Sunday, January 26, 2020

Elder Sims and Fitness - Very Uncomfortable Activity

Fitness with Elder Sims who have not already maxed out their fitness skills, when they exercise for any standard amount, they become "very uncomfortable" and worn out.

A peach colored "Very Uncomfortable" Emotion Change with a Moodlet that the Sim is Dangerously Tired (a cane across the warning sign). The Sim won't be able to do a lot of normal activities for four Sims hours. Which, of course, is the pits!

Very Uncomfortable Emotion with Dangerously Tired Moodlet

But what can we do for those older Sims who are developing a bit of a muffin top over their pants?


Elder Fitness SOLUTION:

Purchase a Tub with Discomfort Relief

Go ahead and have your Elder Sim exercise on the tread mill, or jog, and then when done, as soon as the very uncomfortable/dangerously tired Moodlet shows up, have the Sim Take a Bath in a tub that has the ability to relieve discomfort. 

Very Uncomfortable (Discomfort) Relief
The Cure is Working

The Uncomfortable Score is going down!

If the tub is a cheap tub, it won't do anything but clean your worn out Sim.

As the Discomfort Relief Bath is occurring, little green downward arrows will show up on the Moodlet's icon and if you hover your mouse over the icon, the number of hours will become less until it's Peach color is all gone.  Note - the higher the discomfort relief indicated on the tub, the quicker the Dangerously Tired Moodlet is diminished and your Elder Sim is good to go.

Another good reason for an Elder Sim to be physically fit is that the Sim won't get tired as quickly or sleep so long.

Dealing with a Sims Nanny

Nanny Service is quirky, at best. Get ready for a lot of meals that get thrown out, the nanny spending more time on the computer, chatting, or watching TV, than tending to the baby, etc. Since you have no control over the actions of the Nanny, it can get perplexing.

It might be better to "create" a live-in Nanny Sim that moves into the home while the baby and toddler are around that allows you to control the actions of that Sim (in my humble opinion). The nanny can be hired on a day-by-day basis either by clicking on the bassinet or from the cell phone under household services.

The Nanny Service expense is 60 Simoleans plus 10/hour. The nanny will typically spend eight to 10 Sims hours on duty. If you socialize with the nanny, they will begin to show up at the home while off duty, and will quickly interact with the kids. If toddlers ask them to read, they usually will. That's for free!
Nanny McCloud at your service.
Nannys from the Kindly Caring Service, can be male or female and identifiable from their brightly colored vest tops. Depending on the nanny's "traits" you will either get a very attentive nanny, or a lazy goofball. Either way, the nanny can take some of the pressure off, if you can tolerate the quirks.

One way to determine the nanny's personality traits is in conversation.  Socially clicking on the Nanny Sim, select "Get to Know" if that pops up as an immediate option, or select "more Choices... and Friendly... until you find the "Get to Know" option. The response from the Nanny Sim will show up in the Household Notification Wall.  For example, this Nanny Sim was a Snob, Perfectionist, Loves the outdoors, and ?. Could never figure out the fourth trait. I must say, for this nanny being a perfectionist, timely was not a strong point. The agency would indicate that she would be at the home at a particular time, but the nanny would show up several hours later. Ah, the joys of hiring Sims' Nannys.

Friday, December 6, 2019

Woo-hoo - Try for a Baby

Trying For a Baby between male and female adult Sims will usually result in a baby.  If the "act" took place late at night or early in the morning (when the female Sim will typically be asleep), that will be the time frame each Trimester changes; 1, 2 and 3.

The female Sim will typically wake up or "bigger Bump" at about that same time each day, need to go to the toilet, feel exhausted, not sleep well, be hungry and/or want to throw up.  There is no reason to waste 15 Simoleans on a pregnancy test.  It either happened or not, but usually a good indicator is that the "Throw up" option has been added to the "Bladder" needs when clicking on the toilet.

Each trimester is approximately one Sims day. When the Pregnant Sim reaches the third trimester, she can take Family Leave for 24 Sims hours. The Family Leave option is available through the cell phone under the Work options. If the Pregnant Sim has not delivered the baby after the end of her work shift, she should immediately request another day of Family Leave, or she may end up having to go to work on the same morning/day that she delivers.  Once she delivers, the Family Leave option will go away, and there will be an automatic daycare feature to care for the baby if there is no adult at home to care for the baby while Mom Sim is at work.

The Mom-to-be Sim may not be able to sleep well and feel exhausted right up to the delivery of the baby. Naps on the sofa can help.

There is no need to purchase a crib/bassinet for the baby since one will arrive just as the baby is ready to be born.  The bassinet will suddenly appear right in front of (next to) Pregnant Sim and within a few Sims minutes, the baby's gender will be announced and a request to name him/her. There will be some sparkly "magic" and the baby will appear in Mom's hands.  Mom Sim will snuggle with the baby for a moment, then place Baby Sim into the bassinet. While this is all happening, the ability to go into the Build Mode is shut off. A word of caution.  If the Mom-to-be Sim is sleeping, the bassinet may show up in a spot where the delivery cannot happen. The Pregnant Sim will labor indefinitely and become more exhausted without any means to "have baby."

Free Bassinet Appears
Like Magic the Bump is Gone
And the Baby Appears


Baby Sims are generally noisy whenever they are awake.  For the most part, they will either coo, cry or sleep.  There are a variety of options for interacting with the baby, within the bassinet, but the option to just leave the baby anywhere, other than the bassinet is not an option. The option choices are:
  • Shoosh (if the baby is being noisy)
  • Rock
  • Make Silly Face
  • Cuddle
  • Coo
  • Bounce
  • Change Diaper - Change Dirty Diaper
  • Feed - Bottle or Breast
  • More Choices...
    • Hire Nanny Service
    • Age up
    • Talk
    • Show Off To...



The baby will either be sad, happy or asleep. The color indicators for sad and asleep are both blue, and happy is green. So if your Sim is off somewhere in the neighborhood socializing, fishing, etc., you can tell when the baby is happy, but it is difficult to tell the difference between asleep and sad.

The first day or two of Shooshing, Rocking, Cuddling, Changing Diapers, Feeding, etc., can become time consuming, just like with a real baby. Waiting to age the baby naturally can be anywhere from a few Sim days to a few Sim weeks (depending on a variety of game play options). Thankfully, parents can opt to "age up" the new bundle of joy into Toddlerhood, when there is a bit more autonomy of the child. If you have Seasons packet, the baby's birthday is indicated on the calendar. However, I had one with the long-life in the game option and instead of the typical three days to age up, it took one whole season (one Sim week) plus three days. When the baby ages up, the baby flips out of the bassinet and lands on the floor as a toddler.  You can sell the Bassinet at that point.

Time for that Toddler Bed!


Monday, January 14, 2019

Best Season to Start Garden - Sims 4

Gardening in the Sims 4 can be a full-time job to get all the plant starts from various neighborhoods, cutting and grafting, watering, weeding, spraying for bugs and fertilizing, along with the daily harvest. The situation is compounded in the Seasons, because certain plants do not grow in all seasons, and when they do, they produce considerably less during the growing season. Because of the seasonal limitations, there is less time available to get certain plants necessary to graft and grow new plant species. There are times where I have gone an entire year without getting that valuable orchid, or pomegranate from the spliced plants.

If gardening is your passion, the best season to start the game for a new Sim family is Fall. Fall has the most plants available for harvest, and this is also the season for the holiday, Fall's Harvestfest. Harvestfest brings three new gnomes to the household, for the day, to pop around depositing seasonal seed packets. One type of seed is granted per packet. Your Sim can still plant all the seeds in Fall, but may not be able to plant them, once Winter settles in. The ground appears frozen in the Winter, even for winter plants.

Vegetables, Flowers & Herbs All Year

The best way to ensure that your Sims' plants will keep producing all year is to build a Glass Roof over a large section of the Sim Property. You can build a greenhouse with walls, windows and doors, but that is not necessary.  A roof over some pillars/columns will accomplish the same thing. Another way to do this is to have a large roof overhang from the house.  The Roof option is free so size is not an expense problem for new start-ups. Plus, if you don't add walls, you won't have a floor to contend with. Your Sim can still plant in the ground, Spring, Summer and Fall. If you want to plant in the Winter, you may need to start with a planter box until Spring rolls around. It depends.

Below is a list of plants, by season, that can be freely collected (or caught by fishing) from surrounding neighborhoods. # = All Season plants. (U) = Uncommon plants. * = Fishing rewards that can be caught any season at select fishing locations.

FallWinterSpringSummerRewards
Lemon #
Sage #
Apple
Basil
Carrot
Chrysanthemum
Grape
Mushroom
Snapdragon
Onion (U)
Pear (U)
Rose (U)
Lemon #
Sage #
Onion (U)
Pear (U)
Potato (U)


Lemon #
Sage #
Bluebell
Carrot
Daisy
Mushroom
Parsley
Snapdragon
Strawberry (U)
Tulip (U)
Lemon #
Sage #
Basil
Bluebell
Chrysanthemum
Parsley
Blackberry (U)
Cherry (U)
Lily (U)
Tomato (U)



*Apple
*Daisy
*Lemon #
*Snapdragon
*Pear (U)
*Rose (U)
*Strawberry (U)
*Cowplant
*Dragon Fruit
*Pomegranate
Please note: This is not the complete list of plants that can be planted or harvested from grafting.

Foraging for Plants

Each neighborhood will have a variety of five or six (or more) plants that can be foraged by walking around the neighborhood after being there for a day. If your Sim does not live in the neighborhood, it helps to have them spend the night for at least eight hours, sleeping on the couch, or even a park bench will do the trick.  The plants are typically ready to fully harvest by 6 a.m. (Sim time) during the season the plant grows.  It should be noted that most plant locations vary from one game to the next, so it is impossible to describe exactly where to find all the plants, with the exception of Community Gardens, and a select few plants that always grow in the same locations. 

When traveling to a neighborhood, the first visit will take about one Sim hour for the plants to start germinating sprouts.  Regardless of the season, they will all start to sprout during that first visit. However, the plants that are not in season will eventually vanish leaving only a lump of soil to represent that plant, until the correct season allows the plant to sprout again. It should also be noted that, on occasion, a wild plant will be removed by one of the neighbors, even when it is in season. Then your Sim will need to come back on the next day, or two, in order to harvest that plant. 

Community Gardens

As mentioned earlier, there are several Community Gardens in the base game in select neighborhoods. All of these have trees that are already close to mature.  Since some plants take longer to grow than others, it might take several trips to the garden and spending a lot of time there to get a cutting. Cherry starts and Pear starts, for example take several days and trips unless your Sim lives in the neighborhood. Once the plant is full size, if you would rather harvest the plant, you might consider camping out on a neighbor's sofa, or a park bench, to get that first seasonal harvest so that you can plant the produce back home. 

1) Behind BFF's House - Willow Creek

There's a small community garden with Apples, Strawberries, Potatoes, Chrysanthemums, Bluebells, and Snapdragons.  Four planter boxes. Near and around the neighborhood, wild mushrooms can also be found along with a few wild versions of some of the seasonal flowers. 

BFF's House

Community Garden behind BFFs

2) Behind Umbrage Manor - Willow Creek

A rather large community garden with Apples, Pears, Bluebells, Snapdragons, Roses, Lilies, and Strawberries or near the garden. Seven planter boxes loaded with plants. Some of these plants can also found around the paths of the neighborhood along with some wild mushrooms in the Spring and Fall. 

Umbrage Manor

Community Garden behind Umbrage

3) Next to Agave Adobe and Across the Street from Zest - Oasis Springs

Another small community garden with Lemons, Carrots, Sage, Tomatoes, Chrysanthemums and Daises.  Three planter boxes. Down the path, next to the river fishing spot, there will be a wild onion plant in the Fall and Winter seasons, and wild strawberries in the Spring. 

Zest Trailer & Agave Adobe

Community Garden - by Agave

Agave Fishing - Onion & Strawberry

Other wild plant locations for the base game are as follows: 

Newcrest
Basil, Strawberries, Snapdragons, Mushrooms, Bluebells & Lilies - near Tranquil Crescent Lot
Strawberries, Onions, Mushrooms & Roses -  near Midtown Meadows Lot
Strawberries, Lilies, Snapdragons & Apples - near Optimists Outlook Lot

Oasis Springs
Lemons, Daisies, Sage, Carrots & Chrysanthemums - near Commercial/Businesses
Blackberries, Sage, Lemons, Carrots, Daisies & Chrysanthemums - in/near Desert Bloom Park
Cherries, Tulips, Daisies, Carrots, Lemons & Sage - near Landgraab/Affluista Mansion
Cherries, Onions, Carrots, Sage, Strawberries & Chrysanthemums - near Dusty Turf Lot
Blackberries, Cherries, Tulips, Onions & Lemons - near Arid Ridge Lot

Willow Creek
Pears, Lilies, Onions, Snapdragons, Bluebells, & Strawberries - near Commercial/Businesses
Pears, Lilies, Apples, Snapdragons & Strawberries - in/near Magnolia Blossom Park
Roses, Onions, Mushrooms, Snapdragons & Strawberries - near Potters Splay Lot
Pears, Basil, Onions, Lilies, Apples, Snapdragons & Strawberries - near Oakenstead Home

Hidden Locations
Sylvan Glade - Willow Creek, has many of the same plants and they can only be harvested in season.
Forgotten Grotto - Oasis Springs, has a few plants and they can only be harvested in season.

Seed Packets

Some general seed packets can be purchased that will contain a few plants (not really seeds). The Starters options are Flowers, Fruits, Herbs and Vegetables. These packets will contain one or two common plants that grow quickly.  These Starter seed packets are the same whether you have Seasons, or only the base game.

In Seasons, more Season seed options become available at Gardening Skill Levels 4 and 5.  Each Seasonal packet will only contain one type of plant and they are not cheap.  You can obtain the majority of the plants in the local neighborhoods, with the exception of a few new Season Plants, such as Green Peas, Bell Peppers, Crocus, Christmas Rose, Holly, Begonia, Snowdrop, etc. Based on what I has seen to this point, grafting of these Seasons plants will not create new plant species. However, if you splice a winter with a summer, or generally, two different seasons, you can cut back on the number of plants in your garden and still get annual produce year round. (You will get these free during Fall Harvestfest in Seasons. The seeds in these Seasonal Packets are Common and Uncommon plants.)

Back to the base game options, more seed packets become available at the Gardening Skill Level 7. The Farmer Plant options are Flowers & Fruit or Vegetables & Herbs. Although these packets cost the same as the Seasons, there are more plant varieties per packet. There will be four to six different plants in each packet and if you have Seasons, the Farmer packets may also include some Season Varieties. These seeds (plants) will typically be common.

The other seed packet available at skill level 7 is the Uncommon Plants. These are even more expensive, and you will only receive one type of plant per packet. These will be the plants, like, Tulips, Blackberries, Pears, Tomatoes, Potatoes, etc.
Patchy

The Rare Plant Seed Packets are available to Sims that have reached Gardening Skill Level 10.  These are the most expensive of all. Most of the Rare Plants are the species that result from grafting/spicing together specific plants. These are the Dragonberries, the Cowplant Berries, Orchids, Bird of Paradise, etc. The Rare Plant packets may also include some strange seeds/plants like Magic Beans and GrowFruit.

If you have Seasons, you can get the rare plants from Patchy the Strawman, once per day per Sim.  Children and Teens can also gather rare seeds from Patchy's pocket.


There is only one rare plant available in Seasons that cannot be purchased with Simoleans.  It is the Money Tree that is an Aspiration Reward. The Money Tree is currently 5,000 points in the Aspiration Reward Store. It is not seasonal, and will provide plenty of money for any Sim Family to vacation and buy a lot of luxury items.

Sunday, December 23, 2018

Athletic Aspiration - Sims 4 - Basegame

In Sims 4, the only athletic aspiration is Bodybuilder - however, just being slim and fit does not constitute being athletic for Sims.

If you meet all four milestones of the aspiration, you receive a "Long Lived" trait that allows your Sim to live a longer life.

The four milestones are

  1. Basic Trainer
  2. Exercise Demon
  3. Fit to a T
  4. Bodybuilder

While most of the milestones are easily gauged, the final "maximum body potential" has no gauge to determine your Sims' goal for maximum body (built). It can feel like a "forever" event.

I built four young adult Sims starting with the Maximum and/or Minimum of the four body types. Practicing with the several body types to start with, the first one to reach the goal, after 40ish Sim hours of exercise on the Treadmill, Jogging and Workout "exercise machine," plus only eating salads for every meal, the Sim that had a maximum weight build to start with, also had a maximum muscle development.

I will include photos of the start and point of reaching the maximum potential.  That Sim was by no means skinny upon reaching the goal. After 40 hours (Sim hours) the Sim still had a heavy physique, but had slimmed down considerably from the start.

Now I'm starting another Sim from very skinny and low-defined muscle mass.

Max Muscle & Weight
Be aware than when we create the Sim, there is a sliding option that we can use, but once we have built the Sim, we no longer have access to that.
The top left is Maximum Muscle represented by a heavier dumbell and the top right is the Maximum Weight represented by an oval with arrows pointing outward, that can be used as the Sims' starting point.

Max Muscle & Least Weight
The bottom left is the Minimum Muscle and bottom right is the Minimum Weight that can be used to build the Sim.

These "on build" sliding functions allow us to build the Sim to match certain body types that we want to start with.

Over time, the Sim can gain or lose weight, as well as gain and lose muscle. It happens slowly, which is what is frustrating because we may think our Sim is working out enough to not gain weight, but the reality is that all those extra slices of cake when the Sim was at a party, or those free Hotdogs at the park, start adding up.

As I learn more, I will continue to add my findings.

Essentially, I have the Bodybuilding Sims working out five Sim hours per day, eating only one type of caloric meal.  As with the first Sim to hit the Maximum Body Potential, she ate only Salad every meal and rarely ate to the point of filling the hunger indicator.

My Bodybuilding Sims were not working at jobs and did not have families. The main focus was to meet needs and exercise.

Regardless of weight, when a Sim starts out with maximum muscle, the goal of Maximum Body Potential can only be met once the Sim reaches level six of the fitness skill. This can be done via jogging, boxing, swimming, workouts on the treadmill, etc. The Sim may need to lose some of the weight too, if they are on the heavy side. However, the Sim does not need to be skinny in order to build muscle. \

Sim One at build - Max Weight and Max Muscle
Weight loss alone eating only salad and water four weeks. It became obvious that weight loss without any exercise was basically useless, although there is some slight slimming, it was going to be a slow loss.
Day 1
Day 28
Starting over at Day one, the Sim started exercising; jogging, boxing, and basic workout on treadmill. In a little more than a Sim week (eight Sim Days), the Sim was losing weight quicker and because theSim was maximum muscled at development, the "existing" muscles started showing up quickly, eating only salads and water while exercising an average of five hours per day. After the Sim reached level six fitness skill, the Sim started to weight lifts only. The snapshot intervals are at 0, 15, 30 and 40 hours of exercise. As you can tell, the Sim is not maximum skinny, but is definitely muscled/toned after only 40 hours of weight loss and exercise. Day eight was essentially four hours of basic weight lifting.

Day 1
Day 3
Day 6
Day 8 MBP
MaxBody-side
MaxBody-back

Sim Two at build, was minimum muscle and minimum weight
The initial attempt with this Sim was to utilize the treadmill and punching bag. After 60 Sim hours, this Sim, unlike the Sim above, Sim Two was nowhere close to building muscle with the fitness workout for 12 days. This first attempt is represented in this table.

Day 1
Day 1 

60 Hours
60 Hours

Giving up on the first Sim Two, a reboot of Sim Two from day one took a different fitness approach. The fitness regime switched from using the treadmill and punching bag, to the weight lifting machine and punching bag. Sim Two also jogged, but not as much. Not more than one hour per day, if at all. The weight lifting process was slower because it had to be broken up through the day since it caused more pain. In order to get the best workouts, a brisk shower helped to energize Sim Two first, before working out. The Weight Machine was the primary fitness developer, with three hours per day plus two hours of jogging and/or punching/boxing.  Despite having a minimum of muscle, the Maximum Body Potential occurred shortly after 40 hours, which is essentially the amount of time it takes to develop six fitness skill levels. Like Sim One, this Sim took eight days of intense work.Sim Two mostly ate Egg and Cheese meals. Please note, there are also special protein meals that pop up to be prepared when to cook is energized. They are more expensive, and don't really seem to be necessary to build muscle.

15 Hours
30 Hours
40 Hours
MaxBody
MaxBody Back
Nutshell, is that any Sim will need to get through the first six fitness skill levels before being able to get to the Maximum Body Potential Milestone.  If all the effort is done correctly, from the onset, it should not take too long to obtain the Body Potential by using the Exercise Machine several hours per day.

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Notebook - Where is it? - Sims 4

[Update - there is now an icon for the Notebook on the bottom row next to the stereo speaker on the phone's options. Image is at the bottom of this page.]

The notebook is not intuitive despite the instructions telling the user to open the notebook using the icon bar at the top of the phone. It took me some time to figure out what and where. What is a notebook? Where is the notebook for my Sim? 

Cell Phone Lessons
While Sims 4 does have a Lessons section under Options, I discovered that there was literally no information to be found.  Not even under the cell phone lesson. 

 

 

Notebook Alert
Important information is stored in the Sims Notebook. For example, when a gardener chooses to research a plant to learn more about that plant, a notebook alert will pop up on the Sims Notification Wall.  While that's nice, there is little else to help the user to find the icon.

On the bottom of the game window, to the left,  is a little house and a little phone. The phone icon will open your Sim's phone.
Notebook Icon


Once the phone is opened, the top bar has three functions in the middle of the phone screen. The icon to the left (see arrow) is the notebook icon.

After you open the notebook, once you have caught fish or researched garden plants, you will have the option to open to folders, for Gardening and Fishing. 

The Gardening folder describes the "normal"  Simoleon's sell price of the plant, the appearance of the plant as well as plants that can be grafted with that plant, if any.  Price is the base price of the plant. As the plants improve in quality, the sell price will increase, but it does not increase on the descriptions.

Plant Information


The Fishing folder lists the type of fish, then the type of bait that has caught the fish. To the left of the bait are numbers.  In this example, for Trout, a lily has been used as bait to catch a trout. The first number (99+) is how many lilies are in my Sim's personal inventory while the second number (/1) is how many lilies are needed for bait to catch a trout. 
Fishing Bait
UPDATE - This is the updated version of the notebook button on the cellphone.
Notebook Button lower left

You can also open the Notebook from the Computer now, as well; "Open Notebook."
Computer's Notebook Option

Saturday, December 8, 2018

It's Gnome Business Like Appeasing - Seasons - Sims 4

In Seasons, there is a day of celebration in the fall involving Gnomes. Several Gnomes will pop-up on the Sims lot for the day and basically harass the home/family. The objective is to appease all the Gnomes.

Bare Essentials Gnomes
If your Sim does not appease all the Gnomes that appear, the Gnomes will move throughout the property making messes and breaking items. You can instantly tell when the Sim did not appease the Gnome; fire will shoot out of the top of its hat. Then your Sim is only given a few options to fix the issue, such as to apologize or kick the Gnome. Kicking the Gnome will enrage all the Gnomes, causing more havoc. Apologizing will sometimes appease the Gnome, or it will cause the Sim to levitate and receive an electric shock, leaving the Sim temporarily dazed.

Appeased Gnomes will have halos of light over their heads. These Gnomes will proceed to move throughout the lot leaving seasonal seed packets. Note - The exception to this is the Gnome Decor.  While it can join the other gnomes disbursing seed packets, the gnome does not provide immediate proof that it has been appeased.

It is not always easy to tell which Gnome is which because, until they are appeased, there is no pop window that indicates which Gnome you are dealing with.

The festivities information implies that you need to give the Gnomes a toy to appease them. However, not all Gnomes want toys. There are at least twelve Gnomes with six options to appease.  Their names range from Gnome Matter What I'm Still Your Baby to Ghastly Ghostly Gnome. The coloring of their clothing/costumes can vary. The six options to appease are: Give a Toy, Give Coffee, Give Fruitcake, Give Future Cube, Give Pie and Give Salad.

Even if your Sim doesn't appease a gnome, the attempt is still considered a success for event. One appeasement/attempt per Sim is necessary for the event. I won't guarantee that these appeasement options will always work for you, but these have worked for my Sims in the past.

If your Sim household already has Gnomes, either from purchasing them, or from previous Harvestfest events, those Gnomes will join in.  The more Gnomes appeased during the event, the more seeds left behind.  The average is six seed packets per Gnome. Your Sims cannot sell the packets from their personal inventory, but the packets can be sold back in Build Mode.

NOTE - An answer to a recent comment about the seed packets vanishing when opened, that is because the seeds are not really seeds. They are the plant that will show up in the Sim's personal inventory. The plant, (fruit, vegetable, herb, or flower) will usually appear with a gold star next to them the first time you open up that Sim's inventory right after opening the packet. 

ImageGnome's GnameGift
Gnome Matter What. . . BabyFruitcake
Bearly GnomePie
Mr. FloppySalad
Happy GnomiversaryCoffee
Strictly BusinessToy
Poolside Toy
Ghastly GhostlyFuture Cube
Guardian of GnomelaxyFuture Cube
Bare EssentialsFuture Cube
Toy or Pie
There's No Place LikeFruit Cake
Happy Garden PalFruit Cake
Don't Fear the ReagnomperPie
Upside Down Gnome DecorSalad

If you find you cannot appease the Gnome/s, you can open Build Mode and Sell the Gnome from the lot. Then if you want to try again with a different Gnome, purchase one from Build Mode during the festivities and you will have the option to appease that new Gnome.

I store the Gnomes in my Build Inventory until the next Harvestfest. Then, I will pull all the stored Gnomes out to appease them for the holiday to collect even more seasonal seed packets.