Mini games with friends?
They are probably avoiding this to prevent organized groups from farming randoms in holiday minigames. Those activities are supposed to be a bit like hotjoin in sPvP. Easy to jump into. With no organization and just pure casual fun.
The previous holiday events did not have any sort of join function or friend invite. Nor do I expect them to this year.
If they didn’t have any rewards tied to them I don’t think groups would be a problem, however this does seem to be the case.
It’s unfortunate as it does take some of the fun aspect out of it and in case like the Toypocolypse in Winter’s day, organization was a nightmare.
Perhaps they might have changed it, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Duty is heavier than death.