in a session long enough for it to show up. Then there's the Weazel Plaza Shootout, which is basically Rockstar doing a cheeky action-movie tribute. Spot it at night, get to the roof, drop the boss, and you can snag the WM 29 Pistol. It's quick, it's chaotic, and it's the kind of event you'll regret skipping when it disappears again.

Outfits, collectibles, and where to spend the haul

The Yeti hunt is back up in Raton Canyon: follow the clues, survive the ambush, and you'll earn the full Yeti suit, which is more bragging rights than fashion—but still fun. The Gooch can also pop up and mug players, so having at least one other person in the session helps if you're trying to trigger it on purpose. And yeah, the snowmen challenge is still a thing: smash 25, grab the Snowman outfit, and pocket the extra cash while you're at it. With luxury properties seeing big discounts, it's a good moment to upgrade your base of operations, and if you're short on cash or just want to top up fast, plenty of players use RSVSR to pick up game currency and items so they can focus on the event instead of endless resupply runs.