It's Christmas and Bluey is very focused on being good to get more presents, but when a game of Verandah Santa leaves cousin Socks upset, Bluey must learn the virtue of kindness.
Tropes:
- Aside Glance: Bandit gives a worried look to the camera when he hears a bunch of thudding in the bedroom when it’s his turn to play Verandah Santa. The sounds are especially worrying to him, as his family was doing some “sinister plotting” before he left the room.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: In the tense moment after Bluey’s mean to Socks and she runs away upset, Bingo starts playing with the fidget spinner she got from Verandah Santa.
- Childish Pillow Fight: The whole family has a pillow fight at the end of the episode.
- Christmas Episode: The episode takes place on Christmas Eve and is themed around the holiday.
- Dramatic Irony: The titular game of Verandah Santa has Bluey pretend to be a sleepy child and Socks play the part of Santa's helper. While being in character and grabbing Socks in her sleep, Socks bites Bluey in response. Bluey voices her grievance to Bandit, claiming Sock's bite was malicious and without reason. Unknown to her or anyone, Bluey is wrong on both accounts: Socks didn't intend to hurt her cousin, and only did it as a response to Bluey grabbing her.
- Everybody Has Standards: Bluey initially refuses to forgive Bingo for snatching the pencil case they were using in the Verandah Santa game, despite how Bingo apologized. It's Muffin who casually points out Santa would want Bluey to forgive her sister. Bear in mind Muffin isn't always on her best behavior, and even she knows it would be bad form to hold a grudge on Christmas.
- Foreshadowing: Bluey refuses to accept Bingo's apology for acting out during the titular game, as though demonstrating how Bluey has a hard time forgiving those who wronged her. As such, it sets up Bluey's character arc of learning to forgive Socks of her own volition.
- Gone Horribly Right: Downplayed to a less deadly or horrifying degree. The titular game leads to Socks accidentally biting Bluey, who is put off that her cousin doesn't apologize for her wrong-doing like she, Bingo and Muffin have been doing. Bandit points out Socks is too young to know better, and they have to teach her biting others is wrong. This unwittingly plants an idea in Bluey's head to "teach" Socks by playing a mean-spirited trick on her.
- Groin Attack: Muffin jumps down off the couch and directly onto her dad’s crotch, who then doubles over in pain.
- Innocently Insensitive: Socks bites Bluey during the Verandah Santa game, but it's due to Bluey suddenly grabbing her rather than anything malicious. When Bluey complains to Bandit that Socks didn’t say sorry to her for biting her, Bandit reminds Bluey that Socks is only a one-year-old baby so she’s too young to understand what she did wrong.
- Jerkass Ball: Bluey acts notably meaner in this episode. She has a harder time forgiving those who wrong her, she show boats how her good deeds will get her on the nice list, and she refuses to give Socks a present on the grounds that she was too young to apologize for biting her. This is meant to set up how Bluey learns that being nice should be on principle rather for presents.
- Kick the Dog: In retaliation for biting her (and being too young to verbally apologize) Bluey pulls a rather mean-spirited prank on Socks during the titular game by not giving her a gift. She does it to teach her that Santa doesn't give presents to children "who bite people", but her intentions doesn't make the trick any less spiteful.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After she pulls the mean prank on Socks, Chili and Bandit try to convince Bluey that what she did was wrong. Initially, it falls on deaf ears, as she's convinced that all she was doing was teaching her younger cousin a lesson. But when her parents take her to see how her prank has hurt Socks' feelings, only then does Bluey realize she's in the wrong. And the cherry on top is when they point out that Bluey wouldn't appreciate it if Socks treated her the same way.
- Present Peeking: Bluey tries peeking at the presents under the tree but gets busted by her dad who tells her Santa doesn't bring gifts to naughty kids.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: Appropriately, Bingo, Muffin, and Bandit give these to Bluey when she’s playing a particularly strict Verandah Santa.
- This Is Gonna Suck: When Bluey vehemently volunteers to play Verandah Santa with the clear, begrudging intent to retaliate Socks for biting her, a wary Bandit warns the collective children "Strap yourselves in, kids."
- Pet the Dog: When Bluey voices in her apology that she pulled that mean prank on Socks because she didn't apologize for biting her, Socks does the next best thing and gently licks where she bit Bluey.
- Rhyming Title: Especially when said with an Australian accent.
- Selective Obliviousness: Even though Socks was reprimanded for biting Bluey and Bandit reminds Bluey Socks is only a year old (meaning she's incapable of verbally apologizing and didn't know better in the first place), Bluey still decides to get revenge.
- The Unapologetic: Bluey feels like Socks is this because she didn't apologize to Bluey for biting her. It is subverted however when Bandit reminds Bluey that Socks is only a year old so she doesn't know any better.
- Played straight when Bluey, at first, refuses to apologize to Socks for the mean prank she pulled on her, believing that she was trying to teach Socks a lesson about how you shouldn't bite people. However, Bluey does change her tune when she sees how upset Socks is.
- Vengeance Feels Empty: Bluey is sure of herself that retaliating against Socks with a mean prank would make up for not receiving a verbal apology for accidentally biting her. But when her parents show her how hurt Socks feels from not receiving a gift for being "bad", Bluey realizes that she doesn't feel good about it.
- What the Hell, Hero?: The first time by Bluey because Socks bite her. The second time where Bandit called out to Bluey for not leaving Socks a gift during the game.
